Van Gundy fined for comments about playoff officiating

[ChuckElias]

Originally posted by Goose
Ahh, the NBA. The worst officiated pro league in the US of A.

John, Have you ever watched a USBL game? CBA? Whatever that women's league was that competed with the WNBA? All worse than the NBA. Even assuming that you meant the worst officiated pro basketball league in the US, your statement is still pretty clearly false.

3. This marketing has evolved into the fuzzy area that was once the sole property of the WWF, a.k.a., World Wide Wrestling Federation, who when pressed for explanations, billed themselves as "Sports Entertainment". Sadly, these are the depths to which the NBA has fallen.

Do you have even one shred of evidence to support that? B/c I happen to know a few of these "inept" officials from camp and I know a little bit of the scrutiny they undergo before, during and after every single game. I'm not saying that they're perfect -- b/c they're obviously not. What I am saying is that they are not out there to turn their heads away when somebody is about to get hit on the head with a folding chair. And that's what you're saying they do. Trust me, they don't.

5. The entertainment factor has created several large scale problems though. One such problem is that no one really wants to plunk down 50 dollars to see Shaq, Lebron, or you put in the stars name, sit on the bench in the first quarter with 3 fouls, nor do they pay to see them foul out either.

You and I both know that we hear this same thing in our HS games. So do we give HS players preferential treatment? I don't. Do you? I doubt it seriously. So why do you suppose that the NBA refs do it? Did you get a CC on the David Stern memo about keeping Tim Duncan in the game during OT of the playoffs? Oops, I guess the officials didn't get that memo either, b/c Duncan fouled out of that game in Denver.

The bench in college ball plays a far larger role in the game than we see in the NBA.

Not sure I agree with this. Most of the good NCAA programs go about 9 guys deep on a regular basis, and have 3 or 4 "practice squad" guys who only see mop-up time. NBA teams go 8 or maybe 9. Neither level uses all 12 guys (or even 10) on a regular basis, I don't think.

PTI or Sports Center will be all over it and questioning the ref's left and right.

They question the refs anyway. They don't need to see somebody foul out.

The NBA has merely drifted into the same arena as Wrestle Mania. Is it real or is it fake? I'll leave it up to you.

I can tell you that it's very real to the men and women in the gray shirts. I don't think you have any real evidence that the officials are simply there to stay out of the way, like in the WWE.

It sounds to me as though you just don't like the style of play in the NBA, and assume that it's b/c the refs "let them play" that way. But the NBA's rules are very different in some ways from NCAA/FED and allow players to play that way. The refs just call their ruleset (along with the guideline plays that they are given).

You can say they stink if you want, and we can debate the accuracy of their calls. But when you say that the NBA officials are the equivalent of WWE refs who intentionally fail to enforce the rules or intentionally miss plays, then you've gone over the line. JMHO.