OT NBA to try out 4 and 5 person referee crews

More whistles to blow everytime james harden snaps his head back or blake griffin flops like a fish

We already play 8 on 5. 10 on 5 seems impossible, they can double team each position.

 

Great news for hot dog vendors. Games will now take 1.33 or 1.67 times as long.

Brooklyn will have a population explosion of weenies.

 

This is a good thing for the game as well as my potential career. More refs equals better coverage and well, more opportunity. Fouls won't increase in total but the off ball fouls will for a time until the players adjust.

Here's the kicker though:

There's going to be a steep learning curve. Training will take time because having more referees means they'll be looking at different spots on the floor depending on where the ball is. Fact is NBA officiating has way too much ball watching anyway.

Meaning if the ball is at the top of the key, the referee on the end line better not be knowing what the fuck the dribbler is doing. He/she better be focused on the fight that's about to happen right in front of them if they don't keep eyes on that post match up.

It's going to make NBA officiating worse for a Time but they will eventually adapt if they decide to learn how to look off ball better. Buckle your seatbelt. It's going to be a bumpy ride.

 

This is false.

 

Fouls in total will not increase IMHO. The fouls away from the ball will increase for a time, then the players will adjust. It may even make scoring go up a bit as we'll see much more freedom of movement.

 

5 refs can each be assigned to one man-on-man pairing. Ken Mauer can dog Lillard all game long. They might become friends.

 

That might be the idea. Assign a ref to every matchup.

Did they collectively bargain for this in their CBA? This seems to me like it's going to lower referee salaries.

 

I think 3 is enough.

 

Thanks for this thread @Strenuus . Our Association just moved from 2 to 3 person Mechanics (one of the last states in the nation to FINALLY do it). This 4-5 person thing is gonna generate a lot of conversation (because sometimes I talk too much).

 

Sometimes?

 

And there you go talking again. When nobody's talking to you no less!

 

5 technical fouls on rasheed wallace for looking at us. he's out for 2 games instead of 1!

 

Depends. Are they going to draw from their existing pool of refs, or add more? They currently have 63 refs on staff, plus 4 more non-staff refs. If these guys end up working more games to meet the increased demand, I would expect their individual salaries to increase. Of course, they dont want to overwork the refs, but with the new schedule for next year, things will be more spread out for the refs, just like they will be for the players.

If they add new refs, I'd think the current ref salaries will remain the same and the new guys will be paid whatever they currently pay entry level officials.

I suspect they may do a little of both to cover the increased demand.

In either case, with that huge new TV deal, I can't imagine money will be an issue. It sounds to me like the league is willing to spend a little of that money (and ref salaries are peanuts compared to players and coaches) to improve the quality of their product, and that's a good thing.

BNM

 

On the one hand, I worry about more bad calls.

On the other hand, IF the refs trust each other, maybe they won't guess as much, or call shit they could not possibly have seen, as much? That is, maybe they will NOT blow their whistle as much, and wait for someone else to do it?

Like Dviss said, maybe if they have fewer things to worry about, and if they have the discipline to carry out their assignment and not "ball watch", it might be an improvement?

 

5 man crews would be interesting, as each ref could watch a position. This would likely lead to better refereeing as its easier to lock into two guys than it is certain spots. You'd have two refs up top, two refs in the corners, and a ref on the baseline. The baseline ref would watch the centers, the two up top would watch the guards, and the two near the corners would watch the forwards.

When possession switches, one of the refs up top would rotate to the baseline and the previous baseline ref filling that refs spot up top. Therefore you'd have two refs watching PGs and Cs, two refs switching between SGs and a F spot, and one ref staying on one F spot the while time. This is a good thing because that ref would have to run the most (corner to corner on the side that rotates to the baseline)

 

they'll still have tipping in Los Angeles I'm pretty sure it's part of the Lakers contract