NBA Referee being investigated by the FBI!!!

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Stern will have no leverage over an NBA fan ever again. This makes the Pistons/Pacers brawl seem insignificant in comparison.

They should stat reviewing calls via camera from now on. Coaches should have challenges like in the NFL. Might make games longer, but it beats cheating.

[Jack.Kerr]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

Stern will have no leverage over an NBA fan ever again. This makes the Pistons/Pacers brawl seem insignificant in comparison.

They should stat reviewing calls via camera from now on. Coaches should have challenges like in the NFL. Might make games longer, but it beats cheating.

Revewng every call would be impossible, not to mention absurd. Individual calls aren't even necessarily the issue, not even with Dongahy. It's the association with and shairng of information with gambling and casinos.

It's also the nature of the information being shared--the relationships between referees and players that result in stricter or looser application of the rules.

As for individual calls, the NBA could do a lot to reduce the potential for individual calls to tip the balance to one team or another by lessening the impact officials have on the game.

The NBA game has become over-regulated, tipped too far in the balance of scorers, too much of a hands-off tea dance. Referees should be re-trained and conditioned to make fewer calls, to make calls only where physical contact gives one player a clear advantage over another, and trained not to make "guess" calls, makeup calls, and vendetta calls. When a referee devleops a relationship with a player, or coach, or owner, or team that demonstrates a compromised objectivity, he should no longer be able to work games involving that team. (Joey Crawford and the Spurs, Joey Crawford and the Mavericks, Joey Crawford and the Warriors, Dick Bavetta and the New York Knicks, Ronnie Garretson and the Detroit Pistons (or whatever team Rasheed Wallace plays for), Seve Javie and Pat Riley, etc, etc, etc...all the well-known. well-documented feuds).

As for Stern, the goose that laid the golden egg is turning around to bite him in his ass now. Stern has been rightly credited with guding the league to heights of popularity and profitability, but this was accomplished by promoting individual stars and by transforming basketball from sport to spectacle. The individual stars the league promoted were invariably scorers, and the league developed a philosophy of favoring offensive players over defensive players, favoring heavily marketed stars over both the average player and the team concept.

It's been a great ride for Stern, but he's sold more sizzle than steak for a long time. One might like to think that the owners who value their investments would realize that a change of commisioner is necessary. But the new breed of owner may also be more enamored of sizzle and spectacle (and huge revenues) than in the purity of the game and the team concept. Professional basketball may be in for some dead bounces.

[birdsanctuary]

LINK

ONLY 1 ROGUE REF: UNION
Post Wires

August 18, 2007 -- The referees union maintained yesterday that Tim Donaghy is the only ref involved in gambling activities, despite a report that he was about to rat out as many as 20 colleagues.

The report on 1050 ESPN Radio said Donaghy will turn over to prosecutors names of other NBA officials and detail their involvement in some form of gambling, believed to include betting in casinos.

The offenses may not include criminal activity, according to the report, but could violate NBA policy and lead to firings that would decimate the officiating staff. Twenty referees would make up about a third of the league's roster.

"This situation has been isolated to one individual," said union head Lamell McMorris. Donaghy pleaded guilty to two felony charges Wednesday and admitted betting on games he officiated. He faces a maximum of 25 years in prison.

[Usually Lurkin]

Originally Posted by birdsanctuary

LINK

"This situation has been isolated to one individual," said union head Lamell McMorris. Donaghy pleaded guilty to two felony charges Wednesday and admitted betting on games he officiated. He faces a maximum of 25 years in prison.

I'm guessing that by "this situation," he's referring to the public exposure, not criminal activity of refrees. 'Cause if anything, we know that the NBA referees are into bending the rules of interpretation to suit their own needs.

[Underdog]

Easy solution? Outlaw sports gambling... Problem solved.

