by Sam Amick, USA Today
Among NBA hot topics, the discussion about referees remains among the hottest for fans.
Ask anyone in San Antonio, and they’ll tell you that Joey Crawford’s alleged hatred of the San Antonio Spurs is as inevitable as death and taxes. Folks in Sacramento remain convinced that Dick Bavetta — who played such a pivotal part in their Sacramento Kings’ painful 2002 Western Conference finals loss to the Los Angeles Lakers — has it out for them. Then there’s the ghost of shamed former official Tim Donaghy and his 2007 betting scandal.
But the mystery that always surrounded the officials, the lack of transparency from the league and the fact that the system for evaluating their referees was kept mostly behind the curtain, always fed this fire of conspiracy theories and conjecture. Until now.
New NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has vowed to have an open dialogue about officiating that he hopes will bridge the gap between fact and fiction. And while his new methods have caused some early concerns that this will lead to even more criticism than before, the most ardent critic on the other side sees this as a significant step forward.
“I love it,” Dallas Mavericks owner and resident pain-in-officials’-sides Mark Cuban told USA TODAY Sports via e-mail. “We are the only top league where some fans question the integrity of the league. That will change under Adam.”
