NBA Referee playoff assignments

[ziggy]

http://www.dwightjaynes.com/who-does-the-nba-think-are-its-best-referees


Who does the NBA think are its best referees?
May 18th, 2009 by Dwight Jaynes | Filed under NBA.

You can always tell by the playoff assignments. As an official, the farther you get in the playoffs, the more highly regarded you are. And the more games you work in a given round, the higher the chance you'll be working in the next round.

There has been confusion about this, so I'll mention it one more time officials get paid by the round, not by the game. If you get chosen to officiate in the second round, you get the same amount of money for doing one game as another guy does for doing two games. That's to derail any incentive for officials to try to create longer series so they could make more money by working more games.

I have a good friend who has been keeping track of playoff assignments for many years and he was kind enough to share his findings. Here are the totals after the first two rounds:

     

    Officials   Games Worked

    OFFICIAL (Uniform No.) Conf-1st                Conf-SF

    Bavetta, Dick (27)  5 3

    Brothers, Tony (25)  4  1

    Callahan, Mike (24) 4 4

    Capers, James (19)  5 2

    Clark, Jimmy (6) 2  0

    Collins, Derrick (54) 3  0

    Corbin, Sean (33) 5 1

    Crawford, Dan (4) 5 5

    Crawford, Joe (17) 7 4

    Davis, Marc (34) 5 2

    Delaney, Bob (26)  0  0

    DeRosa, Joe (14) 4 3

    Forte, Joe (45) 2  0

    Foster, Scott (18) 5 4

    Fraher, Pat (52)  1  0

    Garretson, Ron (10) 5 3

    Javie, Steve (29) 7 4

    Jones, David (36) 3 1

    Kennedy, Bill (55) 4 3

    Lewis, Eric (42) 1  0

    Malloy, Ed (73)  3 1

    Mauer, Ken (41)  4 3

    McCutchen, Monty (13)  6 4

    Palmer, Violet (12) 2 1

    Phillips, Jason (23) 2  0

    Rush, Eddie (32) 2 1

    Salvatore, Bennett (15) 6 3

    Smith, Michael (38) 2 1

    Spooner, Bill (22) 4 3

    Stafford, Derrick (9) 5 3

    Washington, Tom (49) 5 3

    Willard, Greg (57) 5 2

    Wood, Leon (40) 2 1

    Wunderlich, Mark (18) 6 3

    Zack Zarba (58) 2  0

    Gary Zielinski (59) 2   0

    TOTALS 135 69

    (35 officials worked in the Conference first round games. 27 officials worked in the Conference second round games.)

A few random observations: In general, these assignments are extremely accurate in judging the ratings of NBA officials. But I caution you that one factor "injuries"  changes that. Bob Delaney hasn't worked ANY playoff games and I assume he has an injury or health problem.

There are more NBA officials than those in this chart but except for Delaney they are not listed because they didn't make the playoffs.

A few veteran officials who are either hurt or who have fallen (sometimes this is temporary) out of favor: Jimmy Clark, Joe Forte (no second-round games) and Eddie Rush (only one second-round game).

A few young officials who are gaining respect: Ed Malloy (into the second round, I think, for the first time), James Capers (two second-round games), Bill Kennedy (three second-round games) and Marc Davis (two second-round games).

The people working the most games are obviously thought of as the better officials and the ones ticketed to be among those chosen for the NBA Finals. Not many surprises there Danny and Joey Crawford, Dick Bavetta, Steve Javie, Monty McCutchen, Bill Spooner, Ron Garretson, Mike Callahan and Scott Foster.

Please remember, injuries affect this, so don't go overboard with conclusions.

[Reality]

thanks for the edit, zig.

Initially I thought it was your daughter posting WayOutWest style.

[ziggy]

thanks for the edit, zig.

Initially I thought it was your daughter posting WayOutWest style.

Yeah it was a bit out of control.

Just for you Reality
http://www.dwightjaynes.com/phil-jackson-said-after-the-game-he-wasnt-worried-but

[Reality]

 
Yeah i remember Smug Phils similiar pretense at halftime of one of the Celtics 2008 Championship series games.  The "all-is-well" bullschtick.  Or could Phils advancing age and health have him really not so worried about basketball???

But i do give Phil mega props for a radio interview he did.  Interviewee was asking him if all his hard work was the reason for his 9 titles.
Phil (quote from memory):  "There are a lot of coaches in this league who have and continue to work hard.  A lot of it was my being fortunate of being in the right place at the right time with the rosters i had." 

Ya, ya think a lot of teams (Blazers included) could have done a little better with Chris Bosh (Gasol) handed to them?

Back to the reffing topic no doubt it's a joke in the NBA, what with Crawford, Bavetta, Delaney etc continually getting the big (marketing determining) games.