By RICHARD JUSTICE
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
NEVER mind that David Stern may not have fixed a game. Perception is reality in an industry dependent on the public trust.
That's what makes the NBA commissioner's challenge so difficult. There may not be a paper trail proving games have been fixed, but there's unlikely to be one clearing the league either.
That said, Stern should act. Boldly. Quickly. Indeed, some of these problems speak to his arrogance.
Coaches and a few former referees have long been critical of the way the NBA hires and evaluates referees. Now the time has come to remove the refs from the umbrella of the league office.
Will this fix everything? Of course not. No amount of oversight is going to fix everything that's wrong with NBA officiating.
The players are so large and quick and the court is so small that NBA basketball is by far the toughest game to ref.
Even the league's best officials ? Dan Crawford, Joe Crawford, Steve Javie ? are going to miss calls because of positioning on the floor or the sheer athleticism of players.
Now, about the Rockets and Mavericks in 2005. It makes no sense that the NBA would favor the Mavericks.
The Rockets have two players ? Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady ? more popular and more marketable than anyone on the Dallas roster. If Stern were going to put the fix in, he'd fix it for the Rockets. Do you think he'd love to have Yao going deep in the playoffs? Sure, he would.
Yes, Mavs owner Mark Cuban complained about the screens Yao was setting. There was nothing wrong with his complaining, and there was nothing wrong with the NBA's telling refs to watch those screens more closely.
No favors for Cuban
But the NBA should have announced it to the world. Jeff Van Gundy ended up hearing it on the sly from a league official and was fined $100,000 after blowing up that one owner would have such influence.
Why not make it all public? What are we talking about? Illegal screens? It's not like the future of the free world is riding on a couple of calls.
To think Stern fixed a game as a favor to Cuban is ridiculous. Their relationship has ranged from antagonistic to icy. If Stern decides to fix a game for an owner, it won't be Cuban.
But the matter was handled badly. Rockets fans are still suspicious. They're overlooking the small point that their team choked like dogs in Game 7.
That Kings-Lakers playoff game in 2002 was worked by three of the NBA's best referees ? Bob Delaney, Dick Bavetta and Ted Bernhardt. It's hard to imagine they were part of a conspiracy to fix a game, so maybe they simply had a bad night at the office.
The officiating was so bad that night that it was mentioned the next morning in newspapers around the country. If you were ever going to be suspicious, this was the game to make you suspicious.
Wouldn't you love to inject current Rockets coach Rick Adelman with truth serum and get him to discuss that game? The Kings' coach at the time, he watched the Lakers shoot 27 foul shots in the fourth quarter. The Kings were whistled for 16 fouls in the fourth quarter, the Lakers eight.
NBA fans have long believed certain teams and players get preferential treatment from referees. Coaches have whispered some of the same things.
Now we have a disgraced former referee saying it. Tim Donaghy has offered no proof, no corroboration of any kind. There's no reason to believe a single word out of his mouth.
But because he reinforces our worst beliefs about the NBA, because he's saying what we already believe to be true, his words are being taken as gospel by some.
If the shoe fits ...
Stern has issued the usual emphatic denials, complete with a trashing of Donaghy. That's not nearly enough.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson didn't exactly clear the issue up when he used words like stolen and suspicious to describe calls in that 2002 series.
The problem is that issues of integrity can eat away at a sport's foundation. If fans begin to believe the games aren't called honestly, their cynicism can turn to apathy. Apathy is a killer.
Through the years, every NBA reporter has heard amazing things about officials. There are NBA refs who don't like certain players, refs who don't like particular coaches.
The human element will never be removed from sports. Nor should it be. That said, listen to a couple of stories.
"Michael Jordan is cursing an official right in front of our bench," an NBA coach once told me. "I'm hearing every word of it, and I promise you very few players could get away with the things he's saying. When Michael is finished, the referee asks, 'Can I have your shoes for my charity auction?' "
Just thinking about the conversation, the coach is getting worked up.
"Now I'm ticked off. Are you telling me this guy is going to make tough calls on Michael Jordan when he's hoping to get a pair of his shoes? So I bring it up when the coaches meet with the league that summer. You know what the league guy asks? He wants me to give him the name of the referee. It's like I'm making up the story. No way I'm naming the ref. If the ref doesn't get back at me, one of his buddies will.
"I'm trying to get out of giving up the guy's name when Jerry Sloan speaks up, saying, 'Of course, stuff like that goes on. We've all heard it.' God bless Jerry Sloan."
Wait, it gets better.
"Another time, we're playing a big game late in the regular season, a playoff seeding on the line. Late in the first overtime, a ref makes an amazing call right in front of our bench that basically decides the game. I'm so ticked off I can't see straight.
"And then 15 minutes later, as I'm talking to the media in the hallway, here comes the ref that made the call being hustled out of the arena with a police escort. He had a flight to catch! He made that call to get the game over with."
Stern needs new view
Coaches are paranoid to begin with. These complaints are small potatoes compared to charges of fixing a playoff series or picking on a particular player.
In the end, it's likely the perception is far worse than the reality. But the perception is absolutely terrible, and that's what Stern must deal with. He must first be willing to look at NBA officiating the way the outside world does.
If he's willing to take that difficult step, everything else might be relatively easy.
