Van Gundy fined for comments about playoff officiating

[drothamel]

Ladies and Gentlemen, for your reading entertainment--


Rockets' coach fined $100K for comments

JAIME ARON / Associated Press
Posted: 26 minutes ago



DALLAS (AP) - The NBA fined Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy $100,000 - the largest amount ever for a coach - on Monday, a day after accusing officials of targeting center Yao Ming this postseason and saying Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is to blame.

Speaking to three reporters at the team hotel in Dallas on Sunday night, Van Gundy said a referee not working the playoffs called him and warned that officials "were looking at Yao harder because of Mark's complaints" to the league office. He said that Cuban "has been hard on them," and "he's gotten the benefit."

"I didn't think that really worked in the NBA, but in this case it has," Van Gundy said, declining to identify the official he spoke to.

At a shootaround Monday before Game 5 of the series, Van Gundy said: "I stand by what I said. I believe it. I know what was told to me, and I've seen how it played out."

That was hours before the fine was announced. At the time, Van Gundy said he'd only been told not to say anything more about it.

"I didn't expect them to come out and say it was true, though," Van Gundy said.

The series was tied at two games each going into Monday's fifth game, which was to be attended by NBA commissioner David Stern.

Van Gundy said he got a call from his friend who is an official after Houston took a 2-0 lead. The coach said he was told the targeting of Yao was mentioned in an online evaluation from supervisor of officials Ronnie Nunn.

"No such directive was given to the officials regarding Yao Ming or any other player or team in the playoffs," NBA vice president Stu Jackson said in a statement released late Sunday to reporters from KRIV-TV, The New York Times and the Houston Chronicle, the three media outlets present when Van Gundy made his comments.

Cuban, who has been fined more than $1 million since buying the team five years ago, said in an e-mail that the accusations were "crazy" and "an insult to officials." He also noted that Dallas center Erick Dampier has picked up quick fouls in every game in this series.

"They don't officiate individual players differently," Cuban wrote.

Cuban said the team sent the league a list of plays it thought should've been called moving screens on Yao and backup Dikembe Mutombo. He said the league responded that "nine were actually moving screens and should have been called but were not."

"So if anything, he has it completely backward," Cuban said.

Yao fouled out of Game 1 in 20 minutes. He had four fouls in Game 2, when he made 13 of 14 shots and scored 33 points, then had five fouls in each of the last two games.

Dampier fouled out of Game 4 in 18 minutes. He had five fouls in 19 minutes of Game 3.

Both coaches in this series have been fined. Dallas' Avery Johnson was penalized $10,000 for his postgame confrontation with official Joey Crawford following Game 1.



[Edited by drothamel on May 2nd, 2005 at 07:17 PM]

[ChrisSportsFan]

They're saying on the radio today that "an official who is not working the series warned Van Gundy that the officials would target Ming now since the Dallas ownership and coaches had made their statements about the calls". I find it hard to believe that an official would put his peers out on an Island like that but I guess anything is possible.

[Junker]

Anyone else notice how the NBA gets more and more like professional wrestling every year? I'm waiting for the "guest officials" that are actually players from other teams who will jump into plays and score for the team they want to win. Then in the interview afterwards, they'll tell how David "The Commissioner" Stern wanted them to fix the game so the Lakers were in the playoffs. Seriously though, its exchanges between coaches, players, officials, owners, and league adminstrators that make me not watch the NBA at all. The only good thing to come out of the NBA this season is Paul Shirley's NBA Blog on nba.com. Funny stuff!

[Jimgolf]

Do the refs get the fine money?

[ShadowStripes]

Doesn't sound like Stern is through on this matter. 1 of 2 things are going to happen:

1 - Van Gundy either shields his "official friend" or says he made it up and gets a suspension or

2 - He rats out the official and next year we see a new rookie on the NBA officials roster.

[Dan_ref]

Originally posted by ShadowStripes
Doesn't sound like Stern is through on this matter. 1 of 2 things are going to happen:

1 - Van Gundy either shields his "official friend" or says he made it up and gets a suspension or

2 - He rats out the official and next year we see a new rookie on the NBA officials roster.

Sounds like Stern is ready to kick VG out of the league over this too. Let's not forget it's possible there was no phone call, he's just making it all up, but if he's not I would be very surprised if VG protects his friend. It's gonna be interesting to watch how this plays out over the next few weeks, I'm betting there's going to be an opening for 1 coach & 1 referee by July.

[Mark Dexter]

Originally posted by Dan_ref
It's gonna be interesting to watch how this plays out over the next few weeks, I'm betting there's going to be an opening for 1 coach & 1 referee by July.

Well, between this, the ACC asst. commissioner, and my graduating in a few weeks, I better head to Kinko's and print off some resumes.

[blindzebra]

This kind of thing has been happening for years, Phil Jackson was the king of media working the officials, and like it or not Commissioner Stern, it works.

Games are called differently after these little sound bites happen.

