Refs - Gotta Love em

[Beercloud]

So this should be fun eh.

It wouldn't be the heart of the NBA playoff season if we weren't talking about the refs now would it?
Whether your team got burned or benefited by em, they leave you scratching your head from time to time.

To start, I think NBA refs are by far the worst of the 4 major sports(Basketball-Baseball-Football-Hockey).
How can this be? The game moves much slower than baseball and hockey as far as reaction time. Football is also pretty slow as far as reaction time and their refs are prolly the next worst. But they are usually farther away from the play than basketball refs are so I'll give em that.

So why are NBA refs so bad? College refs aren't that bad. You can get some pretty bad high school refs sometimes but that's to be expected. In the NBA playoffs alone, we're seeing guys getting clobbered in the head and obviously hacked not being called and of course those world famous phantom calls where you could drive a truck between the two players and a foul is called. I can understand missing a call sometimes, but a phantom call? You either saw it or you didn't. If they're seeing things that didn't happen..........well they'd be pretty bad UFO witnesses. lol

So what are your guys thoughts?

[andrei]

I think NBA is a semi-fixed league (not aware of other US sports). All relevant people are well aware that their salaries/bonus depends on league profitability. I'm sure there is an amazingly huge difference between profits from a Memphis/Milwaukee Finals and Cleveland/GSW Finals. Don't get me wrong, nobody is actively ordering refs or whoever else to make sure one team wins or another. But subconsciously (or consciously?) decisions are made. I heard 2003 Spurs/Nets Finals produced the worst TV ratings ever and that will not attract the billion dollar deals from networks.

Don't think its refs that are bad - its the system. I believe everybody should be treated equally on the court but you know the stars will get away with a lot of stuff because they generate revenue. This creates confusion - Should I call that foul on Durant? Should I allow LBJ to run over people? Will I still have a job after that?

I'm sure you put Shaq in a Euro league and he wouldn't last 5 mins on the court. He did some unspeakable stuff to other Cs. Very much remember Mutombo getting stiches in 2001 and T-Mac abused in 2002 yet there were few offensive fouls called.

[Rob]

This playoffs, i think LeBron extended his whole arm and shove a guy to the floor right in front of the ref and there was no call. It just made me dislike the refs even more.

[KW]

Basketball is an insanely tough game to referee at a professional level. My #1 problem is the consistency. Superstar calls and make-up calls are the most infuriating things. Also believe they should have an official or two sitting with a monitor that can make a call being able to see an angle that referees on the court simply would not be able to see. I want to see things get called correctly and fairly and don't care if the game runs slightly longer as a result.

[emplep7]

Basketball is a tough sport to referee because its so fast that I don't think they do as bad of a job as some other sports. College basketball is run better, but that is because there isn't that STAR factor like there is in the NBA.

I think the football, both professional and college, is actually the worst officiated sport. There is just as much inconsistency there and those refs are constantly making terrible calls. There is less of an excuse for that since its the top grossing sport in the US and those guys go through a ton of training.

[Marcos_Beck]

You think NBA refs are bad?

Man, you should take a look at Brazilians' soccer referees. Gosh they are really horrendous.

[GreenBear]

You think NBA refs are bad?

Man, you should take a look at Brazilians' soccer referees. Gosh they are really horrendous.

Lol +1

Soccer refs in general are awful and extremely inconsistent. Every ref seems to have a completely different rulebook. Most frustrating part of the game.

[Beercloud]

Lol +1
Soccer refs in general are awful and extremely inconsistent. Every ref seems to have a completely different rulebook. Most frustrating part of the game.

Hell I'm still trying to figure out how soccer refs determine when the game is over or not.

[GreenBear]

NBA refs at it again with a blown travelling call at the end of the Thunder-Warriors game. Unreal how that gets missed.

[Marcos_Beck]

Lol +1
Soccer refs in general are awful and extremely inconsistent. Every ref seems to have a completely different rulebook. Most frustrating part of the game.

Hell I'm still trying to figure out how soccer refs determine when the game is over or not.

Hahaha good one!
I understand that whistling the game is hard but at least stick to the principles of the sport you are officiating. Soccer has so many "interpretation" decisions, based on what every referee believes to be right, that you even find it hard to comment on those decisions. Some sports commentators even map some of the refs tendencies so they can explain why ref A made a complete opposite decision from ref B, saying they have different styles, when, being honest, the principles and rules are the same for all. A contact described as a foul should be a foul for every ref, not for some of them who interprets the rule as this contact being foul worthy.

At least NBA has a patter. Superstars' calls, non calls at the end of games, it all sucks, but it's expected.

Plus here we spend more time talking bout refs than the soccer match or teams' tactics or whatever. That sucks.

[andrei]

Somebody wants a KD vs LBJ matchup

[GreenBear]

I get that tracking doesn't get called much, and stars get away with doing whatever they want, especially at end of games, but holy crap... Even Westbrook was looking around like "oh shit!" After that one haha.

[NuggOlesk]

Would like to see any of you refing a basketball game, fast paced one.

[andrei]

Would like to see any of you refing a basketball game, fast paced one.

Disagree with this btw. Its their job for which they get paid lots of money. Find a way to get it done after 50+ years of NBA ball

[NuggOlesk]

Those mixtapes of ref mistakes are fun to watch if you are bored, but how many NBA games do you watch in a season?

BTW this is only game, why police still make mistakes, why fire fighters, doctors make mistakes, they get paid (doctors at least). They have more than 50+ year to find a way, still haven't.

[andrei]

that's civil service people - they are usually the last to improve on anything NBA is a billion dollar business

[NuggOlesk]

Private lawyer? Private doctors? Windows president? Apple president? Don't do mistakes?
Is making less money permisson to make mistakes and not learn from them?
Refs are making millions? ( I know you didn't say that, but that NBA maks millions isn't also related to refs doing their jobs )