USA TODAY International Edition
Rating system determines ref assignments
Over an NBA season, referees make thousands of decisions — correct call, correct no-call, incorrect call, incorrect no-call — and the results are tracked in an accuracy dashboard.
That’s one factor that determines NBA playoff officials — who are the most accurate referees? That’s a great place to start.
“Our referees are highly scrutinized,” NBA vice president/head of referee training and development Monty McCutchen said. “Every decision they make by blowing the whistle and every decision they make in not blowing the whistle is graded accordingly.”
But that’s not the only factor that winnows a group of 65 full-time referees to 36 for the first round of the playoffs, 30 for the conference semifinals, 24 for the conference finals and 12 for the Finals.
Team officials weigh in rating officials on a one to five scale, and referee operations — which includes longtime former NBA refs Joe Crawford, Bennett Salvatore, Mark Wunderlich, Eddie Rush, Bernie Fryer and McCutchen — has a say with graded rankings.
“We apply this through the course of the regular season to help us accumulate a well-rounded view of how our officials are doing and then carrying that same process through the selection of referees in the first round and each subsequent round, using and honoring the same process so there’s a consistency and alignment that’s fair for our officials,” McCutchen said.
“It’s a process we think represents to our teams, league and public the best officials working at this time of the year. I’m proud we have a process that represents a broad view of what good officiating is, and we’re constantly evaluating what is good officiating.”
There have been significant changes to the referee operations department this year, starting with the hiring of former Air Force Academy superintendent Michelle D. Johnson as senior vice president and head of referee operations in October. Shortly after that, she hired McCutchen, the respected veteran referee.
McCutchen leaving the court was a surprise, considering his reputation as one of the league’s top officials and a regular fixture in playoff games, including the Finals.
But league officials valued his knowledge and communication skills so much they wanted him in this role, especially this season when players and referee relations have frayed.
McCutchen took the opportunity in this interview to clarify and explain, and he wanted to point out a misconception about referee salary during the playoffs.
“When I hear that referees want a series to go five, six, seven games because they get paid more, that’s not accurate,” McCutchen said. “Our referees are compensated in the playoffs per round, not per game.
“If you make the cut to one round or the next, you have no incentive for anything to go any more than the merits of the series.
“It doesn’t matter if they work one game or four games in that round, it’s the same amount of compensation.”
In December, McCutchen and Johnson also decided to look at how referees are judged beyond right call or wrong call. They wanted to analyze officials’ on-court demeanor. How do they handle tense situations?
They developed a list of characteristics they believe make a well-rounded official: communicative; team driven; courage; firmness; resoluteness; and humility.
“When we see a referee handle a lowgrade or high-grade disagreement with aplomb and take a volatile situation and people come away smiling, we see they’ve been an excellent communicator,” McCutchen said. “If there’s been a technical foul, did the referee do it without rancor or arrogance? Was it done with a sense of humility?
“All that is being documented so we have a more complete view of how our officials are not only doing their work but how are they interacting with the game participants.”
That interaction has been under the microscope this season. Ref-player relations were strained.
In the final months of the season, Johnson and McCutchen met with teams and players on a “Respect for the Game Tour” to have a dialogue and improve relations.
“That forum provided insight into both sides’ perspective about how to grow our relationships and bridge our relationships,” McCutchen said. “No one at least on my end thinks that the tour is going to mean no arguing about calls. That wasn’t the purpose of the tour.
“I expect that we’ve laid the foundational pieces for a cultural change in which we start to build these respectful ways in which we can have a forum on and off the floor in which we disagree with more respect and poise.
“A cultural change is going to take time. There will still be arguments in the playoffs about officiating. We understand that.”