http://deadspin.com/5392067/excerpts-from-the-book-the-nba-doesnt-want-you-to-read
Disgraced and incarcerated former NBA referee Tim Donaghy just finished a tell-all book about NBA corruption that was supposed to be published by Random House, but strangely the company changed their mind after investing thousands of dollars on the venture (maybe Stern made a few calls). So it was taken off Amazon pre-order, but this website managed to transcribe some excerpts, and maybe a smaller publishing house will give it a try. Of course we have to consider the source and his motives, like Canseco's tell-all about steroids in baseball. But we should also remember that Canseco turned out to be right with several of his allegations.
We all know that refs influence (deliberately or not) NBA games probably more than officials in all the other pro sports, maybe apart from the goof-riddled MLB playoffs this year. But it's just the nature of the big-money, big-media modern NBA and ref culture that controversies are likely, especially due to the subjective, inconsistent, and vague nature of personal foul rules and enforcement in basketball. Literally millions of dollars are at stake from a whistle at a critical moment. NFL and soccer refs believe that they do a great job if no one notices they're even there. But NBA refs have big egos and want to be noticed. They're a sideshow like the cheerleaders, even at the expense of fairness and correctness.
So Donaghy says what we all suspect: the NBA front office wants to promote big stars, keep games close and interesting, extend playoff series, help the home teams win, and maybe have more interesting/profitable teams succeed. This will make the NBA and its sponsors richer. And officiating can help that. Stars walk all over and rarely get in foul trouble (except clumsy big men), yet defensive specialists get whistles just for breathing on a star. Often home teams or teams down in a game get more calls and go to the foul line more (give the people what they want!). But fans have all the data available for foul calls and which teams/ref crews were participating, so someone should crunch the numbers and see if there is measurable bias (if all else fails, I will take a week off work and try). That doesn't prove intent, but at least could expose a problem.
Donaghy talks crap about several refs, but alleges that Dick Bavetta is the league's "cleaner". He makes sure the proper result plays out in critical games, and even brags about how good he is at it. Coincidentally, he was on the floor during several controversial playoff games, such as game 6 between LAL-SAC in 2002 with SAC up 3-2 against the Juggernaut Lakers (yeah, I'm still bitter). It's also strange that the NBA picks the officiating crew a few days before the game. Why wouldn't they have ref schedules randomized and pre-set even before the playoffs began, in order to reduce the chance of tampering?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0KJvlSUB-w
Well some might say that the NBA already is very popular and makes a ton of loot, so why would they risk it all to squeeze a few more millions out? An exposed scandal would ruin everything. Pete Rose was rich, successful, and still broke the rules; same with A-Rod. Success can't stop greed and corruption. In fact in may be a strong motivator; enough is never enough and Stern has to keep growing the NBA's success or he'll be fired. And maybe scandals won't deep-six a pro sport anyway, so it's worth the risk. Although MLB attendance was severely down this year (probably due to the recession), fans still keep coming after the unpopular players' strike and steroids scandals.
But what about ugly, small-market teams doing well in recent times, like SA, DET, NO, and SAC? There are a lot of series sweeps in the playoffs too. And Bron/Nash still haven't won rings. Shouldn't Stern have pulled enough strings so those things didn't happen? Well the NBA can't be blatantly obvious. Some teams are way better than others and should get a sweep. And SA, DET, and SAC did have good, championship-worthy squads for a while. Even with tampering, they still could have overcame and won. It's not like Stern could hire a sniper to take out Duncan with a rifle during a time out. They are clever and they pick their spots, like the DAL-MIA Finals or the LAL-SAC 2002 series. I wish the refs did strike this season so we could see what a properly-officiated pro game looks like.
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