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
NEVER mind that David Stern may not have fixed a game. Perception is reality in an industry dependent on the public trust.
That's what makes the NBA commissioner's challenge so difficult. There may not be a paper trail proving games have been fixed, but there's unlikely to be one clearing the league either.
That said, Stern should act. Boldly. Quickly. Indeed, some of these problems speak to his arrogance.
Coaches and a few former referees have long been critical of the way the NBA hires and evaluates referees. Now the time has come to remove the refs from the umbrella of the league office.
Will this fix everything? Of course not. No amount of oversight is going to fix everything that's wrong with NBA officiating.
The players are so large and quick and the court is so small that NBA basketball is by far the toughest game to ref.
Even the league's best officials ? Dan Crawford, Joe Crawford, Steve Javie ? are going to miss calls because of positioning on the floor or the sheer athleticism of players.
Now, about the Rockets and Mavericks in 2005. It makes no sense that the NBA would favor the Mavericks.
The Rockets have two players ? Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady ? more popular and more marketable than anyone on the Dallas roster. If Stern were going to put the fix in, he'd fix it for the Rockets. Do you think he'd love to have Yao going deep in the playoffs? Sure, he would.
Yes, Mavs owner Mark Cuban complained about the screens Yao was setting. There was nothing wrong with his complaining, and there was nothing wrong with the NBA's telling refs to watch those screens more closely.
No favors for Cuban
But the NBA should have announced it to the world. Jeff Van Gundy ended up hearing it on the sly from a league official and was fined $100,000 after blowing up that one owner would have such influence.
Why not make it all public? What are we talking about? Illegal screens? It's not like the future of the free world is riding on a couple of calls.
To think Stern fixed a game as a favor to Cuban is ridiculous. Their relationship has ranged from antagonistic to icy. If Stern decides to fix a game for an owner, it won't be Cuban.
But the matter was handled badly. Rockets fans are still suspicious. They're overlooking the small point that their team choked like dogs in Game 7.
That Kings-Lakers playoff game in 2002 was worked by three of the NBA's best referees ? Bob Delaney, Dick Bavetta and Ted Bernhardt. It's hard to imagine they were part of a conspiracy to fix a game, so maybe they simply had a bad night at the office.
The officiating was so bad that night that it was mentioned the next morning in newspapers around the country. If you were ever going to be suspicious, this was the game to make you suspicious.
Wouldn't you love to inject current Rockets coach Rick Adelman with truth serum and get him to discuss that game? The Kings' coach at the time, he watched the Lakers shoot 27 foul shots in the fourth quarter. The Kings were whistled for 16 fouls in the fourth quarter, the Lakers eight.
NBA fans have long believed certain teams and players get preferential treatment from referees. Coaches have whispered some of the same things.
Now we have a disgraced former referee saying it. Tim Donaghy has offered no proof, no corroboration of any kind. There's no reason to believe a single word out of his mouth.
But because he reinforces our worst beliefs about the NBA, because he's saying what we already believe to be true, his words are being taken as gospel by some.
If the shoe fits ...
Stern has issued the usual emphatic denials, complete with a trashing of Donaghy. That's not nearly enough.
Lakers coach Phil Jackson didn't exactly clear the issue up when he used words like stolen and suspicious to describe calls in that 2002 series.
The problem is that issues of integrity can eat away at a sport's foundation. If fans begin to believe the games aren't called honestly, their cynicism can turn to apathy. Apathy is a killer.
Through the years, every NBA reporter has heard amazing things about officials. There are NBA refs who don't like certain players, refs who don't like particular coaches.
The human element will never be removed from sports. Nor should it be. That said, listen to a couple of stories.
"Michael Jordan is cursing an official right in front of our bench," an NBA coach once told me. "I'm hearing every word of it, and I promise you very few players could get away with the things he's saying. When Michael is finished, the referee asks, 'Can I have your shoes for my charity auction?' "
Just thinking about the conversation, the coach is getting worked up.
"Now I'm ticked off. Are you telling me this guy is going to make tough calls on Michael Jordan when he's hoping to get a pair of his shoes? So I bring it up when the coaches meet with the league that summer. You know what the league guy asks? He wants me to give him the name of the referee. It's like I'm making up the story. No way I'm naming the ref. If the ref doesn't get back at me, one of his buddies will.
"I'm trying to get out of giving up the guy's name when Jerry Sloan speaks up, saying, 'Of course, stuff like that goes on. We've all heard it.' God bless Jerry Sloan."
Wait, it gets better.
"Another time, we're playing a big game late in the regular season, a playoff seeding on the line. Late in the first overtime, a ref makes an amazing call right in front of our bench that basically decides the game. I'm so ticked off I can't see straight.
"And then 15 minutes later, as I'm talking to the media in the hallway, here comes the ref that made the call being hustled out of the arena with a police escort. He had a flight to catch! He made that call to get the game over with."
Stern needs new view
Coaches are paranoid to begin with. These complaints are small potatoes compared to charges of fixing a playoff series or picking on a particular player.
In the end, it's likely the perception is far worse than the reality. But the perception is absolutely terrible, and that's what Stern must deal with. He must first be willing to look at NBA officiating the way the outside world does.
If he's willing to take that difficult step, everything else might be relatively easy.
