Officiating in the NBA has always been bad, probably the worst in professional sports, but this year takes the cake for worst of the worst for the zebras.
In a shortened season, performances in the NBA are struggling big time. Field goal percentages are down, turnovers are up and teams just aren’t clicking.
The lockout has officially made its mark on the NBA season.
But there is something else going on worse than any of the rust flaking off the league’s teams: the officiating.
A shortened training camp, less time to get in shape and a condensed schedule are affecting most teams, but the calls coming from the men and women in black and white are far more head scratching.
More than any season I have seen, this one is full of phantom calls and no calls, missed travels and missed fouls. When a referee needs to blow the whistle like a crossing guard, they swallow it like a hungry hungry hippo. But when they should be letting the players play, they intervene like a judge on people’s court.
I’ve even seen an inadvertent whistle decide the outcome in the final minute of a game between the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat, last year’s Eastern Conference Championship teams.
Officiating in the NBA has always been bad, probably the worst in professional sports, but this year takes the cake for worst of the worst for the zebras.
It’s well known that a traveling violation in pro basketball might as well be a coin flip. Sometimes they call it, sometimes they don’t. The rule says two and a half steps, but hey let’s give him three or four.
But this year there have been a higher number of traveling calls missed than the amount of hits on Kim Kardashian’s sex tape. It’s unreal, it’s sad, it’s just plain embarrassing.
So embarrassing that even the mild-mannered Mark Cuban came out with a statement about it. OK, anybody who watches a Dallas Mavericks game knows that’s a lie about the Cubes. But the topic still warranted one more opinion from the man with a million of them.
After a loss to the Western Conference leading Oklahoma City Thunder, the Mavs owner gave his take on the officials in the game and season.
“Look, I haven't said a whole lot about the officiating in a long, long time, but I haven't seen it this bad in a long, long time,” Cuban told ESPNDallas.com in the Mavericks' weight room after the loss. “Guys miss calls; that's part of the game. You're not always going to have a great crew. Officials have got to learn that's part of the game.”
“But these were officials that have been part of the league for years, and it was just off-the-charts bad. And, if no one ever says anything, nothing ever happens.”
This is a loud and clear shout out to League Commissioner David Stern to take action in some way, any way. Maybe review tapes. Maybe call a meeting. Whatever it is, Stern should do something to get the message across to his referees.
If he lets it be, well, then we might as well give the refs a gavel and let them rule the league like Judge Judy.