[gostars]

Stern defends Van Gundy fine
/ The Sporting News
Posted: 4 hours ago

NBA Commissioner David Stern talked with Sporting News Radio host Jeff Rickard today. Stern discussed the fine handed down to Houston Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy for criticizing referees. Below is an excerpt from the interview.

Rickard: A lot of accusations without a lot to back them up. Is that the reason for the stiff fine? Why so much?
Stern: He didn't imply, he said. He not only impugned the integrity of our officials in the league, but he purported to have specific information on that point. When asked, he declined to cooperate.

Rickard: Behind the scenes, had he cooperated would there have been a full-scale investigation from your office?

Stern: Oh, of course. We do that all the time for all of our teams when they raise issues with us. We're continually both evaluating our referees and dealing with questions that teams raise about particular calls, general calls, and the like. The integrity of our staff is an important issue for us and an important issue for the staff, so it's something we take very seriously.

Rickard: He's certainly not the first coach to ever complain publicly about the officiating. Why twice the amount the previous record was set at?

Stern: He didn't cooperate with the investigation. He said he had specific facts. You can't accuse somebody based upon, "I know that this thing occurred because I was told by a certain person." Okay, fine. "Tell us what you know. No." Okay. That's a kind of, ‘I have in my hands the names of three people who" … That's below the belt. You can't do that to our officials.

Rickard: You also left open the possibility that there could be even more punishment coming his way.

Stern: We're not finished with the investigation.

Rickard: What could that mean?

Stern: I can't even imagine, but that's just the way we want to leave it.

Rickard: What are your thoughts on how the legal system dealt with what happened in Auburn Hills that night?

Stern: I'm disappointed, with respect to the chair-throwing, if that's all that happened.

Rickard: Two years probation (for the fan who threw the chair in Detroit during the Pistons-Pacers skirmish earlier this season). What would you have liked to see happen?

Stern: I think that somebody who puts our players in danger like that should serve some time.

Rickard: Any thoughts of ever reinstating (Pacers forward Ron Artest) for the postseason at all this year?

Stern: I always have thoughts.

Rickard: Any serious thoughts?

Stern: He isn't being reinstated, so I'd leave it at that.

The Jeff Rickard Show airs 12p-3p ET nationwide on Sporting News Radio.

[gostars]

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/3588876?print=true

Van Gundy isn't problem ... refs are
Kevin Hench / FOXSports.com
Posted: 1 hour ago

OK, David Stern, you made your point.

You don't want NBA coaches talking publicly about the terrible officiating in the NBA. You don't want NBA coaches protecting their sources on inside information about the terrible officiating in the NBA. You don't want hardworking, passionate, decent men coaching in the NBA if they are going to be so impolitic as to point out the terrible officiating in the NBA.
Now, do you have any plans to actually do anything about the terrible officiating in the NBA?

If Jeff Van Gundy can be fined $100,000 for suggesting that he was tipped off by an NBA ref that the league was going to be "looking harder at Yao" in the playoffs — which may very well be true — then what does Mr. Stern propose to do about the unconscionable sixth foul called on Tim Duncan in last night's overtime against Denver? With two minutes gone in OT, Carmelo Anthony slipped and fell — in the same spot that Andre Miller slipped earlier, by the way — and so the whistle blew. Why? Because the whistle always blows. (Unless it absolutely should, in which case it is often swallowed.) And when the whistle blows, everything stops. And everyone looks at the official who only then realizes the gravity of the situation. He has to call SOMETHING.

In this case, the official, having assumed a foul must have been committed, then had to look for a perpetrator and found only Duncan in the vicinity. Sorry. You're gone. Replays showed what viewers and broadcasters suspected: Anthony slipped. So this ref not only blew a call at a critical moment of a critical game, but he tagged a superstar with his sixth foul.

So what will his fine be? How about five hundred bucks? Perhaps a one-game suspension? Don't hold your breath. Lucky for Stern and his beleaguered officials, the Spurs won going away in overtime in what TNT's Charles Barkley called "one of the worst-officiated games I've seen in my 20 years associated with the NBA."

But Van Gundy's Rockets weren't lucky enough to survive the worst call of the night. Or rather, the worst non-call, which — horror of horrors — happened with Commissioner Stern in attendance.

With Houston making a run to close within three in the final minute, Rockets guard Jon Barry secured a defensive rebound under the basket. Since Barry himself was practically on the baseline, it's safe to assume that any defender that swooped in under his left elbow would be out of bounds. So when Michael Finley reached in from the baseline side of Barry and poked the ball free, Bennett Salvatore, Joe DeRosa or Tony Brothers would have to blow his whistle, right?

Right?

Nope. Like the rest of us, Salvatore and company just looked on doing nothing as the ball bounced to Jerry Stackhouse, who was tripped by Barry and awarded two crucial free throws.

According to Van Gundy, Salvatore claimed Finley had indeed been inbounds when he reached in and touched the ball. Wow.

