A few questions for ref bashers

[drstarheel]

I don't think the NBA actually fixes games or Adam Silver "makes the call" to his henchmen refs when needed. However, I do think they put specific refs on specific games to try and maximize the probability of either extending a series pushing big name players/markets further into the playoffs. It's not going to work 100% of the time but it does tip the odds. This would explain why they don't announce the refs until 9AM on gameday during a playoff series whereas the NFL announces the officiating crew for the Super Bowl 2 weeks in advance and midweek during the regular season. It gives the NBA the flexibility to put who they want on what game they want. There's no reason the first 4 games of playoff series shouldn't have the officiating crews pre-scheduled before the series begins.

Some refs just have strange anomalies with regards to certain teams and players. We all know about Chris Paul's record with Scott Foster. But here's an even more unusual one. The Warriors were a 39-33 team in the 2020-2021 season. Yet somehow they were 1-14 in their previous 15 games officiated by either John Goble or Tre Maddox including 4 playoff losses with Goble. Both of those refs were assigned to the play-in game against the Lebron Lakers on May 19th 2021. If the league wants the Lakers in the playoffs they don't fix the game, they simply assign the refs who will maximize the odds of that happening. There used to be a Twitter profile called NBArefStats that collected this data but it doesn't exist anymore. There were an endless supply of these sorts of scenarios via that profile. So the next question becomes, does the league actually have motive to want bigger markets to advance in the playoffs?

When a tv deal is negotiated with TNT, Amazon, NBC, ABC, ESPN, etc. the NBA execs are going to meet with the network execs to determine a fair price. To help determine that price the NBA is going to disclose viewership numbers. Higher numbers equals higher ad revenue opportunities for the networks which equates to a more lucrative bidding war for the rights to broadcast NBA games and consequently the rights to shove their ads into millions of viewers subconscious minds and/or raise the monthly subscription prices. So I find it really hard to believe that the NBA doesn't care about influencing higher viewership counts. Teams like the Lakers and stars like Lebron help those numbers to go up significantly which increases the value of the tv bidding wars.

Now imagine you're a referee in the NBA. Some of you may just be happy officiating the game you love and are doing your best to call the fairest game possible. Similar to a corporate setting, some individuals want to move up the ranks, make more money, and ref important playoff games. In the NBA officiating world you don't move up the ranks by making the fewest errors. Scott Foster, Tony Brothers, and Joey Crawford were continually ranked by the players and fans as the worst officials in the league (just Google "scott foster nba player poll" to see the results). Yet somehow they constantly get put on Game 6s and 7s of the playoffs and get a least one finals game a year.

So what gives? I'd imagine refs like Foster, Brothers, and Zarba already understand the NBA desires higher viewer numbers without being explicitly told by Adam Silver. Higher numbers leads to more lucrative broadcast rights contracts which creates a bigger piece of pie to be distribute to everyone in the NBA, refs included. So these refs aren't trying to prove that they can call the best most fairest game. They're trying to establish a track record of helping improve viewer numbers so they can get more important assignments. If Lebron has a 4-10 playoff record with a certain ref and is playing in an elimination game, I can assure you that ref won't be assigned to that game. They'll find the ref he's got a 15-1 record with. And he still might lose and then everyone will say "see it isn't rigged." And they'll be correct. It's not rigged. I just believe it's influenced by who's assigned to what game and the assignments are not random.

[Quentin]

Is it possible for a referee to have a friend that handles their business. Tells him to bet the under, etc. The friend handles all the money and betting in an overseas account. I really don't know as I'm not a gambler at all. Just wondering if they could get away with something like that untraced.

[srhcan]

1. Do you think game fixing is an active problem in the NBA?

Answer yes if you think it comes from stray officials or the NBA itself.

2. If you answered yes, why do you still watch the NBA given that games are fixed?

3. Do you think the average NBA ref is bad at the job?

4. If you answered yes, what basketball league has better refs than the NBA?

5. What do you consider an acceptable error rate for NBA Referees?

As a frame of reference, the GOAT shooter Steph Curry misses 1 in 11 free throws (9% error)

Knicks games are most likely rigged.

[sp6r=underrated]

1. Do you think game fixing is an active problem in the NBA?

Answer yes if you think it comes from stray officials or the NBA itself.

