David Stern's Statement http://www.nba.com/news/stern_statement_070720.html NEW YORK, July 20, 2007 – NBA Commissioner David Stern has issued the following statement: "As we previously stated, we have been cooperating with the FBI in their investigation of allegations that a single NBA referee bet on NBA games that he officiated. As part of that cooperation, we were asked by the Government not to comment about the investigation, but in light of the widespread press coverage and the naming of the referee, Tim Donaghy, we consider it appropriate to make a fuller statement. "We would like to assure our fans that no amount of effort, time or personnel is being spared to assist in this investigation, to bring to justice an individual who has betrayed the most sacred trust in professional sports, and to take the necessary steps to protect against this ever happening again. We will have more to say at a press conference that will be scheduled for next week."
lol, only the NBA these days could get screwed over with bad press for something like this, something they basically have no control over. short of holding their refs in solitary confinement and only letting them out for games, there's little a league could do to keep one ref from getting involved in something like this. maybe if they were allowed to look at every financial transaction they ever make, but i would think that would run you into legal problems. otherwise, if someone wants to get involved with the mob on their own time and fix the occasional game, you can't really do anything. even the most in depth look at all the calls made in a game isn't going to reveal something statistically significant if the ref even has a clue as to what he's doing. at best you could just conclude they were incompetent, and not on the take b/c you would have no idea they were trying to help one team or the other, unless they only did it against one team repeatedly (which they would never do). plus, while fixing games is about as big as it gets, of course people are going to overreact and start throwing out every poorly officiated game ever and act like it might be fixed, and say stuff like "we just don't know," which is preposterous and just said to be overly dramatic. it was one guy, maybe in up to all of 5 playoff games. a big deal, but hardly a concerted effort to propel one team to victory. plus, all of the ref conspiracy theories have always been about the league fixing games for big market team or marquee players, and clearly this has nothing to do with the league fixing games. now if that were the case, then it would be enormous. this is just one corrupt guy who is now gone. you say it's unfortunate that it happened, but realize people do stupid/bad things all the time and you try to punish them and prevent it from happening as much as possible, but that no plan is foolproof. life will go on, non-fixed games will be played, and the results will be as legitimate as we can ever hope for them to be as nothing like this can be known with 100% certainty.
Somewhere out there, there is a mavs fan saying, "I knew it! I knew it!" Do you think Cuban asks for a refund on every fine he got after a Donaghy-reffed game?
i hate this situation simply because of all the WHINING that will now follow. now everytime someones team loses they are going to scapegoat the officiating. its already begun on several boards (especially mavs and suns boards) but just wait until the season starts. people get real, rockets didnt lose to the jazz or mavs in the playoffs because of the refs. in 2002, the kings lost because they couldnt hit any free throws, had nothing to do with officiating. to me any argument mavs fans had that the heat series was fixed was destroyed when they lost to an 8 seed in the playoffs. that proved to me that they were nothing more than the ultimate chokers, no fix needed. anway, thats just my take on it. i dont ever blame refs when a team i like losers because there are ALWAYS questionable calls on both sides, its just most people have their homer goggles on watching games and can only see what goes against their team.
This is just silly. So unless you're perfect in all other facets of the game, you have no right to be upset when officiating doesn't go your way? I've never understood that mentality. If calls are blown that cost you points, and you lose a close game, you have a right to be upset. Sure, there are things (like the Kings' free throws in 2002) you can always do better, but your logic allows referees to do whatever they want without any criticism. The Kings lost because of several factors, one of which definitely was poor free throw shooting. But there is an argument that with better officiating in Game 6, it might not come down to those Game 7 freebies. You can choose to ignore that argument, but it doesn't mean it's not a valid perspective. What does any performance by the Mavs in 2007 have to do with the Mavs team in 2006? The Mavs were playing the Heat for the 2006 NBA Championship, not the title of team of the decade or anything like that. It doesn't matter if the Mavs went 15-67 last year... there's no relevance or correlation to the way the prior NBA postseason went down. Each season is independent of another. In some cases, however, more questionable calls go against one team than another. That's just common sense. If that happens, it's a tough break, and teams/fans have a right to vent on occasion. I'm not sure what's so terrible about that. All that said, I'm definitely a professional Mavs hater. I'm just saying you can't invalidate that point of view by something they did in a later season or something else they could've done better in that particular game.
man, the kings shot poorly from the free throw line the WHOLE SERIES. the fact is the series would not have even gone to game 6 without all the BRICKS in game 4 that led to robert horry draining that 3. that series should have been over in 5. kings have no one to blame but themselves. as far as the mavs, my point is if you win 67 games and lose in the first round, YOU ARE A CHOKER, and that is exactly what they did against the heat..... no refs made them blow a 13 point lead with 6 minutes to go in game 3. no ref made them get blown out in game 4. game 5 is the only one, to me, with questionable calls, and that game from the heat being the aggressors while the mavs sat back each waiting for someone else to be the leader and takeover. no one did so they lost. its just my opinion anyway, we can agree to disagree. the thing is, i dont really know at what point people started crying about refs all the time. when i used to watch basketball back in the 90s i dont ever remember anyone blaming refs for a loss. i think it probably started with that lakers-king series. it seems like everyone wanted the lakers to lose so badly, that when the kings lost they needed someone to blame. officiating is a hard job and they can;t make every call, or get every call right. they also have to let the players play. i guess im just in the minority because i dont think the refs make THAT much of a difference in a game. there are bad calls made on both ends every game, so what ? that is apart of the game. you need players that are tough mentally and coaches that make good adjustments as the game goes on.
NBA refs aren't paid as well as MLB umpires, but they still make a lot of money. Well into 6 figures.
and in other news, Dictator David Stern reflexively fines the FBI $100,000 for questioning the integrity of the officiating of the NBA. idiot. He should apologize and repay a lot of people
I long suspected there was corruption within the NBA referees, and now this news comes out to prove it. I'm honestly not surprised at all. Anyone who watched that Lakers-Kings game from a few years ago when the refs singlehandedly orchestrated LA's comeback could recognize that something just wasn't right. The NBA needs, first of all, non-corrupt refs. It also needs instant replay and a challenge system, much like the NFL.
Oh crap! I was going to do a spread for this board to bet on who that ref was. Okay, how about making a spread on whether he will be convicted and how many years he will serve?
you long suspected there were nba refs in debt to the mob fixing games to repay those debts to the mob? and now suspect that there are many, many refs in the same situation, calling into question every game? and pretty much everyone thought it was the league and stern making the refs do it for the big market lakers. are you saying you think the league is somehow in the scam with the mob to get these games fixed?
Damn that's a mansion. I wish my house is like this! How much a typical NBA referee make annually? I doubt that's enough to buy a house like that....
Well, depend on what kind of "6 figures". $150K annually isn't that a big deal. Many senior engineers in silicon valley can make it. But what kind of house they can afford with that salary in Bay area? not even close, LOL. Florida is not as expensive as Bay area, but you guys know Florida enjoys the biggest real estate price rise.
I agree, it does need a challenge system of some sort. Nothing that would really interrupt the game or anything. Maybe like an official in a booth calls it on obvious real iffy calls.
