Report: Rockets had NBA’s lowest quality referees in 2022-23 season

Here's an idea: Stop sucking. Maybe if we stop being one of the league's worst teams, we'll stop getting the worst referees.

 

I didn't notice since we were down 20 by halftime every game.

 

That’s what happens when you suck

 

Two ways to see it:

1. Rockets were not a good team, and so quality officiating is instead best reserved for the playoff teams that drew in more viewers. This could be because veteran officials handled star players better, or because they are trusted to officiate the game better.
2. Veteran officials knew how to "manage the game" better than rookies officials, so if they needed to slightly favor one team to increase competitiveness, you can't do that with anyone but your most experienced refs.

 

So we had horrible officials more than anyone else last year.
They officiate BOTH teams - they probably did us a favour (it is human nature to be lenient on the underdog)

Imagine our record if we had good officials? It would have been much worse!

 

I think it stands to reason, when your games aren't all that competitive, why should the league bother to send anything but the lowest quality referees to your games, those higher quality referees are better used in games that are in doubt before the tip off.

Want better referees, start playing competitive ball.

 

It’s not like the Rockets administration the past three years actually wanted us to be officiated fairly. Keep on screwing us out of points, that’s how we get higher draft picks.

Eventually you just hope we flip a switch and magically become not just good, but great. Either great or the worst. No in betweens. If next year our ref quality improves, that must mean the Silver administration has it written down that we’ll be a relevant team again. Probably in the same Iron Sheik role they’ve given to us the past two decades. You can’t hate us if we aren’t at least competitive.