Bernie Fryer to evaluate NBA crew chiefs
 

In a move that seems spurred by the Tim Donaghy scandal and the complaints about official supervision under Ronnie Nunn by former NBA officials, the NBA has hired recent retiree former NBA official Bernie Fryer to assist Ronnie Nunn in supervising NBA officials. His responsibilities will include evaluating the performance of the NBA's 16 full time crew chiefs, while Nunn continues to evaluate the other officials.

Story in the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/sp...in&oref=slogin

I was really surprised to see Bernie turn out to be a fairly decent ref after he was such a lousy player. OK - he probably wasn't "lousy", but he certainly was no all-star. I wonder how it affects the relationship between a ref and players at that level when the ref is a former player.

Quick NBA question---

Can NBA coaches scratch officials? Or vice versa?


(I'm pretty sure the answer to this is "no", but I've been wrong before.)

No. But they have their say at the end of the season.

Otherwise Mark Cuban would scratch them all and do all his games himself. :D

IMO, in terms of putting a bad mark on their record, yes! To the agree that they will actually get an official off of their game. I'm sure it's happened and I'm also sure it's rare. It happens everywhere in all associations. In college and hs, coaches run the stuff, officials like to think they are in control of their own entity, but they are not. You see, they don't get to make the rules, the coaches do. Which is why the rule to not allow coaches to call timeout will never change. They have even added it to the NBA and now to the NFL.

Now, are officials able to scratch coaches? I'm sure it has happened, but not in the direct way you are thinking. The issue in Ohio with the coach going after the official after the game. This coach is marked, he now has a bad record and eventually the school is going to have to get rid of him. It would be nice if the officials in that area got together and protested or refused to work any of his games. Bottom line, they are going to have problems getting quality guys to go over there and when he goes on the road, he's going to get tossed. It would really be hard for me not to toss him if I lived in Ohio. You see, my point is there are ways.