Excerpts from Tim Donaghy's book

[Bear Pand]

His book got canceled by the publisher but a bunch of excepts leaked out:

http://deadspin.com/5392067/excerpts-from-the-book-the-nba-doesnt-want-you-to-read

If Kobe Bryant had two fouls in the first or second quarter and went to the bench, one referee would tell the other two, "Kobe's got two fouls. Let's make sure that if we call a foul on him, it's an obvious foul, because otherwise he's gonna go back to the bench. If he is involved in a play where a foul is called, give the foul to another player."

Similarly, when games got physically rough, we would huddle up and agree to tighten the game up. So we started calling fouls on guys who didn't really matter-"ticky-tack" or "touch" fouls where one player just touched another but didn't really impede his progress. Under regular circumstances these wouldn't be fouls, but after a skirmish we wanted to regain control. We would never call these types of fouls on superstars, just on the average players who didn't have star status. It was important to keep the stars on the floor.

Allen Iverson provides a good example of a player who generated strong reaction, both positive and negative, within the corps of NBA referees. For instance, veteran referee Steve Javie hated Allen Iverson and was loathe [sic] to give him a favorable call. If Javie was on the court when Iverson was playing, I would always bet on the other team to win or at least cover the spread. No matter how many times Iverson hit the floor, he rarely saw the foul line. By contrast, referee Joe Crawford had a grandson who idolized Iverson. I once saw Crawford bring the boy out of the stands and onto the floor during warm-ups to meet the superstar. Iverson and Crawford's grandson were standing there, shaking hands, smiling, talking about all kinds of things. If Joe Crawford was on the court, I was pretty sure Iverson's team would win or at least cover the spread.

Of course, Stafford had some friends in the league, too. I worked a Knicks game in Madison Square Garden with him on February 26, 2007. New York shot an astounding 39 free throws that night to Miami's paltry eight. It seemed like Stafford was working for the Knicks, calling fouls on Miami like crazy. Isiah Thomas was coaching the Knicks, and after New York's four-point victory, a guy from the Knicks came to our locker room looking for Stafford, who was in the shower. He told us that Thomas sent him to retrieve Stafford's home address; apparently, Stafford had asked the coach before the game for some autographed sneakers and jerseys for his kids. Suddenly, it all made sense.

Referee Jess Kersey was another one of Isiah Thomas' guys. They'd talk openly on the phone as if they had known each other since childhood. Thomas even told Kersey that he was pushing to get Ronnie Nunn removed from the supervisor's job so that Kersey and Dick Bavetta could take over. This sort of thing happened all the time, and I kept waiting for a Knicks game when Stafford, Bavetta, and Kersey were working together. It was like knowing the winning lottery numbers before the drawing!

There's a lot more at the link I posted.

I have a hard time believing Donaghy though, especially since he stood to profit by exposing all of this. Stern and the NBA pretty much just threw him under the bus as well, so him could see him wanting some payback. A lot of the stuff is circumstantial, like assuming just because a ref asked a coach/player for an autograph that they'd call a game a certain way. Still interesting though.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

There's a lot more at the link I posted.

I have a hard time believing Donaghy though, especially since he stood to profit by exposing all of this. Stern and the NBA pretty much just threw him under the bus as well, so him could see him wanting some payback. A lot of the stuff is circumstantial, like assuming just because a ref asked a coach/player for an autograph that they'd call a game a certain way. Still interesting though.

I've talked about this in the chatbox. This kind of stuff is nothing new to gambling insiders.

When Donaghy got caught, Stern put he gag order on the rest of the officials, and changed a bunch of procedural things that only hardcore professional gamblers were privy to...the main one being the referee crews for games no longer being announced ahead of time, and essentially being kept secret.

I was involved in the seedy gambling underground for a few years. Those in the know knew that certain refs had certain "tendancies", similar to what Donaghy describes. I would get tips from people who would know these sorts of things, who would warn me to not take action on certain plays, and they would almost always come in. Mostly game totals, but sometimes (but rarely) winners and covers.

It's changed a bit post-Donaghy, but it was almost an accepted part of the culture that certain coaches were very close to certain refs. Golfing buddies, kids hung out together, wives were friends, etc. This culture simply does not exist in any other sport.

I believe every word Donaghy says, beacuse I've heard it all before, and i've seen it play out. I lost, and later made money on similar information. Anyone who thinks Donaghy was the only ref betting on games is naive. These guys frequently hung out in casinos (against league rules) and played poker with the seediest of the east coast gmabling underground. I knew these people. I saw it.

When the Donaghy stuff broke, the gambling community was certain the NBA castle would crumble. Stern is a very powerful and shrewd induvidual. It's remarkable how he managed to snuff out this potential fire. He has the right friends.

sidenote-the superstar treatment when it comes to fouls isnt even something the league runs from. It's the same reason the NFL protects the QB's. The stars need to play. It's a business first, and people lose sight of that.