[Silk Smoov]

Originally Posted by Henry_VIII

Ex-NBA Referee Tim Donaghy to Name Others in Betting Probe

link


Can't wait to see this list.
Oh, and Mr. McMorris better start working on his next statement because I don't think this will remain an isolated incident for much longer. Stern too.

This case is going to be the death wish for Stern. It is going to come out that just about everything he said in the press conference about the procedures of the NBA on officials was a lie. Facts will come out that Stern was not well prepared to deal with potential conflicts with officials and gambling.

The other bad side, is that it is going to be hard to prove that officials had a buddy relationship with certain players/teams. But this will put those type of officials on notice, and maybe the games will be called more fairly.

I sure hope they do something with Dan Crawford, because it is widely known he dislikes the Mavs/Cuban.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Easy solution? Outlaw sports gambling... Problem solved.

except Donaghy was doing illegal things for years

[Flacolaco]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Easy solution? Outlaw sports gambling... Problem solved.

Good luck getting the NFL to lay down and accept that.

[V2M]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Easy solution? Outlaw sports gambling... Problem solved.

Don't know 'bout that... but if we ban all sports, I'm sure the problem would certainly be solved!

[Henry_VIII]

How about we ban the refs?
Players call their own fouls.
Problem solved.

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by V2M

Don't know 'bout that... but if we ban all sports, I'm sure the problem would certainly be solved!

So sports & gambling go hand-in-hand? Neat!

[Silk Smoov]

Still on the hook

By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports
August 15, 2007

All along, David Stern had hoped that Tim Donaghy would walk into the United States District Court in Brooklyn, N.Y., and offer up no one but his corrupted self. The commissioner had lorded over an NBA officiating culture about which the public wanted to believe the worst, and he needed everyone to see his rogue referee had no peers to rat out.

As it turned out, the words "game fixing" and "point shaving" never appeared in the government's charges. Prosecutors did charge Donaghy with betting on two December 2006 games that he officiated, and as Stern himself said, you lose the benefit of the doubt about calling an honest game once you've bet on its outcome. If Donaghy had money riding on his whistle, people must consider those games rigged.

Even if his guilty pleas Wednesday on two felony charges included no revelation of more dirty officials, they did little to ease the public's suspicion. Donaghy's plea suggested something league elders had been trying to dismiss forever: Different officials are predisposed to call games differently.

As much as anything, Donaghy will go to jail for exploiting that secret.

"To me," one NBA executive said Wednesday, "that was the most damning thing of all for our league. You've got to believe that's an issue we're facing somewhere in the league every night. That's the perception we've got to rid of – more than anything else that has to do with gambling."

Essentially, Donaghy used for gambling purposes his knowledge of who would be officiating which games. He knew which refs had issues with which coaches and players, and how that could influence the scoreboard. He also knew certain officials would dictate a certain style of play.

"By having this non-public information, I was in a unique position to predict the outcome of NBA games," Donaghy told the judge. At times, maybe he oversold the usefulness of his insider knowledge to gamblers. Maybe his mob connections won most of those bets, kicking him back $5,000 for each winner, on basketball acumen or dumb luck. Whatever the case, this confirms our fears of how agendas – some innocent, some not – play out in the sport. Perception becomes reality, and the reality is the NBA has lost the credibility, the moral authority, to defend itself.

In some ways, these are damning circumstances. Perhaps, though, they arise out of human nature and can never completely be expunged from the league. Robots don't call the games, nor do they coach or play them. There's a reason why coaches are anxious to learn who's officiating their game. Yes, there's a level of paranoia, but coaches believe they must alter their team's strategy based on who's blowing the whistle.

While the NBA can modify how it monitors its officials (despite warning signs, the league failed miserably with Donaghy), the tougher task comes in identifying their subtle agendas. Bad nights between ref and participant will have to be worked out and let go. There will be less tolerance for officials losing their temper and losing control. What's more, the league knows that the process will need to be more transparent, so referees will probably be made more accessible to answer questions about game-changing and controversial calls.

