Before I start ripping into the refs too hard, I want it to be known that as a former player (at a very low level, just so we’re all clear,) who had his run-ins with questionable officiating, and suffered the consequences of questioning authority, I think that there should be a clear and defined line between a healthy conversation, and berating an official. There were times in my playing “career” where I let bad officiating get into my head, I started to run my mouth, and I got T’d up for it. To my knowledge, I have a freshman record for most technical fouls in a season (3 in 10 games) and I got a flagrant as well. I was an aggressive youth, and because of my actions it hurt the team. I was able to learn from it then, and grow from it. There are levels to this, though.
When you get into the upper levels of basketball, whether that’s the college or professional level, there should be more of an opportunity for players to have open discussions with officials regarding how they are officiating the game. After all, the refs get to dictate the flow of the game. It is only fair that we get to understand why they’re calling the game a certain way. As we get older and higher in status as a ball player, refs are now essentially equals with the players, rather than elders when compared to high school players.
With all of that being said, the NBA refs need to get a grip, and check their ego at the door. We are a couple days removed from Draymond Green being ejected for fighting for a jump ball in a close game against the Hornets, and JJ Redick being tossed for literally passing the ball to the ref. The official NBA report said that Redick passed the ball to the ref “with force.” Anyone who saw the video or watched the game knows that JJ just passed the ball with some spin on it.
With Draymond, I can tell that he used some profanity, and got loud with the refs. After the game was over, Green himself came out and stated that after looking at the tape, he realized that he was wrong, and that he shouldn’t have been that irate with the refs. The problem that I have with the whole situation is that the officiating team didn’t even give Green the courtesy of looking at a replay to see if the jump ball happened before the timeout or not. They went straight to the ejection. JJ Redick had been running his mouth and looking for calls all night, and the second that the ref saw his chance to get rid of him, he did just that.
There needs to be a level of respect between the players and the refs, without a doubt. The players shouldn’t be swearing at the refs every time down the floor, and the refs shouldn’t be looking to eject the player at any given chance. Until we reach some sort of agreement, there will continue to be berating of the officials, and ejections of players. The players need to be more respectful, and the refs need to drop their egos.
Round The Game 
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