[tomegun]

Orlandis Poole was a rookie in the NBA this past season. Add to the list:

Joe Forte
Tommy Nunez Jr.
Mark Ayote (sp?)
Zach Zarba
Violet Palmer

I think all of these were very good officials in their respective conferences.

Orlandis Poole is probably one of the only NBA officials to have the distinction of doing a final four. And it was the year previous to him making the jump.

I always wonder when I see posts bashing the NBA game. It is very interesting to me when you have an organization like this and they are on the same page to the extent they are. I think they have personalities and in the NCAA there are more egos. Meaning Joe Crawford will side step down the court but his calls will be in line with all the other officials for the most part. It is also good to see how they talk to players and most of them do so without any emotion. The game is what it is. Most people don't realize that it would be very difficult to call their game straight up and down because of the talent involved. It is almost impossible for any one player to defend another player one on one. Teams do well on defense by embracing the team philosophy and even then it is tough. It might not meet the approval of most purists but it is still a great game.

[Edited by tomegun on May 6th, 2005 at 12:10 PM]