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Via Yahoo! Sports:
Okay, I'm happy about this, but if this guy would dance like this every game, then I'd want my NBA referees back.
According to Yahoo Sports and many other reputable sources, the NBA has locked out it's referees, because the referees were unable to accept many cutbacks that the league offered them, due to the current economic situation. It looked like the referees wanted to work it out, as evidenced by the fact that they locked themselves in their hotel rooms for an extra day. but, in the end, they didn't want to cutback on their retirement benefits, which seems to be the main point of contention.
What does this mean?
This means that for the entirety of the pre-season, the NBA will be using D-League, WNBA, and other officials.
What do I say?
Bring it on! I've never been happy about a lockout in my life. That is, until this one came along. In the NBA, there's so many referees that people hate, especially with the semi-recent Tim Donaghy scandal. There's just so many referees today that will give "star treatment" to players like Dwayne Wade, Baron Davis, Corey Maggette, and Kobe Bryant. The aformentioned players like to drive down the lane and pretend that they just got hit by a freight train any time a foreign jersey comes within 5 inches of their skin, and the refs accept that. Also, Thunder fans, don't think that Kevin Durant is except from this rule. He was notorious for this in his rookie season.
Fresh blood is exactly what NBA refereeing needs. The new referees won't have established "relationships" with players, so LeBron James will be treated the same as Kyle Weaver. Imagine how much more challenging it will be for superstars to go off on huge scoring nights when all of the calls don't go their way. Imagine how much harder it will be for teams like the Lakers to roll over teams like the Kings, because the refs will actually be taking the game seriously. Imagine a world where good defense in the post might be rewarded, rather than discouraged. None of this is guaranteed, but the prospect excites me. The true cream would rise to the top.
And, given that there's a lot of WNBA referees that will be needed, this will bring some needed diversity to a field where women have only been promoted once, and the only remaining woman referee from that promotion is a total joke. That referee, and my favourite referee to hate, is Violet Palmer. She always calls way too many ticky-tack fouls and charges. It's almost painful to watch a game where a team has a tendency to drive and she's the ref.
I mean, how often do referees get fired or retire? Almost every week there's a new complaint about how a ref didn't make this call or shouldn't have made that call, but I never see any improvement or people on their way out. The most I've seen is a very short-lived TV show on NBATV where the head of NBA refereeing would break down controversial calls, and the deplorable Peter Vecsey would complain about how they made the wrong call. I don't like Vecsey, but he would be right about half the time, and while it's obvious that the shows intentions were good, it never resonated with fans.
Furthermore, I don't hear complaints about referees from other leagues that I follow. Although Raider fans would disagree with me (Tuck Rule, anyone? Missed Catch in the end zone last week, anyone?), the NFL, MLB, and NHL don't have near the amount of problems the NBA does. The only sport I could compare would probably be the highly judgmental referees of International Soccer, and even then it's rare that a bad yellow or red card would change the entire game. And even when it does, it doesn't make it any less amusing to watch, like the referees of the NBA do.
In the end, I realize that this situation is temporary. It's possible that this might not even last past the entire pre-season, much less go into the regular season or the playoffs. And even if the situation does continue into the future, who's to guarantee that these refs are any better? Maybe the WNBA and D-League have even worse officials, I don't know. But I do know that if there was ever a situation which would shed the most light on how good or bad NBA referees are doing at the moment, this would be it.
So, get ready NBA fans, because this could be the best season yet.
....Or, the worst season yet.
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But as Shaq said, the NBA needs perfection from its officials and the current batch of officials -- no matter how many problems you or I have with them -- is as close as we've got.
Everyone is pointing to the last time the refs were locked out when players would get away with cheap fouls, think Matt Geiger injury Shaq's hand and causing him to miss the first 22 games of the season.
Do you think a referee who might be thinking this is pretty much a job audition trying to upset the NBA higher-ups? If anything, I see LeBron getting one call he does not like and staring down an official slightly and then getting every breath that lands on his skin called a foul.
Granted, I think this will be good for big men who may finally get the equal treatment in the post on touch fouls that they deserve. But replacement referees are a bad thing no matter how you look at it.