MORE NBA HYPOCRISY

by GMoney, The Money Shot

Well, Rasheed Wallace has been fined again. That's no surprise. The guy is a ticking time bomb. On the heels of game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, 'Sheed had some choice words for the officials:

"The cats are flopping all over the floor and they're calling that," Wallace said. "That ain't basketball out there. It's all entertainment. You all should know that."

I thankfully left out the 45 expletives that were extremely prevalent in those 4 sentences. I'm not on Rasheed's side here, don't get me wrong, but there is some hypocrisy going on inside the NBA as far as the treatment of officials go. It's not fair, either. Everyone else is allowed to have their decision-making and on-court play drug through the mud...except for the referees. And that is bullshit.

Rasheed Wallace can't say that the officiating is terrible. I get that. But why couldn't Gregg Popovich or Brent Barry or Tim Duncan say that? After all, the NBA admitted that they fucked up the call at the end of game 4. So why can't they piss and moan about Joey Crawford's ineptitude?

It boggles the mind actually. There is absolutely no accountability in the officiating circle of the NBA. When they mess something up, 99% of the time, Stern does nothing. If players and coaches can be fined for speaking out against crappy officiating, then shouldn't those same refs be fined or suspended if the criticism is correct and true? It makes sense to me.

But, contrarily, I would like to see the referees have to face the press after each game as well. How great would it be to hear Dick Bavetta talk shit about two teams who were not trying at all and just going through the motions? Or how he allowed LeBron James to take 8 steps after a foul for an and-one? Oh, I would love to hear that.

Basically what I'm getting at here is that I realize that human error is part of the game and it is something that we have to live with. Hell, game 4 in San Antonio proved that. But the NBA shouldn't be selling out their own referees, not now--not ever. Because once you do that, you open up the floodgates for all of your officials to be questioned.

And the months of April, May, and June are about the best players in the world striving for a ring. It isn't about collecting as many $25,000 fines because poor officiating is overshadowing the great games. So let's just calm the fuck down, kick back, and enjoy the rest of the playoffs. These are the best referees in the world and if you don't like them, you should probably choose something else to watch.

Because things aren't going to change. Refs are going to miss calls. Fans are going to bitch and moan. And Rasheed is going to keep getting fined and T'ed up. The world keeps spinning...