The Official Around the NBA: March 2019 edition

Utter bullshit.

I love those interactions.

Here's the thing and this is going to sound pompous as shit but it's true:

Most players, coaches, and fans think they know the rules but really they don't.

People still yell "he wasn't set!!" On block/charge calls.

So, I love explaining my calls and obscure rules no one knows.

A hard and fast, zero tolerance rule on communication with officials isn't conducive to well formed outcomes. Especially when you have sub par officiating.

 

That's how I feel, if the game is going to be reffed in a sub par way I think it's way better to at least have the refs open to explaining what they are seeing to diffuse the situation. A good ref should want that communication line open.

In just the past few months I've dealt with refs that didn't know the rules on at least 3 occasions, there was a 4th but I'm blanking on what it was. So you tell me what the official high school rules are on these:

1) I back tap a rebound that goes into the back court where a teammate picks it up. Over and back or legal?

2) An away from the ball foul on the defense going for a rebound when the shot goes in (shot was in the air before the foul). In the NBA, if Dame hits a 3 and Kanter gets shoved to the ground trying to position himself then Kanter would shoot an "and one" free throw, but what is the rule here at this level?

3) The old airball it to yourself rule. Is it a travel or okay as long as the ref deems it was a legit shot attempt?

 

Facts. And a kid would get a tech.

 

Sad but the truth is adults should be held to higher standards than 15-year-olds... An adult should get a tech too.

 

SO MUCH FUN FOR ME!

A back tap is not possessing the ball. This means there is no front court or back court possession established. It's always legal. It's never over and back.

Same. If the try is in flight, the offensive player being fouled would shoot. At any level.

To piggy back: If the offense has the bonus, A-1 shoots a three point try goes that through the hoop and THEN A-2 is pushed down. A-2 gets 2 free throws and the try is good for 3.

That is only traveling at the NBA level.

 

{This is in a Hillsboro League, not the Portland Basketball one}
The refs called it over and back. One of the refs was a super nice guy, even though he's not the greatest ref, so at a dead ball I politely asked him if he was sure about the rule. He said yes but at halftime he said he went and looked up the call and said that I was partially correct that it is a judgement call whether the tap was a controlled tap or not. He apologized but said it was questionable whether I purposely tapped it into the back court allowing wiggle room for the call to go either way. I said that if I tip the ball but never possess it then you can't ever consider that control of the ball. It's frustrating when the refs don't even know the rules or how to interpret them.

This actually happened twice, both while the try was in flight.

First time, we weren't in the penalty so they freaking award them possession of the ball AND count a 3 pointer as good. The stupid ref actually tried telling me that an away from the ball foul is treated as a separate incident in basketball and it doesn't matter if there is a shot attempt in flight or not. I was so pissed but he was so fucking cocky about it and refused to discuss it further.

Second time, they were in the double bonus. It was one of those where the off ball foul occurred almost simultaneously with the shot attempt. The ref calls a foul, counts the bucket and awards the other guy 2 free throws. I said either the foul took place before the shot which would put into effect just the foul and the basket wouldn't count or if you call the basket good the guy who got fouled should get one free throw attempt not two. He told me that since I have never been a ref I shouldn't try to tell him the rules. Fucker, lol!

I wish that was the rule at all levels, that way it would eliminate any judgement.

 

Yeah, that's hard.

He deserves a T. Definitely. But....

You don't want to end the game like that.

That's why I'll never take my level of officiating that high.

NBA refs can barely call traveling let alone a Tech.

 

IMHO the NBA has it wrong. I don't think it should be called as traveling at any level. That said, the NBA rule should trickle down so it's uniform.

In your future dealings with referees, try to say things like:

What did I do?
What happened?

But keep in mind (this is gonna sound pompous AF):

You're probably not going to ever get a referee as good as me in a city league game. One who beats ALL of you up and down the floor to get in position to make the call.

You're gonna get some sorry, lame ass, $17-20 an hour official.

Assignors know that I make $30+ per and won't referee men's league BY DESIGN.

 

Yeah, I'm lucky if I get a referee that can make it past half court, lol. We almost always get these two refs that NEVER switch positions like they should on a foul call or whatever. That way the entire game they only have to run half the court. It really pisses me off, especially a couple weeks ago in the championship game where it was tied with a few minutes to go and there were several missed calls because refs weren't in the correct positions.

I also hate anticipation calls especially when the ref knows he made a bad call and then doubles down. I tried to be polite at first or if there is a new ref but it's hard when certain refs don't like you questioning them, even in a respectful manner, or when refs have admitted to me that they let fouls go when playing an inferior or smaller player because I'm good enough to just play through it. That's some bullshit. I had one play where I went up for a little baby hook in the lane so I was sideways from the defender and he swung his arm hard enough to knock down my off arm and got me in the back of the head on the follow through. The ref said he saw both but that he didn't touch my shooting arm so that's on me to finish stronger since I have more skill than him. I was like excuse me? I wish there was a way to video tape it and show you all the bull shit that I deal with.

 

I have no issues if you come up to me and want to have a conversation about what I saw and what you believe you did on the play. We don't even have to agree, but agree or not I'm not going to change the call. I'll even tell someone how to avoid me calling that again.
But if you approach me with hostile body language or if you're animated. I'm keeping the whistle in my mouth. As at that point it doesn't matter what I say. You're not going to agree with it.
Even if I'm 100% sure I will go look up a rule after the game to make sure I called it right. Which 9 times out of 10 I'm right. Especially with soccer & basketball rules. Baseball/Volleyball not so much.

Seems like this league employs so pretty shit refs.

 

I'm getting offered to ref for $28 an hour. I'm gonna take it, but I know I'll be nervous and I feel like I'm gonna be bad at first. Tried refereeing at a camp before. It was bad.

 

Umm, you are gonna suck. There's no qualms about it.

It's your first time.

Now question, where are you refereeing? Who's training/assigning you?

That's good money for a rookie. I guarantee @hoopsjock league isn't paying that much.

 

Any questions you have feel free.

 

I know you don't know much about the Hillsboro League but you know people or at least did know people involved with Portland Basketball. But yeah, I guarantee you're right.

 

I know who runs Portland basketball.

He SKIMPS on paying his refs.

 

It was better when it was run by 4 Point Play.

You know my buddy that sold that league to Portland Basketball.

 

Yeah, I wish he still was a part of it.

I really can't stand the Portland Basketball league but during Spring and Summer it's by far the best league in terms of competition and number of teams involved so I play in it by default. Other than the refs, I love the Hillsboro League.

 

Did you play when we kept stats?

 

Yes, although shortly after I started is when they stopped. I also played in a league at Bally Total Fitness that kept stats. That was the best league competition wise that I ever played in post college. You pretty much had to have either played in college or have that skill level to be in that league. Ime Udoka and a few other players that had a cup of coffee in the NBA played in it. This was right before the season Ime signed with Portland and how I know for sure Bones could "get shots off" against NBA level competition because Ime took it super serious, talked mad shit the whole game, and I had to guard him most of the time and I held my own. Of course he scored a ton on me but perhaps the greatest moment of my basketball career he was pissed off because we were winning and he tried to posterize me with a vicious dunk and I not only met him at the summit but I cleanly pin blocked it on the glass. Of course he still scored like 30 some points on me but I'll always have that moment, ha ha.