"We recognize that a cloud has descended upon all referees, but we are committed to showing the public that this was an isolated event and that NBA officiating is conducted at the highest levels of honesty, integrity and fairness," said Lamell McMorris, a spokesman for the National Basketball Referees Association.

Still, the NBA's officials aren't solely to blame. The league needs to listen to its referees' complaints about how headquarters deals with them. Refs don't like their evaluation process, and they largely doubt the competence of those grading them. And beyond the officials' claims, there are plenty around the league who privately wonder about the fitness of some of those serving under Stern. The NBA's investigations into Donaghy's spiraling life missed far too much, and the league promises to pay for those mistakes for years.

Stern insisted all along that this investigation centered on a "rogue, isolated criminal," so sure, Donaghy's guilty pleas were reason for a deep sigh out of Olympic Tower on Fifth Avenue.

Donaghy goes down for selling the dirty little secrets of his sport, yet by pushing them out of the darkness, he has forced the NBA to take a long look at itself. Above everything, Tim Donaghy has made the NBA understand that a sport's ultimate salvation won't come simply by sending a boogeyman to jail.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Wouldn't it be weird if he named such refs as Dick Bavetta? Thats where it gets real ugly if the so-called "good" refs are named. You basically lose nearly all intergrity at that point.

[dude1394]

Originally Posted by V2M

Don't know 'bout that... but if we ban all sports, I'm sure the problem would certainly be solved!

I like that thinking out of the box. Maybe just ban the NBA since they can't figure out how to referee it anyway.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Gambling on the game would probably increase underground if we banned all betting on sports. That means lots more Donaghys.

[Silk Smoov]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

Wouldn't it be weird if he named such refs as Dick Bavetta? Thats where it gets real ugly if the so-called "good" refs are named. You basically lose nearly all intergrity at that point.

I think it is safe to say that Bavetta is one of the good guys, and the most respected ref in the NBA. But, I do wonder about Joey and Dan Crawford. Both of them are known for short tempers and whatnots.

[DevinFuture]

http://www.superdeluxe.com/sd/conten...19A04AD684122A

"Goodfoulers"
"Never rat on your friends, and always keep Kobe below 20"
Good stuff.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

NBA NAMES LAWRENCE B. PEDOWITZ TO LEAD REVIEW OF LEAGUE'S OFFICIATING PROGRAM AND RULES, POLICIES AND PROCEDURES CONCERNING GAMBLING

NEW YORK, Aug. 21, 2007 – NBA Commissioner David Stern announced today that the NBA has named Lawrence B. Pedowitz, a former Chief of the Criminal Division in the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and current partner at law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, to lead a comprehensive review of the league's rules, policies, and procedures relating to gambling and its officiating program.

Pedowitz, a former law clerk to United States Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., and members of his law firm will conduct a broad examination of the NBA's league-wide anti-gambling efforts, including its rules, its policies regarding disclosure of confidential information, its methods of monitoring and enforcement, and its efforts to educate NBA personnel. In addition, the review will include an analysis of the current hiring and development processes for NBA referees, and the systems used to monitor their off-court behavior and on-court performance, all with the aim of improving the overall effectiveness of NBA officiating and of bolstering the league's efforts to detect and deter betting on its games.

“There is nothing as important as the integrity of our game and the covenant we have with our fans,” said Stern. “In order to preserve their trust, we will make every effort possible to ensure that our processes and procedures are the best they can be. With his background as a Federal prosecutor and his vast experience in criminal law and risk management matters in almost 25 years of private legal practice, Larry Pedowitz is an ideal person to lead this independent review.”

Pedowitz said, “With full recognition of the seriousness of the task and the careful scrutiny required, I accept the responsibility placed on me by the Commissioner. I have received a broad mandate from the NBA, including the authority to retain the additional experts and consultants needed to complete a searching review. We intend to thoroughly examine those areas of the NBA's operations that could affect the integrity of the game.”

