The NBA’s Officiating Issues: Points of Emphasis

From Zach Lowe at Grantland.com

“You’ve noticed, if you’ve been watching the NBA’s overlong preseason, that it is dreaded “point of emphasis” time — the phase of preseason in which officials go crazy calling all sorts of things they haven’t generally called much when the games count, but swear they will this season. It’s a warning shot: “Unlearn this behavior now, because we’ll continue punishing you when the real games start.”

And nobody believes it. People within the league are skeptical that officials will stick to these strict new interpretations if doing so slows down games that already last too long. And fans, justifiably, have cried out against zealous enforcement that introduces more pauses into a sport that already has too many — and isn’t meant for such stop-and-start action. The poster children so far have been the comically over-whistled delay-of-game calls when a player on a team that scores a basket touches the ball after it goes in. That’s a clear no-no in the rule book, since a team switching from offense to defense can delay the opponent’s transition game by taking the ball, rolling it toward the baseline, or lobbing it very politely — and very slowly, with a ridiculous arc and softness — to a referee.

Players do that all the time. Ditto for touching the ball between free throws, the subject of a few stray preseason delay-of-game calls. Two seasons ago, an official called a fairly controversial delay of game on Blake Griffin during the fourth quarter of a tight Lakers-Clippers showdown (remember when those were showdowns?), kick-starting a debate on the merits of the general call that predictably faded as fans and media grew tired of it. The call was controversial precisely because it was the correct call. But why did the officials choose that moment to enforce a dormant rule? The appearance of inconsistency and selective enforcement was, and is, an ugly one. Same goes for those rare times when officials have called Dwight Howard for taking more than 10 seconds at the foul line — including a famous Christmas Day instance in which a grinchy Paul Pierce goaded refs into the call by counting down the seconds with his fingers.

The other point of emphasis this season: illegal screens. Teams that feel officials have wronged them can upload video clips of allegedly incorrect calls, or incorrect non-calls, onto a private league website. Illegal screens are by far the most common type of uploaded clip, says Mike Bantom, the NBA’s executive vice-president in charge of referee operations. And so the league is promising to crackdown on illegal screens this season, again.”

Read the rest of Zach’s take on “The NBA’s Precarious Officiating Issues” here:  http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/79354/blow-the-whistle-the-nbas-precarious-officiating-issues

What will NBA officials focus on next season?

From Kurt Helin at NBCSports.com:

“Every year the NBA season starts with the league instructing the referees to focus on something new. It’s usually image related.

So what’s the random focus going to be this year? Ken Berger at CBSSports.com gave us a preview — delay of game after made baskets and players standing out of bounds.

As far as points of emphasis, the one that will come into play the most is delay-of-game violations when offensive players redirect the ball (i.e. toss it to the ref or bounce it out of bounds) after a made basket. League officials say it happened 214 times during the playoffs last season. Blowing the whistle on such shenanigans will speed up the game. Another good one: A team will lose possession if an offensive player goes out of bounds and does not return to the court immediately (with exceptions, of course, for injury and other circumstances that can’t be avoided.) Seems like a small thing, but this is a tactic that the Denver Nuggets started using a couple of years ago to further spread out the floor and confuse the defense. Last season, league officials say 11 teams used the tactic.

While it may seem like bouncing the ball to the ref is the polite thing to do, it’s an intentional tactic to give the defense another second or two to get back. Teams used it against teams that even liked to run after makes.

There will be some increased replay use as well this year, but I like the moves because it gives the referees more discretion to make the right play.

For example, they can still only review block/charge calls in the final two minutes of regulation and overtime, but now they can reverse the charge call if the player is outside the restricted area”

Read the rest of Kurt’s story here:   http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/09/27/what-will-officials-focus-on-next-season-delay-of-game-players-going-out-of-bounds/