Wolves getting hosed by the officials

[kekgeek]

Really interesting, Twitter thread and it proves wolves fans/players are not crazy about how much we complain about officiating.

https://twitter.com/tomhaberstroh/status/1499746034490261507?t=7U3QghQk3KtZOI8dKUhbLw&s=19

[Q-is-here]

But that doesn't necessarily mean there is in-game bias against us. It just means that we along with our opponent have the lesser referees, so still on equal footing in that regard, no?

I do agree with the larger point though. The "good" refs should be distributed evenly among the games.

[FNG]

But that doesn't necessarily mean there is in-game bias against us. It just means that we along with our opponent have the lesser referees, so still on equal footing in that regard, no?

I do agree with the larger point though. The "good" refs should be distributed evenly among the games.

Yeah, I'm generally uncomfortable playing the "victim" card in any circumstance, especially when it comes to referee favoritism...by my estimation 90% of all fans think their team gets jobbed by the refs. Try watching a game with friends someday who are cheering for the other team...the typical fans will agree on about 5% of the calls!

But I did read the study kekgeek posted with interest, because I do sometimes pull out my victim card when it comes to how flyover country gets overlooked often in favor of coastal interests. This study is interesting but shouldn't surprise us...veteran refs get preferential treatment over rookies, and they're going to choose to stay overnight in LA rather than OkC, Sacramento or even my beloved Minneapolis in the winter. So it's logical we're going to get the less experienced refs more often than the Lakers will. But to Q's point, that impacts our opponent equally, and doesn't mean we are going to get more bad calls than our opponent. What pisses me off more is how the coastal cities get more coverage on ESPN and the networks than midwestern cities. But hey...that's capitalism and it beats living in Russia I guess.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Meh.

I think the lesson learned yesterday is that the Wolves just have to play the Blazers D-league team every game to turn Towns into Joel Embiid.

[kekgeek]

I want to say, I don't complain a ton about officials. I was an HS umpire for like 5 years so I understand how hard it actually is.

I just thought the study was really interesting

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

That first game against Philadelphia is all you need to reference. Unreal.

[FNG]

I want to say, I don't complain a ton about officials. I was an HS umpire for like 5 years so I understand how hard it actually is.

I just thought the study was really interesting

You've got a thick skin if you umped HS ball for 5 years! I have a lot of umpiring experience too, and I agree that those who have spent time reffing or umping are less likely to complain about calls. But yeah, I found the study interesting too. Getting the best referees less frequently doesn't mean the Wolves get jobbed more than their opponent, but it does mean that Wolves' fans are probably watching more poorly reffed games.

[Monster]

I want to say, I don't complain a ton about officials. I was an HS umpire for like 5 years so I understand how hard it actually is.

I just thought the study was really interesting

You've got a thick skin if you umped HS ball for 5 years! I have a lot of umpiring experience too, and I agree that those who have spent time reffing or umping are less likely to complain about calls. But yeah, I found the study interesting too. Getting the best referees less frequently doesn't mean the Wolves get jobbed more than their opponent, but it does mean that Wolves' fans are probably watching more poorly reffed games.

This was an interesting article thanks Kek for posting it. It's really interesting not super surprising but had not thought about that angle before.

As someone who spent years in college officiating and helping to set up intramural sports at a small college...here is another angle...it does make some sense to put your best officials on games that are likely to matter more. Idk if that is part of this too and even if that is part of this what I saw in the numbers didn't always follow that blueprint.

FWIW I officiated at pretty low levels but I also took classes in how it worked and also learned from some seasoned officials that did some higher level stuff. One guy I worked for officiated pretty much every sport you can think of. He has been part of crews officiating Big 10 sports. He is also an award winning university instructor in a completely different discipline. I have a little slice of officiating knowledge to draw on although I haven't officiated any sport for over 10 years.

FWIW I actually miss it sometimes. Why? It can be fun. There can be a nice teamwork between the officials in a game. If you call a really good game it feels pretty good. You can actually have enjoyable interactions with players. Of course then you play or attend a game where it's...um...not going well and then you are glad you aren't doing it anymore. Lol

I know many of these officials do plenty of games with various colleagues but I imagine there are refs that dread working with some of the other refs. There were refs I respected how they called the game but it wasn't a good fit if we officiated the same game. Our styles wouldn't always mesh and it frustrates the players. Of course everyone is supposed to call the game the same but that doesn't always happen. Just as in basketball the game some people just work better together than others. Some people I found the right positioning etc went really well and others even if they were a good official (relatively speaking at our level) it just wasn't as good. These guys are professionals not college kids or whatever but as other have said it's a hard job. I'm not giving NBA or other sports a pass but it's pretty hard. I would want no part of officiating even a low level division I basket all game...I'm sure the money would be pretty nice though so someone might be able convince me to do a game I suppose... Lol

The reality is that it would be great if officiating at various levels was simply better. I'm not sure how the NBA can increase their level of officiating. There is likely some talent/mentality people have to have to be good at the job. I found every level higher of player that I was officiating it became MUCH more difficult to call the game. Players are faster more clever more competitive etc etc etc etc. some players know the rules extremely well and use that to their advantage. A friend of mine that I went to college with and played lots of sports with was sort of that Chris Paul ability and genius knowing the game. He was a really good ref and player. He could also be really damn annoying to play with or against. I'm not sure I've ever played with another with the same mind feel and instinct for the game of basketball combined with actual ability. I can't imagine having to ref an NBA level of player like him with way more athletic ability size etc etc.

The reality is that if you play sports you should expect some level of imperfection or maybe even lack of competence in officiating. They are human and as this study shows even at the highest levels you aren't going to have the best of the best every night...well maybe the Lakers do but... Lol some people have a hard time dealing with this type of thing though. They may even know better. My friend I mentioned before absolutely knew he could be a poor sport at times but the last year I played city league basket all with him he lost his shit a couple times and got ejected in one game. Whatever it was that he was mad about was legit but it wasn't THAT bad plus some of those officials were not good and I think everyone knew that going in maybe even the officials themselves. Lol let's just say weren't playing in the top city league division.

What would make officials better? More money attract people into it? Maybe. It a good paying job but it's also months of being on the road and how many breaks do they get? Are people more interested in coaxing than being an official? Will having the G-league create more opportunities for increasing the talent pool of NBA officials? How much do NBA officials worry about losing their jobs? Is there a culture of basically once you kinda make it you aren't getting fired or demoted based on performance because basically there really isn't a better option?