NBA plan aims to smooth player-ref relations

Kevin Durant was steaming mad over officiating this week, then eventually apologized after realizing he could have better handled his frustrations.

The NBA hopes all players and referees take the time for such reflection.

The league introduced a fivepronged plan Friday to try and improve how players and referees get along during games. It comes during a season where one of the storylines has been the ongoing deterioration of the relationship between the sides, with stars such as Durant, LeBron James and Chris Paul not shy about expressing their frustrations.

“What we’ve basically done is taken a bit of a step back,” NBA President of League Operations Byron Spruell said. “It’s kind of been a cumulative effect that’s been going on throughout the course of the season. We feel like frustration is high and tensions are high, so we want to address it, frankly.”

The league’s plan comes less than a month before the players and referees are set to meet in Los Angeles during All-Star weekend, a long-planned session that was scheduled with hopes of finding common ground. The NBA isn’t expected to have an official role in that meeting, though clearly wants to see more civility - and soon.

“Time is of the essence,” said former referee Monty McCutchen, now an NBA vicepresident overseeing referee development and training. “This is an important issue.” McCutchen and NBA senior vice-president overseeing referee operations Michelle Johnson will be among those starting to meet with teams in the coming days, one of the five steps in the plan:

- Discussing rules interpretations, on-court conduct and the expectations of NBA referees with all 30 clubs.

- A re-emphasis of the NBA’s “Respect for the Game” rules , not just for players but also coaches and referees themselves, with hopes of more consistent enforcement of violations.

- Expansion of rules education by the NBA Referee Operations department for coaches, players and team personnel to provide better clarity of rules and interpretations.

- Enhanced training for referees on conflict resolution. Johnson and McCutchen will conduct that training and will more closely scrutinize on-court interactions to make sure referees are handling things consistent with league policy.

- An additional reliance on the NBA’s Officiating Advisory Council, which will be tasked with getting all parts of the league more involved in finding solutions to problems.