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In the most recent Referee magazine is a column: "Five minutes with. . . Joe Crawford". Joe is an NBA official and from what I know (which is not much, to be truthful), he is a very good one.
The article was ok, but one aspect of it really got under my skin. In the article, Joe points out his shortcomings when he first came to the NBA. He openly admits that he was overtly aggressive in dealing with players and coaches. He used gestures and posture that escalated situations instead of defusing them. One of the pieces of advice that he gives is: after giving a technical foul, walk away. Well, duh.
My question is: shouldn't an official know that before getting to the NBA? Who was in charge of putting an overly-aggressive 25-year-old kid out on the floor?
Please don't misunderstand. I am not questioning Joe's talent, ability, or character at all. My question is entirely about how he could've cracked the NBA with such obvious shortcomings in his officiating skills at the time. That's just mind-boggling to me. What was going on that allowed him to catch on?
Chuck
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