David B. Anders, who joined Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz after serving more than seven years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, will be assisting Pedowitz. As part of the review, Pedowitz, Anders and their team will work with all constituencies whose views can lead to improved policies and procedures, including the referees union, players union, and law enforcement. They will conduct interviews with referees, players, coaches, owners, and other team and league personnel, among others.

Pedowitz has been a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz specializing in corporate litigation, regulatory and white collar criminal matters for more than two decades. During his years in private practice, Pedowitz has frequently been selected by major corporations to review their compliance systems to ensure that they have state-of-the-art policies and procedures, training and audit/detection systems to manage the legal and reputational risks inherent in their businesses.

Pedowitz's 35-year legal career includes significant experience serving as Chief Appellate Attorney (1976-1978) and Chief of the Criminal Division (1982-1984) in the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

Link

[Flacolaco]

Somewhat related...

[Dirkadirkastan]

Holy crap... that's for real?

[dirt_dobber]

Stern's approach to referees still needs rethinking
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/column...age=sternvegas

LAS VEGAS -- With no less than the credibility of the sport at stake, NBA commissioner David Stern appears resistant to radical transformations.

In the first season after the Tim Donaghy scandal, it's time to drastically alter the way the NBA handles its officials. The league should think of itself as being in the same straits it faced in the dark days of the 1970s, and consider all of the ways it can promote itself to a skeptical public. The initial step will be regaining the trust in the officiating. Yet Stern, in his first extended comments since the early days of the scandal, sounded resistant to making officials more accessible or publicizing the league's evaluations of them, two steps that would help.

Maybe the independent investigation by former federal prosecutor Lawrence Pedowitz of the officials, the league and its procedures will reveal enough fundamental flaws for the league to take notice, but as Stern spoke to reporters Thursday at Thomas & Mack Arena before the USA's Tournament of the Americas game against Argentina, he still had a touch of Defiant Dave in him.

This is a mistake the NBA can't afford to make. If we strip away the fears and the speculation from the facts, we realize that Donaghy was never charged with fixing NBA games or manipulating their outcomes. The real story is much worse than that. The real issue won't go away as soon as Donaghy is locked in a prison cell.

The good news for the NBA is that the documents paint him as an isolated criminal. "Donaghy concealed this scheme from the NBA and other referees in order to prevent its detection," it says on Page 5 of his indictment. But we can't write this off as a one-and-done situation because of the serious, yet thus far underplayed allegation earlier in the same paragraph.

It said that Donaghy shared privileged information that "included his knowledge of (a) the officiating crews for upcoming NBA games (b) the interactions between certain referees and certain players and team personnel."

That's the devastating detail, the one with lasting impact. It's the notion that basic human interaction and not criminal behavior can come into play, that likes and dislikes have such a role in the outcome it would determine which way to bet. The feeling has been around for years, expressed by frustrated players, coaches and fans when calls don't go their team's way. This just put it into black and white -- in U.S. district court, no less.

Stern's response: this is news?

"I guess what I would say is, it's not a revelation that certain coaches and certain referees have issues, and certain players, and statistically you can see certain things happening," Stern said. "We all live with that. You cover the sport, or are with the sport enough to know … it happens."

Even after Donaghy it wouldn't be smart to make the jump from bad call to gambling conspiracy every time there's a suspect whistle. But personal antagonism? That's not too big a leap.

Two players I talked to, Chauncey Billups and Jason Kidd, said they believe personal feelings come into play, but that ultimately it does not determine games.

"I think certain refs have personality conflicts," Billups said. "That's just in life, period. Some guys' personalities don't match. I feel that way about a lot of guys, especially with my guy Rasheed [Wallace]. That's no secret. Everybody knows that. He doesn't get along with a lot of those guys. I don't think it goes farther than that, though. I think it stays right there."

Kidd said it would be worse if referees stayed with teams for three or four games in a row, the way umpiring crews do for a baseball series. "There's no grudge," Kidd said. "Anybody can have a bad day. Just like when you scout a game and they say [a player] likes to go right, you tend to know which official has a short temper, which one you can go up and talk to, which one you can kind of go off on and he respects you."