Won't Mr. Salvatore be surprised when he sees the replay. Was Finley's right foot inbounds and his left foot on the line? No. Was Finley's left foot out of bounds and his right foot on the line? No. Were both of Finley's feet completely freakin' out of bounds? YESSSSSSS!!!

So what will the sanctions be against Salvatore's crew for contributing mightily to the Rockets' 103-100 loss? The usual. Nothing.


If Jeff Van Gundy can be fined $100K for criticizing the refs, can the refs be fined for blowing key calls during the playoffs? (LM Otero / FOXSports.com)

Antoine Walker can get suspended for making contact with an official — in what had been the worst-officiated game of the playoffs prior to Spurs-Nuggets last night — and Van Gundy can be fined 100 large for divulging certain details of a private conversation and then not giving up his friend, but when will NBA officials be publicly held to account for doing a poor job?

Stern's answer seems to be to come down hard on the complainers and hope it will distract the fans from the larger problem. But he's missing the solution.

Replay. Replay, replay, replay, a thousand times replay!

If it's good enough to see if a shot was released in time or if a toe was on the line, why not to see if a player was inbounds when he made contact with the ball?

Both of Monday night's horrible calls could have been overturned by replay. Give coaches two challenges per game or per half, or one per game, but give them something. Anything to avoid officials deciding games. If throwing the red flag has already been taken, maybe they could roll a red-white-and-blue ball onto the court to signify a challenge.

Do you think Bennett Salvatore wants to feel like a jackass when he watches that replay and realizes not only did his crew blow the call but that he erroneously defended the non-call to the losing coach? Of course not.

On a play like Finley reaching in from out of bounds, a ref would happily overturn his own ruling and award the ball to the aggrieved team.

Same with those pesky block/charge calls when the refs are always guessing as to whether the defender's heels have cleared the circle under the basket. How many hundreds of times during the regular season does the replay reveal an official's error on this call? Sometimes the defender gets called for a block when his heels are hovering just above the circle, and sometimes the penetrator gets called for a charge when the defender's heels are on the line. It's an impossible call to make with any certainty when massive bodies are flying at high speeds.

So in the pressure cooker of the playoffs, let's just acknowledge that refs make mistakes that television cameras can rectify and use the technology to take some of the heat off the officials.

There's a reason so many calls are missed in the NBA — it's an almost impossible game to officiate. If you've ever been courtside when the combustible mixture of freakish giants and blazing sprinters (and freakish giant, blazing sprinters) all collide in pursuit of a rebound, you know it's simply impossible to have a perfect night as an NBA ref.

So why not help the refs, the coaches and the fans? NBA games don't run that long. There's time for a handful of challenges. Just to get the calls right.

Or you can threaten to run Jeff Van Gundy, one of the genuine good guys in the league, out of the game. It's your choice, David Stern.


Kevin Hench is supervising producer of The Sports List on Fox Sports Net.

[Jimgolf]

Originally posted by Dan_ref
Sounds like Stern is ready to kick VG out of the league over this too.

This will never happen. No NBA coach will ever be fired for complaining about officiating. Let's get serious. This is the National Basketball Association, not the National Referees Association.

Van Gundy has to do something illegal to get banned.

Or maybe hang onto Stern's ankles as he walks out of the arena.

[JRutledge]

Originally posted by Jimgolf

This will never happen. No NBA coach will ever be fired for complaining about officiating. Let's get serious. This is the National Basketball Association, not the National Referees Association.

Van Gundy has to do something illegal to get banned.

Or maybe hang onto Stern's ankles as he walks out of the arena.

Questioning the integrity of the league is quite illegal. Why do you think he got fined?

He could be suspended for some time next year if he does not keep his pie hole shut. And he might have to reveal his source for the origins of his comments. If he does not do that he could find himself not coaching for some time. Part of the reason he got fined the amount he did in the first place was because he did not corporate with the investigation of the NBA.

Peace

[FrankHtown]

Being from Houston, I do admit a certain bias, but if complaining about the refereeing gets you thrown out of the league, Van Gundy deserves to be thrown out, right after Phil Jackson and Mark Cuban.

[Junker]

Kicking Van Gundy out would mean that the NBA cares somewhat about the integrity of the game. This won't happen becasuse all the NBA cares about is putting rear-ends in the seats and shoes on kids' feet. Wow, that even rhymes...sort of. Don't worry, I won't quit my day job to become a poet or rapper.

[ChrisSportsFan]

Originally posted by Junker
Kicking Van Gundy out would mean that the NBA cares somewhat about the integrity of the game. This won't happen becasuse all the NBA cares about is putting rear-ends in the seats and shoes on kids' feet. Wow, that even rhymes...sort of. Don't worry, I won't quit my day job to become a poet or rapper.

My name is Junker,
I drive a clunker,
I ref now but I coulda been a dunker
.........
and so it goes.