The Coaches Challenge, In-Arena Replay, & Scott Foster

There may be nothing to this but listen to the above clip from Chris Paul’s post-game interview and hear me out. The reporter asks Paul about the delay-of-game call on him made by Scott Foster, but more importantly, pay attention to Paul’s response to the question and description of what is going on with in-arena replay. “It’s crazy; this has been going on in the bubble. The replay, they show the replay sometimes, so that is obviously, an advantage if you get to see the replay and then you challenge... So I dropped down to tie my shoe up to hopefully see the replay. Scott Foster walked over to me and told me, “Chris, you don’t have to do that, I have them sweeping up the floor”… that **** doesn’t make sense but I don’t know”.

If we take CP3 for his word, Scott Foster deliberately called for the floor to be swept/mopped to allow Oklahoma City to get a look at a replay on the large in-arena video displays so OKC could better decide on using their coaches challenge or not. The delay-of-game call on CP3 is irrelevant, that is Scott Foster being Scott Foster. My point is that Foster’s action to call for the floor to be swept/mopped, with the intent to give a team a look at the in-arena replay of the previous play, is outside the scope of a referee and potentially compromises the integrity of the game. In addition, Chris Paul says this kind of thing has been going on in the bubble, suggesting that this was not a one-off event.

One of two things is going on here. One, Scott Foster is either using his own discretion to determine when to “delay the game” in order to give teams the opportunity to see the replay of the previous play, or two, Scott Foster is following league instructed protocol to “delay the game” and referees around the league are engaging in the same efforts.

If Scott Foster is acting on his own and this is not “hush hush” league protocol, the league needs to pull Foster off playoff games and review Chris Paul’s claims. While this action by Foster may seem benign and immaterial, what other behavior may Foster be willing to engage in outside his scope as a ref? How is Foster determining when to delay the game to allow for an in-arena replay? Foster decision to momentarily stop a game for an in-arena replay has real influence on the resulting outcome of that moment in a game. Keep in mind that once the next possession begins, the previous possession can no longer be challenged and that to use a coach’s challenge the team challenging must first call a timeout.

If this action is league protocol and NBA referees are deliberately working in conjunction with arena video display operators to provide teams a look at a replay on plays/calls deemed questionable, the league has not made such protocol public and has some questions to answer on this subject.

So IDK. IMO Chris Paul’s statements bring up some questions that could have answers that potentially compromise the integrity of the game, and more importantly, I would love to see Scott Foster get pulled off the NBA playoffs.

 

You are probably right but you bet I'm going to be keeping an eye on this for the rest of the playoffs. Especially when Foster is on the floor.