I talked with an official who said he doesn't have a personal grudge against a certain player, but he does have an interpretation of the way he plays that leads him to call him for more violations. The official also said he wouldn't give a break to someone who has been nice to him -- but he couldn't say it would not enter his subconscious.

Can we agree that so much of this game is subjective, that if the refs wanted to they could call a foul or a travel on every play, to the point that we'd have worn-out whistles and five-hour games? And if not even Stern is dismissing what was alleged in the court documents, then personal differences can be as much or more of a factor than the players' skills, the jobs the general managers did in assembling the roster, coaching strategies and the medical and training staffs work to keep the players in top condition?

In that case, the most important part of the game is the designation of the officials, which brings another issue to the forefront. The referees are disgruntled with the leadership, an environment they believe is poisoned at the top by Stu Jackson, NBA vice president of operations and director of officials Ronnie Nunn. They grumble that assignments can be dictated as much by favoritism as by merit.

Stern defended Jackson and Nunn and took a shot at former officials Mike Mathis and Hue Hollins, who have been critical of the system in recent weeks. He called Mathis and Hollins "former referees who have their own issues and did have their own issues when they were referees" and said, "As a staff the quality is a lot better than when Mr. Hollins and Mr. Mathis were roaming the floor."

In other words, if you're looking for heads to roll, don't expect to see Jackson or Nunn on the guillotine blocks. "I'm very protective of our existing officials and our staff and their development," Stern said.

If he won't change the people, how about the system? This is why the league needs to make its evaluations and rankings of the officials available to the public. If they're the best, let the information show it. If there are questions, let them explain the rules and tell what they saw from their perspective, which might have differed from the multiple television replays. The officials don't want this (would you want your annual job performance review posted on the Internet?). The league doesn't want this. The officials says the rankings would need to be in context. That simply listing the results without detailed explanations of how they were determined wouldn't do anyone any good.

But this is a dire situation. The credibility of the league is at stake. There's no time to worry about whose feelings might get hurt. Stern's opinion, in a word, "No."

"What you will see is our attempt to be more open, but I want to wait for the Pedowitz [report] to do that," Stern said. "But the idea that we should somehow toss our referees out there …

"Many people have been happy to condemn them on the basis of either disgruntled former officials or press reports about what Mr. Donaghy is alleged to have said. That's not fair. And I think think Lamell McMorris [of the National Basketball Referees Association] and I together will try to come up with a format that does justice to a very hardworking group of people that is a very professional group."

Those are the adjectives we should be using for the officials. They're elite pros as well. They want to get it right. But we never hear their stories. If we knew them, knew the caliber of people they were, someone like Donaghy would jump out as an exception, not an example.

Right now, it's killing the refs that Donaghy is attacking their credibility and they can't speak out in return -- about how isolated and disliked Donaghy was, about how they're even more upset than the fans are about this situation. They want it known that they welcome the independent investigator hired by the NBA, and that if he finds any more wrongdoing they should kick out those refs as well.

They can't talk because of a league-imposed gag order. Stern should let 'em speak. Not just now, but all the time. Don't make the officials' locker room off limits except to a pool reporter in special circumstances. Open it up 10 minutes after the game, just like the teams' locker rooms.

In order for this to work, for the public's trust to be regained there must be accountability. And that starts with accessibility. Let them explain the rationale behind important calls. Let the media act as conduits to bring player and coach complaints directly to the people responsible for managing the games.

Stern doesn't want any officials to be misquoted or taken out of context. Many of the officials are wary of dealing with the media as well. But if the NBA can take 19-year-olds and anoint them as franchise and league saviors, can't we expect better educated, more mature men and women to speak capably for themselves?

