I agree that the referees have a bad reputation. Some of it is valid (Tim Donaghy,Dick Bavetta conspiracy, etc.) but most of it is the same whining towards referees that goes on in every sport. Refereeing basketball is by far the most difficult. I think the referees do a good job. They could get 19/20 calls right but everybody would think they are terrible because of the one missed call. The referees are held to a much higher standard than that of the players. They are required to watch video of each game they work and break it down play by play. Every single whistle they have goes into a database and is graded as a correct call/incorrect call. The referees with poor percentages don't advance to the playoffs and some are fired and/or fined. None of this is public.
That's part of the problem. Open acknowledgment of poor officiating would be a huge step toward fixing the main problem the NBA has: credibility.
As for Stern, you can say what you want about the guy but he took over the NBA in the 80's when it was largely failing. He created a salary cap which is probably the best of all the sports and allows small market teams to compete with the large market teams.
Wrong on so many levels. First of all, Magic, Bird (particularly the Boston/LA rivalry) and MJ saved the NBA, not David Stern. He was smart to market them the way he did, and his marketing has led to the globalization of the sport, so credit where it's due, but without those players, Stern would be a footnote. Also worth noting is the fact that Stockton, Malone, Barkley, Olajuwan, etc. all came in right around that same time.
As for the salary cap, this is an agreement between the owners and the players. To give Stern credit for it is disingenuous.
It's also laughable to say that the NBA's salary cap is either the best in sports or that it allows small market teams to compete. Since its inception 26 years ago, seven teams have won the championship: Lakers 8, Bulls 6, Spurs 4, Pistons 3, Celtics 2, Rockets 2, Heat 1. 23% of the teams share 100% of the titles. Only one of those teams (Spurs) is in what would be called a small market, but being the second biggest city in Texas, having the 7th highest metro population in the country, and being the 4th fastest growing city in the country for most of the last decade kind of undermines that idea. Parity is still not a legitimate claim the NBA can make, despite the salary cap's somewhat balancing effects.
Should also mention that there have already been two lockouts and one work stoppage under Stern's watch, and we're headed for a third lockout and second work stoppage soon.
Fans are tiring of the antics of NBA players. We have been in a major economic downturn for a few years now. People are losing their houses and jobs. The last thing they want to see is a bunch of overpaid athletes popping off on the court and acting like thugs. It's bad for the game. The NBA has spent a lot of money researching what the fan's perception is. This is why they are doing something about it. Fans don't want to see it.
I think you're reaching here. Fans complain about poor officiating a lot more often than they complain about players' reactions to poor officiating. A professional athlete, competing at the highest possible level he can compete at, is going to have an emotional reaction or five. It has nothing to do with how much money they make. It always cracks me up when fans complain about how much players make. Stop paying their salary if you don't like it. Don't watch games, don't go to games, don't buy hats and jerseys, don't by the SI special edition when your team wins to get the memorabilia, etc. "Acting like thugs" has nothing to do with it (it's also hilarious that fans continue to watch a league full of so-called thuggish behavior when they claim that said thuggish behavior is a turn off). The economy has nothing to do with how it. As sad as it is that some people have it rough, you'll still find them huddled around a TV on Sunday afternoon.
For the record, I think players complain way too much. No one has ever committed a foul. No one travels. But you can't publicly deride players for complaining about bad calls and then refuse to acknowledge the fact that your officials suck more and more each year. If you're going to publicly announce that players complain too much, you should hold your officials to just as high a standard, given the fact that they represent the game as well. Instead, you see unending protection of the referrees, while the players get the blame. It's nonsense. The NBA has had a problem with officiating for years, and everyone knows it. But their answer is to penalize emotional responses by the players? How does that fix the actual problem?
