[Chron] Refs will be cracking down on players who talk back

Oct. 15, 2006, 1:12AM
The NBA is cracking down on players who argue with refs by promising less tolerance and much quicker technical foul calls
Ticky-tack? Don't talk back
NBA giving technical fouls to players who complain

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

With a locker room crowded with teammates watching and laughing, Dikembe Mutombo contended that he was happy with the NBA's crackdown on complaining to officials.

Mutombo, the Rockets player most passionate — and most prone to technical fouls — endorsed the new, tougher policy, as his teammates listened carefully to gain ammunition for their customary diversion of ribbing Mutombo.

"I did lead the team in technical fouls in training camp," Mutombo said. "I got three."

That sent his audience into roars of laughter.

"Three a day," Tracy McGrady shot back from across the room.

"I'm working on it," Mutombo said, by now laughing loudest. "I think in the past they were not a technical. Now, you just have to watch out the way you react."

As NBA officials have made the rounds of training camps offering presentations of the season's rule changes, including the much stricter rules on technical fouls, the protests have been nearly as strong as about the new basketball.

Kevin Garnett called the changes "communism." Rasheed Wallace said the change was to punish him.

Cleaning it up
But the Rockets generally have seemed more upset with the effort to strictly police uniforms, from how high on the arm wristbands may be worn to the threat of delay of game technical fouls for shirts not being properly tucked.

But the bulk of the protests around the league have been about the threat of technical fouls for natural emotional reactions, including some that are not to protest calls.

"Oh man, the refs have been calling a lot of T's, and not just on Deke, either," Rockets guard Rafer Alston said of the officials that work Rockets practices. "There is a purpose to get some of the gestures and the derogatory statements out of the game. To blow (the whistle) so quickly, because it's an emotional sport, it would be better to let us know we'll allow one thing to be said, maybe two and then blow a tech.

"Guys have been in this league for so long, we're accustomed to saying one, maybe two things.

"It's like telling somebody they can't be who they are and be a man out there. It's OK to be upset with yourself. It's one thing to show up the ref. I can't show up myself?"

Technical fouls will be assessed for profanity, even if not directed at an official, or for throwing the ball at the stanchion, which has become commonplace. Players who stop to argue with officials while the ball is still in play will receive technical fouls, even if tone of the complaint would not have merited a technical foul in past seasons.

"It's not wrong to expect players to conduct themselves appropriately as long as (decision-makers) realize it's a highly emotional game," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "I don't want to see Game 7 in the Finals decided in the last minute by a guy jumping up and down with his hands up about a no-call getting hit with a T."

That said, Van Gundy saw an opportunity to pick up a few points.

"I hope that we choose to do what's asked of us, play with the ball that's given us, act according to their guidelines, hopefully shoot extra free throws and not give up extra free throws to technical fouls," Van Gundy said.

A priority for Stern
There has been conjecture that there will be more technical fouls early, but that officials could ease up as the season progresses.

But last season's emphasis on calling touch fouls on the perimeter lasted through the Finals. This season's emphasis on behavior is considered one of commissioner David Stern's priorities, indicating it won't go away.

The NBA last season instituted a system of a $1,000 fine for each of the first five technical fouls, increasing to as much as $2,500 and a one-game suspension for every one after a player reaches 15. Wallace led the NBA last season with 16.

"Normally, if they set a new rule, you know what to expect," Rockets guard Kirk Snyder said. "You know you can't cross that line, as long as they're consistent with it. If sometimes they don't call stuff, it would be a shock when they do.

"I think it's good for the fans. I don't think we need the fans to hear a lot of cuss words. It's good for the fans to just see basketball and not the other stuff. It will speed up the game, too."

Of course, it is easier to be so understanding in a locker room in October than when disagreeing with a call in the regular season.

To get ready, the Rockets and most teams have officials assessing technical fouls in practices. Seattle's Chris Wilcox was ejected from a practice for drawing two technical fouls. And many teams have worried that old habits will be difficult to break.

Mutombo said he will adjust. And if the 40-year-old, 15-year veteran can adjust, he believed the league as a whole can, too.

"I think it's going to help me because I was bad for taking technical fouls," Mutombo said. "I'm working on it. You just have to close your mouth and walk away. I think for years I was used to, if a call didn't go my way, saying the way I feel. But now, we can't do it."

 

Where was this posted already? The story is from today in the Chron.

Also, I knew someone would say something about wrong forum. I posted in GARM because it shows some Rocket players' views on the new policy. For example, Mutombo and Alston both comment in the article.