One department in which I agree with Stern is his apparent lack of concern about Donaghy's allegations that other officials participated in gambling activities that, while not illegal, violated league rules. Most of them are supposedly of the dollar-a-hole golf bet varieties. If so, let the officials off with a slap on the wrist. Forget protocol and do what's best for the sport. Fans don't want to see the games officiated by inexperienced, second-tier refs because of this issue any more than they want to see star players suspended for participating in a locker room NCAA tournament pool.

As Stern spoke to reporters, Magic Johnson walked through the Thomas & Mack service tunnel and into the arena. Once upon a time all it took was Johnson and Larry Bird stepping onto the scene to make everything better. Those days are long gone. Time to get drastic.

[dirt_dobber]

Referee Answers Comments by Stern
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/sp...iw6qskXEyTrYGQ

Over 27 years as an N.B.A. referee, Hue Hollins became inured to criticism and practically immune to name-calling. But the words he heard attached to his name a few days ago stung too much to let them pass.
Hollins was labeled a “disgruntled former official” whose competency eroded at the end of his career. The description came not from a bitter player or fan, but from Commissioner David Stern, who last week ripped Hollins and another former referee, Mike Mathis, for publicly criticizing the league’s officiating program.

“The N.B.A. was very good to me, and I was extremely good to them,” Hollins said yesterday in a telephone interview. “I’m not a disgruntled ex-employee. I worked 27 years in the N.B.A. I missed one game out of 27 years. If that’s not loyalty, I don’t know what is.”

The N.B.A.’s officiating program has come under intense scrutiny since the revelation in July that Tim Donaghy, a former N.B.A. referee, provided inside information to professional gamblers and bet on games. Donaghy pleaded guilty last month to two felony counts of conspiring with gamblers. He is awaiting sentencing.

No other referees are believed to be involved, although the N.B.A. could discipline some referees for legal gambling that violated league rules. Yet the Donaghy case has exposed a divide between the commissioner’s office and the referees it employs.

Hollins and Mathis, who are both retired, have said the league’s officiating system is broken, and have specifically blamed Ronnie Nunn, the director of officials, and Stu Jackson, the senior vice president for basketball operations. A number of current referees have also aired their discontent, but they have done so anonymously because the N.B.A. prohibits them from speaking with reporters.

Stern singled out Hollins and Mathis when he met with the news media last Thursday in Las Vegas, where he was attending the Olympic qualifying tournament.

“I guess all I’ll say is that Messers Mathis and Hollins at the end of their careers were not model referees, and it comes with ill grace for them to spend their time battering their former colleagues and the quality of them,” Stern said. “As a staff, the quality is a lot better than when Mr. Hollins and Mr. Mathis were roaming the floor, I might say, certainly toward the end of their perhaps otherwise-distinguished careers.”

The 65-year-old Hollins, who lives in Southern California, said he learned of Stern’s comments over the weekend.

In defending his record, Hollins noted that he officiated 19 finals games and five All-Star Games, assignments generally reserved for the N.B.A.’s best referees, and became a crew chief in his fifth season.

“Does that sound like a person who couldn’t referee?” he said.

According to Hollins, a great number of current referees are disillusioned with the program and want Jackson and Nunn fired.

“They’re doing that as we speak,” Hollins said.

In response to Hollins’s assertions N.B.A. spokesman Tim Frank said: “Hugh Hollins’s unhappiness with the N.B.A. predates Ronnie Nunn and Stu Jackson.”

Stern indicated last week that he stood by Nunn and Jackson. However, the league has launched a wholesale review of its officiating program, which could conceivably lead to changes in personnel. A former federal prosecutor, Lawrence B. Pedowitz, is in the process of interviewing all 60 referees, as well as team and league officials.

[StackAttack]

His wife just filed for divorce. This one incident really fucked up the guy's life.

[dude1394]

The more I hear from David Stern the more I get into cubes' camp. This guy is clueless about this stuff and doesn't really seem to give two twits whether it's right or not, just that he's not being criticized for it.