On this week’s episode of the Blazer’s Edge podcast Tara Bowen-Biggs and Danny Marang attempt to tackle the unacceptable level and current state of NBA officiating. What’s wrong? Where do you even start? Can it be fixed? What are the costs and consequences of making changes or leaving things alone? It’s a deep dive where Danny gets David Stern’s name wrong 4 different times but still manages to get his point across. They also cover the Eastern and Western Conference playoffs, LeBron James’ absolute dominance over the Toronto Raptors, the disappearing act of the Philadelphia 76ers, and the arrival of eSports- Blazer5 Gaming and the NBA 2K League.
- Intro
- Looking at the Eastern Conference playoffs
- LeBron James is a soul crushing monster the league has never seen before
- Kyle Korver appreciation time
- The difference between how Korver and CJ McCollum get their shots
- Celtics up 3-0 on the 76ers
- Ben Simmons and playmaking ability
- Western Conference playoffs update
- If Utah was able to upset the balance…
- Do you want the New Orleans Pelicans to do well vs the Golden State Warriors
- NBA calendar check
- Draft Lottery
- Summer League
- NBA Combine
- End of season awards
- NBA calendar year
- The NBA’s referee problem
- What are the problems
- How the game is called
- Where do you begin
- It’s an institutional problem
- You shouldn’t know an officials name
- The problem goes back decades
- Lack of transparency
- The “Silver” lining
- Changes on the horizon- Last 2 Minute Report
- Public disclosure
- What protects the refs now
- Understand what’s going on in the background
- The most disliked and worst refs in the league
- The players know who the officials are
- Just because they’re better than NCAA officials doesn’t mean it’s good
- How do you fix it
- Breaking up the union and burning the structure to the ground
- The pains associated with change
- How do you become an NBA official
- How do you get the best if the path isn’t clear
- Building a solid foundation, getting everyone on the same page
- Deciding on how an NBA game should be called
- Calling a game based on impact not letter of the law
- The NBA needs to address this before it becomes too big to fix
- Esports primer
- Blazer5 Gaming
- What is the NBA 2K League
- How does it work
- What is the basic set up
- What is the schedule
- How do you watch
- Closing comments
- Outro
Reference from podcast: Broderick Turner’s LA Times article: “Which are the NBA’s best and worst referees?”