 

[ralaw]

Anyone who has ever played competitive basketball on a serious level knows certain refs call games different ways. Even when I was in highschool we knew certain refs didn't like our coach, so we wouldn't get calls...At the time we were a pretty good and knew it, and the refs didn't like that. Everyone also knows that refs will make calls to "gain control" of the game and this is nothing new either, as it happens in highschool, college and in the NBA. This is just the nature of how basketball is called, as certain refs call games different ways for many different reasons. As far as the "superstar treatment" what else is new?

 

[Joey P]

I want this book!!!

 

[killgod]

I want this book!!!

I'm sure the NBA won't ever let that get released.


It's one thing to have sports bio's speaking of drug use and locker room antics, but this kind of corruption? I think it'll be pretty hard to get that stuff published.

 

[LC AAU]

I played AAU basketball since 5th grade, and I played on a team that was like a feeder to my high school. Our high school has horrible rep when it comes to basketball and the refs never give us shit. So since I played for their AAU team, we would never called for us and the other team would get bull shit calls,

We lost a State Final 4 game because of our rep. It sucks, big time.

 

[jeffx]

I'm sure the NBA won't ever let that get released.


It's one thing to have sports bio's speaking of drug use and locker room antics, but this kind of corruption? I think it'll be pretty hard to get that stuff published.

Herr Stern has spoken!

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4603209

 

[Vinsane]

Anyone who has ever played competitive basketball on a serious level knows certain refs call games different ways. Even when I was in high school we knew certain refs didn't like our coach, so we wouldn't get calls...

When I played I was always calling the refs "sir". Show an ounce of respect to a lot of these guys and they pay it back later. I never got to the line a lot being a pass first point. However, it worked wonders when other guys would be involved in a 50/50 call and it went our way.

The political side of the NBA is why it's so hard to really love and respect the game. It's almost like a less glorified version of professional wrestling.

It really comes down to 50/50, you either sit on one side of the fence and say "This is completely wrong" and not get into the game? Or you sit on the other side of the fence and say "This is completely wrong, but it's apart of the game". Comparing it to professional wrestling, though?

 

[BigHouseUSA]

The political side of the NBA is why it's so hard to really love and respect the game. It's almost like a less glorified version of professional wrestling.

I don't say qft ever, but if I did, I'd say it here.

 

[Esjay]

By far the worst refs of the major sports. It's not even close. NBA refs are literally so bad they make some games completely unwatchable all by themselves.

Bill Simmons has been saying this for a long time now. Why doesn't the NBA have a program to train aspiring officials? Why are there so many old guys who have clearly lost their eyesight and or sanity still reffing games?

It's a joke.

 

[Bear Pand]

The refs were horrible last year. Should have left their asses locked out. I believe every word of this. The NBA and MLB are so far behind the NFL as far as improving officiating.

None of what he said pertains to last year. After the Donaghy incident they changed a lot of things around.


---

I think there's some truth to what Donaghys saying but it just seems like he's throwing everything at the wall hoping something will stick. Sometimes he claims refs made bad calls because they were friends/enemies with a certain player or coach. Sometimes he claims they were instructed to. Sometimes he claims the refs were gambling. Just a whole slew of accusations and he doesn't have real hard evidence for any of them.

 

[Bear Pand]

I'm pretty sure every ref I saw named in that excerpt is still in the league.

I'm pretty sure that officiating has changed since Donaghy got busted. I really doubt the reason referess sucked last year was because of the things Donaghy talked about.

 

[Bear Pand]

Then why was it so terrible last season? I mean there are many specific instances pointed out by sports writers from the most crucial points in the season. They probably aren't allowed to go out to the casino anymore or the stuff like that. But these guys were dirty in the past, I don't see why they would change suddenly when we have seen that there is still no repercussion for being a bad ref in the NBA. The problem with most of these guys is who know who they are, and if you're a good ref/umpire that shouldn't be the case. These guys want to be the guys playing the game, remember the Bavetta/Barkley race at the All-Star game? They don't understand that they aren't the show.

Not to mention the system itself being broken. Like Peyman mentioned, there are too few refs on the court from too few vantage points. And how the hell can we expect guys like Steve Javy and Dick Bavetta to keep up with fast breaks? That why there are so many garbage calls in those situations, because the ref can't really see what happened from behind the play. He just saw LeBron on the floor and blew the whistle. Star fucking refs FTL.

This is what I'm getting at. The the refs sucking now is probably more because of things like too few vantage points rather than the refs deliberately acting shady.

A lot of the stuff Donaghy mentioned is seen in other sports/leagues. Huge differences in free throw attempts between two teams? You'll find that at any level of basketball. Certain officiating crews being more whistle happy than others? NFL Coaches talk about this with their players weekly.

My problem is that now whenever a ref makes a bad call a lot of people are going to say it's cause the game is fixed. I don't think thats fair especially when a huge reason for that argument is a book written by a criminal like Donaghy.