Spoelstra acknowledges officiating in transition
MIAMI — It has not exactly been the end of the calendar that the NBA was looking for when it comes to officiating. Yet Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said he appreciates the challenges for the league’s referees.
Over this 2017:
The NBA, in its day-after officiating report, acknowledged that LeBron James indeed was fouled on the decisive sequences of what turned into the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Christmas Day loss to the Golden State Warriors.
James Harden was left irate when called for two late offensive fouls in the Houston Rockets’ nationally televised Thursday loss to the Boston Celtics.
And then Friday night the NBA acknowledged that its replay rules did not allow video review of the obvious step out of bounds by Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo on the winning basket against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Prior to final week Friday’s start of of the Heat’s back-to-back set that concluded Saturday night against the Orlando Magic at the Amway Center, and prior to receiving a technical foul for complaining about the officiating in Friday’s loss to the Brooklyn Nets at AmericanAirlines, Spoelstra was asked about the challenge of officiating at this juncture for the NBA.
“I think what we’re all seeing is a transition now of officiating in our league, the incorporation of a lot of new officials, even the protocol and the training for officials is changing,” he said. “I think it’s all for the better. But you can’t deny that there’s a transition period right now. I look out there every single game and I miss seeing the veteran officials that you’re accustomed to not even in the league anymore. A lot of ’em have retired.”
Among veteran officials who have moved on in recent years have been Steve Javie, Eddie F. Rush, Dick Bavetta, Joey Crawford, Dan Crawford and Monty McCutcheon, who recently was named to an officiating supervisory role by the NBA, with Greg Willard felled by pancreatic cancer in 2013.
“So you’re going to see an effect that I think, with inconsistency and quality, until guys get more games and more experienced,” Spoelstra said. “The training I think is very good. I think the program set to get it going in the right direction is right.
“There’s always things that we can debate of whether it’s too much in the last two minutes, when there’s some bad calls down the stretch or missed calls. I’ve been there — you don’t want to see the twominute report. But I do like the fact that they’re trying to make it better and to improve the officiating, and to hold the officials accountable.”
The G League earlier this season experimented with a four-referee alignment, with talk even of testing a five-referee approach that would not require officials to have to constantly run the length of the court, unlike the players, not afforded time on the bench during games.
“I definitely do not think they should add an official,” Spoelstra said. “I think that would lessen the accountability. Right now, there’s already too much of that — ‘That’s not my call,’ ‘That’s not my region, that’s somebody else’s.’
“I’ve seen the talk of five. I mean that would be crazy. And now guys wouldn’t be running and feeling the flow of the game. I think that’s a big part of it, the flow and being connected to the movements of the game, to be able to see the right call.”