kind of. It seems they have an auto-responder on their mail server. Nothing like writing to bots. =(. But I get it -- Hiring actual humans to address all of these letters they must get pertaining to officiating would cost the League some serious green.

Dear __sender__,

Thank you for contacting the National Basketball Association with your concerns regarding officiating.  The NBA’s highest priority is to ensure that every game is determined on its merits, thus providing its fans with a truly fair and competitive league.

We take seriously the performance of our officials.  They are subjected to incredible scrutiny by the league, including tracking every call they make and holding them to the most rigorous standard in all of sports.  Not only is their past performance measured, charted, and evaluated, but we employ a system of stringent metrics designed to continually hone their skills and improve their overall ability.  We strive to ensure that NBA games are officiated at the highest possible level with the understanding that perfection is an unattainable goal.

Thank you again for your concern.  We appreciate your feedback regarding this issue.

Sincerely,

NBA Fan Relations

04/10/2010 12:34 PM

To nba-letters-l@NBA cc Subject Officiating

FROM: ___sender___

MESSAGE:
I understand that the officials have a hard job to do. But the officiating of the Portland/Dallas (4.9.10) game was under par.

Perhaps you gentlemen should revisit the Howard/Najera incident and justify how/why both players did not receive a technical foul.

I'm never one to blame outcomes of games on officiating and will restrain myself in doing it here. But I must say that as a fan of NBA basketball, I was very disappointed.