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To Get Back on the Court, Older Refs Need to Swallow Self-Interest

Posted: Sep 30th 2009 2:40PM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: NBA Referees

The latest details from the again broken-down referee labor negotiation come from ESPN's Chris Sheridan and Howard Beck of the New York Times. Beck reports that the executive board of the refs union initially approved the latest offer from the NBA on Sunday with a 3-2 vote, effectively endorsing the plan for the fuller population of refs.

But an impassioned plea from the two exec board dissenters -- identified by Sheridan as Bennett Salvatore and Steve Javie -- flipped a third exec board member -- identified as Bill Spooner -- and led to the eventual defeat of the deal on a vote by the full union.

When you take a look at just who makes up the leadership of the union, and you see what's at stake in these negotiations, you begin to realize why these negotiations are getting nowhere fast.

Continue Reading To Get Back on the Court, Older Refs Need to Swallow Self-Interest

Game 6 Referee Assignments: Is the NBA Asking for It?

Posted: Jun 17th 2008 2:30PM by Brett Pollakoff (author feed)
Filed under: Celtics, Lakers, NBA Playoffs, NBA Referees

2 COMMENTS

We've been discussing the referees a lot lately, so something would be amiss if I failed to mention the assignments for this evening's Game 6. And here they are, in all of their controversial glory:

Joey Crawford, Eddie F. Rush, and Bennett Salvatore.

Wow. Where do I begin? All three of these guys have a history of being involved in their share of controversies over the years. Let's just hit on the most recent for each, shall we? Crawford was the one suspended last season for ejecting Tim Duncan for laughing, then was assigned to the infamous Brent Barry-Derek Fisher game in this year's Western Conference Finals. Salvatore was the one that basically gave the Miami Heat the championship in 2006 with about eight controversial calls that favored the Heat in Game 5. And Rush has been called out for his inconsistency as recently as last season.

Continue Reading Game 6 Referee Assignments: Is the NBA Asking for It?

Avery Johnson Reacts to Fine with Gibberish

Posted: Nov 27th 2007 8:30AM by Matt Watson (author feed)
Filed under: Mavericks, Western, NBA Gossip, Dallas

0 COMMENTS

Remember Avery Johnson's outburst against the Pacers last week? Of course you do: we wrote two posts about it, first a video of his charging Bennett Salvatore and then an update about how the Mavericks filed an official protest over the game. Well, consider this an update to the update: Johnson has been fined $25K for his reaction. When asked about the fine, Johnson just smiled and started to ramble about his upcoming book. No, for real. From the Mavericks' official site:

"In the book we have different plans like the 'S' plan where we talk about Standards, Systems," he said, smile still affixed. "You have the 'D' plan about Dedication, Desire and Decisions. We have the 'E' plan about Education and Environment and Excellence. We have all of these plans.

"I was thinking though this afternoon I should call my publisher and add another plan."

That would be the 'C' plan.

"In the 'C' plan I should have four chapters," he continued. "One chapter should be called Conflicting Concepts, the next chapter should be called Competing Commitments, the next chapter should be called Compelling Commercials and the fourth chapter probably should be called Confused Communication.

Confused Communication? You got that right. I have absolutely no clue what Johnson is getting at. I get the fact that he didn't want to complain about the punishment and risk being tagged with another fine, but that ... that was just weird. If his pre-game speeches to the Mavs are anything like this, I guess it's no wonder the Mavs lost to the Wizards last night.

Avery Johnson Ejected for Charging at Referee

Posted: Nov 24th 2007 3:28PM by Brett Pollakoff (author feed)
Filed under: Pacers, Mavericks, NBA Videos, NBA Last Night

9 COMMENTS

There's no question that this was a horrible call by Bennett Salvatore. Sure, if you're a lifelong Pacers fan, to you it may have looked like the foul was committed on the floor. But to the rest of the basketball world, that play most certainly should have resulted in two free throws for Devin Harris. Was it such an egregious error though on the part of Salvatore as to warrant the display that we see here from Avery Johnson?

It turns out that the likely reason for this uncharacteristic outburst from Avery is that he has a history of being personally [screwed] by this official. Salvatore was the one who gave Dwyane Wade some very undeserved free throws at the end of Game 5 of the 2006 NBA Finals. So when Avery saw a similarly atrocious call by the same official-- even in a regular season game in November -- he just snapped.

Personally, I love the fact that Avery still remembers how some questionable officiating may have been partly to blame for his team losing out on a championship in 2006. He never got the chance to let Salvatore have it for making that ridiculous call, so it's nice to see Avery take full advantage of the opportunity this time during a meaningless game early in the season.

Ref Scandal Not a Big Deal to this Basketball Junkie

Posted: Jul 20th 2007 2:32PM by Nate Jones (author feed)
Filed under: NBA Gambling, NBA Police Blotter, NBA Rumors

14 COMMENTS

I love basketball. So why in the world isn't this story hitting home with me?

For some reason the ref story isn't that big of a deal to me. Unless of course it comes out that the ref is 2006 Finals MVP Bennett Salvatore. I feel like there are bad apples in EVERY organization. So it's not a surprise that one ref out of all of the refs in the history of basketball decided to go down the gambling route.

As well, if you have played basketball competitively you have probably run into your fair share of referees that have some sort of bias. Either they want to keep the game close for entertainments sake or they are friends with someone on the other team.

My Point: On every level there are natural biases that basketball refs have. Everyone has an agenda. But in most cases the best team always seems to win. For example, even with the Wade/Salvatore situation in 2006, the Mavs still had every chance to win games 3-5, but they choked in the clutch and at the free throw line.