2. If you answered yes, why do you still watch the NBA given that games are fixed?

3. Do you think the average NBA ref is bad at the job?

4. If you answered yes, what basketball league has better refs than the NBA?

5. What do you consider an acceptable error rate for NBA Referees?

As a frame of reference, the GOAT shooter Steph Curry misses 1 in 11 free throws (9% error)

Knicks games are most likely rigged.

Since 2000:
1. Knicks have the 3rd worst winning percentage.
2. Knicks have the 3rd worst winning percentage.
3. Knicks have the 4th fewest playoff wins.
4. Knicks have won 5 playoff series total.

Wouldn't the Knicks be better if the NBA was going to fix things for the Knicks?

The conspiracy theory the NBA fixes things for the lakers is very stupid but the lakers have at least been elite for most of the NBA's history. With the knicks the theory is beyond dumb.

[othawhitemeat]

the NBA is closer to professional wrestling than an actual competitive sport at this point in its history. legalized gambling isn't helping the credibility perception either.

Can you give us a couple of examples of games that were fixed?

02 Kings/Lakers, 02 Lakers/Blazers, 06 Mavs/Heat Series, 11 Heat/Bulls and Heat/Mavs series even though Mavs won, any playoff game that Lebron plays in, any game that Scott Foster refs in the Finals, etc... How about the Draft Lottery done in secrecy, or certain teams that win it the way have in past.

for general question to og poster, I don't watch a lot of NBA lately, but like watching new teams sometimes such as Wolves or last years Nuggets. Have not been watching like used too. Love the game of basketball, but I do feel like many games of been influenced big time.

[srhcan]

1. Do you think game fixing is an active problem in the NBA?

Answer yes if you think it comes from stray officials or the NBA itself.

2. If you answered yes, why do you still watch the NBA given that games are fixed?

3. Do you think the average NBA ref is bad at the job?

4. If you answered yes, what basketball league has better refs than the NBA?

5. What do you consider an acceptable error rate for NBA Referees?

As a frame of reference, the GOAT shooter Steph Curry misses 1 in 11 free throws (9% error)

Knicks games are most likely rigged.

Since 2000:
1. Knicks have the 3rd worst winning percentage.
2. Knicks have the 3rd worst winning percentage.
3. Knicks have the 4th fewest playoff wins.
4. Knicks have won 5 playoff series total.

Wouldn't the Knicks be better if the NBA was going to fix things for the Knicks?

The conspiracy theory the NBA fixes things for the lakers is very stupid but the lakers have at least been elite for most of the NBA's history. With the knicks the theory is beyond dumb.

I was talking about current playoffs. We all can see referees are going out of their way to help Knicks. First 76ers were the victims, now Pacers are the victims.

[rand]

Last bit before I go…you mentioned “clean operations.” If that was the case shouldn’t the NBA be excited to prove it? Show how clean you are. Great. Let’s do it. Nonprofits do this all the time, everything is open to inspection. Yet…no. Hmmm.

And of course you're going to run before you resolve the questions that actually matter, like this one:

If this shield of plausible deniability is so strong, why does the league have to pass up opportunities to fix games where plausible deniability shields them so completely, as in the case of Game 2 of the Lakers series? All they had to do is blow the whistle a little differently and they get LeBron and the Lakers a huge win that not only extends the series but greatly boosts the chances of getting their biggest cash cow to the second round. What, do they just flip a coin before the game to decide whether they'll try to rig this one in favor of the team the league wants to win?

Not really sure why you think this Lakers game 2 is such a big deal but if you really want someone to tell you a plausible scenario it’s not that hard. The league could have hit their budget numbers simply by getting the Lakers to the playoffs to begin with, hence the absurd free throw advantages they’ve been having since Boston last year. Pretty obvious watching the Nuggets now that the Lakers had no business even being in the postseason in the West so the league set and achieved the conservative goal of just getting them there for a series

Again, this is just another hypothetical to address your silly claim that the fact that the Lakers don’t win every single game is evidence that the sport is clean.

They're so greedy they rig games for profit but once they reach an arbitrary amount of profit they stop rigging games for no particular reason. Sounds plausible.

Yeah, keep deliberately mischaracterizing my position. That's not all at pathetically childish and definitely makes you right.

[Dominator83]

the NBA is closer to professional wrestling than an actual competitive sport at this point in its history. legalized gambling isn't helping the credibility perception either.

Why do you watch then?

Because it's still a form of entertainment