It's unfortunate that Phil Jasner, sports writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, relied on two disgruntled former referees to write his insightful piece, "Reffing Degrading," (link: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/sports/20070821_REFFING_DEGRADING.html). Neither Hollins nor Mathis was in appropriate physical conditioning at the end of their respective careers, and the fact that both had slipped in the ratings suggests that much of their present criticism of the NBA stems from their (probably appropriate) exclusion from the current evaluation system.
Still, this article raises a few interesting points about the transparency of hiring, training/developing, and evaluating NBA referees. Serious questions about the qualifications of on-site observers deserve further scrutiny, as do anonymously cited referees' concerns that the current system is being used more to ensure statistical compliance with "call percentages" than it is to develop excellent refereees. Let us hope that the NBA uses this opportunity to make its system more transparent, and that journalists (especially the print media, who have done a fairly good job covering this story so far) explore some of these questions in greater depth. |