Joined: 24 Dec 2007 Posts: 35812 Location: Santa Clarita, CA (Hell) ->>>>>Ithaca, NY -≥≥≥≥≥Berkeley, CA
Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2023 10:40 am Post subject:
I bet Silver made him a deal where if he retired quietly, he would keep his pension and retirement benefits. _________________ Damian Lillard shatters Dwight Coward's championship dreams:
I bet Silver made him a deal where if he retired quietly, he would keep his pension and retirement benefits.
Pretty much what happened I'm sure.
Nothing to see here now, move on, folks. Problem has taken care of itself, lol.
The refs have a union. I don't think his pension was in any danger. It was just a question of how much embarrassment he wanted before getting fired. _________________ Internet Argument Resolved
I'd like to see the details of this investigation. I don't believe the NBA would force out a seasoned ref because of largely innocuous tweets, no matter how unprofessional they were. A fine would have been appropriate. Instead, the league brought more attention to its officiating with this move, so it would follow that if everyone's behaving rationally here, the outcome of the investigation would've been a bigger PR hit to the league.
I obviously don't buy that retiring was Lewis' choice. This investigation could have been wrapped up much sooner and he could've been absolved of all wrongdoing if the league wanted. Instead they dragged it out to the doggest days of the summer and made it look like it was Lewis' choice, probably with some union negotiations in between. Not unlike how the Celtics just suspended Udoka indefinitely instead of firing him.
I'd like to see the details of this investigation. I don't believe the NBA would force out a seasoned ref because of largely innocuous tweets, no matter how unprofessional they were. A fine would have been appropriate. Instead, the league brought more attention to its officiating with this move, so it would follow that if everyone's behaving rationally here, the outcome of the investigation would've been a bigger PR hit to the league.
I obviously don't buy that retiring was Lewis' choice. This investigation could have been wrapped up much sooner and he could've been absolved of all wrongdoing if the league wanted. Instead they dragged it out to the doggest days of the summer and made it look like it was Lewis' choice, probably with some union negotiations in between. Not unlike how the Celtics just suspended Udoka indefinitely instead of firing him.
I don't have trouble imagining the NBA firing a ref for violating the policy of engaging with fans publicly, even anonymously. So I don't assume there is something bigger that the league is hiding. But, in this day and age, no matter what the league did or announced, some people would think there was a coverup.
Ultimately, I don't think any of this matters. No matter when the league announced something, the PR hit would have been fairly insignificant.
But, in this day and age, no matter what the league did or announced, some people would think there was a coverup.
It would help if they actually released the results of their investigations. Not that I expect a semblance of transparency from a sports league. They're responsible for the finances, not uncovering truth.
But you and I have sparred on this before as it pertained to L2M reports. I personally don't believe there's some kind of ref conspiracy, but just widespread incompetence and toxic politics. Everyone seems more concerned with covering their asses than improving the officiating aspect of the product.
But, in this day and age, no matter what the league did or announced, some people would think there was a coverup.
It would help if they actually released the results of their investigations. Not that I expect a semblance of transparency from a sports league. They're responsible for the finances, not uncovering truth. .
That's the crux of it. If the results of their investigation was simply that Lewis defended himself anonymously online because of his ego, would that satisfy you? Or would you just think they were covering up something bigger?
Also, NBA investigations are a bit of a joke. The NBA doesn't have subpoena power; they can't compel people to testify under penalty of perjury. It's not like the NBA can get any information from Twitter that isn't available to you and me. I wouldn't be surprised if most of their investigation is just the stuff that has been reported.
levon wrote:
But you and I have sparred on this before as it pertained to L2M reports. I personally don't believe there's some kind of ref conspiracy, but just widespread incompetence and toxic politics. Everyone seems more concerned with covering their asses than improving the officiating aspect of the product
Since the existence of organized sports, people have thought refs, umpires, and officials were biased and incompetent. Fans have been saying "kill the umpire" for 150 years.
I am skeptical there is anything the league can do to improve the officiating. There are lots of studies that show professional officials -- who go through a rigorous process to get to the top of the heap -- make lots of mistakes. Fans will be awed by a player who only misses 10% of his free throws; I don't think there will ever be a time when fans will think any level of refereeing mistakes are reasonable and certainly not praiseworthy.
