Referee’s Referendums

Posted by Jared Conger on October 14, 2008

‘Dick Bavetta at Work’ (NBAE/Getty Images)

Just the other day I had the opportunity to sit in on media availability with the NBA Officials for their preseason workshop with local media, a sort of PR move by the NBA to show how their Officials “officially work”.

I went in there with a head of steam, looking to ask why some players still get preferential treatment, but came out a much, much wiser man.

Let me start out with how the workshop began; watching video. They played us a video that over-viewed the toughest rules to interpret and featured a voice-over straight out of a High School Health Class. It showed plays involving the “Restricted Area” (RA), and the “Lower Defensive Box” (LDB), and went on to further discuss making a basketball move inside of the RA and defining “Marginal Contact” versus “Illegal Contact”.

So let’s talk about marginal contact for a bit. This is the term they use to describe contact that doesn’t necessitate a foul, whereas illegal contact is, of course, a foul. Marginal Contact is if a player makes contact with another but doesn’t dislodge the player from their spot (defensively or offensively) and isn’t done in an obvious manner, whereas illegal contact will dislodge a player to gain an advantage – these are admittedly the toughest calls to make in the game as shown by the video - players these days will “enhance” the contact that is received trying to bait the referees into making a call – aka – flopping. These are typically judgement calls by the referees that are made in split second decisions in an amazingly fast paced game that we will often boo them for making.

Another play involving split second, and angle related judgement is the “vertical” vs. “arms angled” fouls. When a player jumps straight up and down, and keeps their body in a straight alignment they are allowed that space, but if they bend their arms, or bodies out of the alignment, it is deemed illegal contact. This is a play that is typically determined by the angle at which the referee’s are standing, viewing the play – which brings me to the next point…

… The Referee’s Spacing and Angles:
There are 3 referees per game, the lead (baseline) ref, then they have 2 out on the wings (left, and right court), they typically form an imaginary triangle. Their goal is to have only one pair of eyes on the ball at all times while the others are watching off the ball action, to do this, they must watch each other and anticipate where each other will be and work as an “amoeba” of sorts to cover the entire floor. Now to keep score, that is 3 people watching 10; a pretty difficult task when you watch a game in real time sans instant replays.

Don’t peg me wrong though, I’m no referee loving jerk. I was the guy getting T-d up in Rec. Leagues, and Church Ball games for arguing with calls that went horribly awry! But now I have a better understanding of how the system works, and as an adult I can say I “appreciate” the difficulty of their jobs.

Did you know….
The referees are graded on each of their performances by their peers, a person at the game, and people in the league that watch film?
Their grades determine if they will have jobs next year, and if they are invited to be playoff referees.
Playoff referees can only move onto the next round if they earned a high enough grade during the current round they were working on.

Let me give you a quick quiz that I was handed, I will give the answers later on…

15 QUESTION REFEREE IQ TEST – 2008

1. The most timeouts a team has for use in the final 2 minutes of the 4th period is one full and two 20-second timeouts. True | False

2. Players A1 and B1 are ejected for fighting and Player B2 was assessed a technical foul during the altercation for being an escalator. During the instant replay review, the technical foul assessed B2 may be rescinded if he is observed as a peace maker. True | False

3. Players A1 and B1 are ejected for fighting.. During the instant replay review, a technical foul may be assessed to b@ for being an escalator. True | False

4. Jump Ball: The eight non-jumpers may not be touching the floor inside the restraining (large) circle until the ball is tapped by one of the jumpers. True | False

5. A jump will take place at center circle between any two opponents in the game when the officials are in doubt as to which team hit the ball out-of-bounds and the players cannot be identified. True | False

6. With 7 seconds on the shot clock, a D3 violation is whistled while Player A1 is in the act of shooting an unsuccessful field goal attempt which hits the rim. The shot clock will be reset to 14 prior to the inbound. True | False

7. With 7 seconds on the shot clock, defender B5 fouls screener A5 while Player A1 is in the act of shooting an unsuccessful field goals attempt which hits the rim. The shot clock will be reset to 14 prior to the front-court inbound since it is the 3rd team foul. True | False

8. If players on the lane lines keep switching positions trying to match-up prior to a free throw, teammates of the shooter will be instructed to occupy their positions first. True | False

9. Disconcertion cannot be assessed against a player on the bench during a free throw attempt. True | False

10. Defender B1 is assessed a FF1 against Player A1 who retaliates and throws a punch towards B1. The coach of Team A will select the shooter from one of the 4 remaining players on the floor to shoot the free throws for the flagrant foul. True | False

11. A thrower-in may not step over the plane of the boundary line until the ball has been released. True | False

12. A held ball is ruled and the jump is at center circle with 9 on the shot clock. ‘Defender’ B3 steals the tap. The shot clock will be reset to 14 prior to the throw-in. True | False

13. Player A1 is fouled prior to releasing his shot and the officials are in doubt as to award 2 or 3 free throws. During instant replay the officials observe the shot clock expired prior to the fouled occurring. The officials will rule a 24-second violation and award Team B the ball. True | False

14. Player A1 is handed the ball for a throw-in. The official blows the whistle prior to the release when it is observed Team B has 6 players on the floor. Team B will be instructed to remove one player and no penalty is assessed. True | False

15. Player B4 receives his 2nd flagrant foul penalty 1 of the game and is ejected. The officials must review instant replay to validate the 2nd flagrant foul and ejection. True | False

GOOD LUCK! This was a fairly hard quiz!

5 Comments

JT on October 14, 2008 said:

This post was kind of interesting. Kinda boring, but kinda cool to try to imagine what the refs go through during the game as well. I wouldn’t want to be a ref I’ll tell you that. My butt would be in jail for betting!

Annie Whittaker on October 14, 2008 said:

Jared, in all fairness, I didn’t think your post was boring at all. I imagine that many of us consider the topic to be boring; that is until we disagree with the manner in which the referees are doing their jobs! Then we’re all experts. It’s kind of like when you think a class is so boring until its time for the written exams, but then you seem to know all about the subject when you get your low scores, and think the teacher doesn’t know what in the world he/she is doing grading your paper.

Jared Conger on October 15, 2008 said:

my thoughts exactly – i knew this could be construed as ‘boring’ because its not about players, and transactions, and dunks; but rather about those fools in stripes that “rule” the game.

we here in Utah have an especially hard time with referees and all that they do on the court. should we cut them slack?
- at the games no
- intellectually; possibly.

Linda McFarland on October 15, 2008 said:

Jared, cool blog. I’d like to see the answers to the test before I lose it. There were a couple that my husband and I disagree on but neither of us are really strong on the answer. I don”t rermember reading but do the coaches get to make comments or give points after a game? It’s half time of tonight’s game and most are looking good.

Jared Conger on October 17, 2008 said:

ANSWERS:
1. TRUE
2. FALSE
3. TRUE
4. TRUE
5. TRUE
6. TRUE
7. TRUE
8. TRUE
9. TRUE
10. FALSE
11. FALSE
12. TRUE
13. TRUE
14. TRUE
15. FALSE

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