The recent life and times of Houston Rockets’ coach Jeff Van Gundy have been a wild ride. His team won the first two games of its best-of-seven playoff series at Dallas, but has since turned in a three-loss tankjob — two of those losses at home — to reach the brink of elimination. Van Gundy has been fined a league-record $100,000 for public comments he has made that have been critical of NBA officials, and, according to Commissioner David Stern, they might just be getting warmed up (Reuters):
“If he’s going to say things like that, he’s not going to continue in this league,” Stern told reporters in Houston.
…
“If the attitude reflected in those comments continues to be public, he’s going to have a big problem with me as long as I’m commissioner,” Stern said.
Stern said the league was upset both at what Van Gundy said and his refusal to divulge the official he claims told him that referees “were looking at Yao harder because of (Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s) complaints” to the league office about officiating, The Houston Chronicle reported.
Having both coached and officiated basketball in my life (though never on any meaningful level, I should point out), my view on this sort of thing is that coaches generally should not be allowed to blast officials in the media. While a fine of $100 Gs may be excessive, there’s certainly a league interest in keeping this kind of stuff off limits to coaches. But in this particular case, the primary fault lies with the league and the officiating crew — or, namely, the one non-playoff official who “called [Van Gundy] and had warned Yao was mentioned in an online evaluation from supervisor of officials Ronnie Nunn.” According to Van Gundy, the new officiating outlook was “because of (Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s) complaints” about calls in the first two games of the series. Commissioner Stern is upset by the fact that Van Gundy won’t divulge the identity of the official.
Assuming what Van Gundy has said is true — leaving aside the comment about Cuban’s influence for a moment — this is a horrifying situation for the NBA. An off-the-record comment from an official to a coach, relaying information about official evaluations and what to watch for in the future is about as big a gaffe as a referee can commit, short of admitting to taking a bribe. Stern clearly wants to discipline (read: fire, as well he should) the official if this is, in fact, true, and Van Gundy is vexing him by refusing to out the ref. It’s a disgrace that Stern — thought by many to rule his league like a tyrant — is now stomping around blaming Van Gundy for a situation that is wholly the creation of the league’s incompetence. Did anyone expect Van Gundy to hear such things from an official and not go public with it?
If I were Van Gundy, I’d never give the NBA the information they desire. From now on, this referee will be beholden to Van Gundy to protect his secret (and his job). In future games involving this official and one of Van Gundy’s teams, Van Gundy practically has one ref on the take. The price of the ‘bribe’? $100,000.
Nathan Novak at 12:51 pm