And there will always be fans who perceive reasonable calls as wrong -- so even if a ref is 100% accurate, he would never be perceived as 100% accurate. I think there is nothing the NBA can do that it hasn't done that would make fans think referees are less biased and more competent.
It feels like the NBA hires these refs and then they can just be terrible and never be fired because of their union. Same in the MLB. Someone can be so terrible that every fanbase sees it, but they have a job until the day they decide to retire.
If you can't just straight up fire a ref for being bad at his job, then it just helps makes a mockery of the entire sport.
It took a weird burner account for him to be seemingly pressured into retiring.
That's the crux of it. If the results of their investigation was simply that Lewis defended himself anonymously online because of his ego, would that satisfy you? Or would you just think they were covering up something bigger?
It would satisfy me because it would confirm my initial read of this whole situation as a nothingburger. My point is they've drawn more attention to themselves by doing it this way. And the NBA has been shown to be mindful of when and how they release news before, most recently with Silver himself saying he's delaying the Morant investigation news until after the Finals.
I agree that their investigations are limited, and I also think that L2M reports are biased towards the call made on the floor at the time so the officials don't get penalized in their careers. If there truly wasn't any more to this story, it could've ended a lot of other ways. You can chalk it up to incompetence, ass-covering, or malicious intent for the NBA choosing to end their invesigation, but either way I'd like to see the results and I hope someone leaks them.
activeverb wrote:
Since the existence of organized sports, people have thought refs, umpires, and officials were biased and incompetent. Fans have been saying "kill the umpire" for 150 years.
I am skeptical there is anything the league can do to improve the officiating. There are lots of studies that show professional officials -- who go through a rigorous process to get to the top of the heap -- make lots of mistakes. Fans will be awed by a player who only misses 10% of his free throws; I don't think there will ever be a time when fans will think any level of refereeing mistakes are reasonable and certainly not praiseworthy.
And there will always be fans who perceive reasonable calls as wrong -- so even if a ref is 100% accurate, he would never be perceived as 100% accurate. I think there is nothing the NBA can do that it hasn't done that would make fans think referees are less biased and more competent.
A contingent of fans have been idiots for 150 years, and therefore NBA officiating is optimal and nothing should ever be improved or even sought to be improved.
A contingent of fans have been idiots for 150 years, and therefore NBA officiating is optimal and nothing should ever be improved or even sought to be improved.
That's not what I said at all.
The NBA constantly takes steps to improve the officiating. This year, for example, they are introducing tracking technology in an attempt to make out-of-bounds and goaltending calls more accurate. The issue isn't that the league has been complacent. Just the opposite.
The issue is that, as I said, human beings refereeing an NBA game will probably always make more mistakes than fans will find acceptable.
That doesn't mean the NBA shouldn't do things to improve the refereeing. It does mean the things the NBA does to improve refereeing are unlikely to affect fans' perception of the refereeing.
A contingent of fans have been idiots for 150 years, and therefore NBA officiating is optimal and nothing should ever be improved or even sought to be improved.
Sure, these discussions often end up with that straw man argument. But really, there's a pretty good chance that NBA officiating really is optimal or close to optimal. This is because there's really no solution for inevitable rates of human error, bad visual angles, and deception through flopping and the like. Furthermore, a lot of fans will insist that correct calls are wrong, as a result of partisanship. Fans often don't understand the rules, and announcers contribute to this.
The league has spent about 15 years working on the officiating, dating back to the days of the Donaghy scandal. There's a rigorous system for training and evaluating officials. So yes, it is possible that this is as good as it gets.
In soccer, the federations and leagues have adopted an elaborate system for video review. The results have been a mixed bag, as is true for the coaches' challenges in the NBA and instant replay in the NFL. This may be all that can be done, until we get ChatReferee to automate officiating. And then people will just claim that SkyNet is out to get their teams. _________________ Internet Argument Resolved
Joined: 27 May 2010 Posts: 49069 Location: LA to the Bay
Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2023 4:54 pm Post subject:
There is another thread about this in the general basketball forum which is where this should really go probably but JUST MING posted someone discovered this guy has/had a burner account on Twitter (X).
I feel bad for those who think the NBA is after refs who rig games.. I have some bad news for you… you are wrong.. the NBA pays refs to rigg games it’s why bad officiating has been going on for years, Eric Lewis was fired because of his stupidity not because he was helping Boston
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