Even if Donaghy Is Lying, Change Is Needed

One of my favorite adages is “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that they aren’t out to get you.” A slight variation of that applies to the latest news involving disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy. It might go, “Just because you’re a scoundrel and a criminal doesn’t mean what you allege isn’t true.”Donaghy has pleaded guilty to two felony counts for giving bookies inside information and recommendations on games he officiated, and in papers submitted in U.S District Court on Tuesday, he alleges that the league wanted the 2002 Western Conference Finals between the Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Lakers as well as the 2005 Western Conference Quarterfinal series between the Houston Rockets and the Dallas Mavericks to go seven games and instructed officials to influence the outcomes.These are the strongest allegations to emerge from the scandal that began last summer when two of Donaghy’s betting connections gave him up after their capture by the FBI. At the time it appeared that the extent of the scandal involved point shaving, in which games featuring heavily favored teams were altered by foul calls to influence either the margin of victory or the over/under — the total points scored.On one count, this is truly the NBA’s worst nightmare, and it will undoubtedly damage the game’s integrity — especially coming during an NBA Finals where the objectivity of the officials has been called into question. On the other hand, I’m tempted to wonder: That’s all you’ve got?Except for ardent Lakers fans, nearly everyone who watched the last games of the 2002 Western Conference Finals thought something was rotten with the officiating. Even Ralph Nader called for an independent investigation. More than a few Rockets fans are still up in arms over their 2005 series loss to Dallas, too. These are the two most obvious examples out there, so it’s hard for me to escape the notion that this is a convicted felon who has little wiggle room and is grasping at straws.Tell us something that we don’t already suspect? Was Game 7 of the scintillating San Antonio-Detroit series rigged? Did officials ensure that the 1995-96 Bulls would win 72 games? The L.A.-Sacramento series was regarded as “dirty” in the court of public opinion already. Making the dirt official doesn’t change much.This doesn’t mean that the NBA shouldn’t move aggressively in response to this scandal. So far there has been talk of increased transparency but little concrete action has taken place. Here’s the key problem. The entire manner in which the sport is refereed is behind the times. Many fans who are not at the games in the first place now watch them on huge televisions with crystal clear resolution. Fouls can even be discerned as we see the sweat from the player’s arms move in response to the contact.The NBA needs to take the lead in implementing new technologies to help properly referee the game.The NBA has video replay at the scorer’s table and uses it to judge shots taken with less than one second to go before the end of a quarter. They should expand that system. There should be a fourth referee at every game, the video referee, who sits at the scorer’s table with a bank of monitors. He or she would have input on all cut-and-dried calls, such as 3 point shots, charging involving a defender near the restricted area, and all plays where the ball is knocked out of bounds. By having backup on calls that typically take place away from the core of the action, in the paint around the perimeter, officials will be free to focus on the main part of the action.In addition, the senior member of the officiating crew, or whoever is deemed in charge, should be made available to the press for postgame questions. Maybe it will lead to more conferences to ensure that a correct call is made. I’m willing to endure more crowd shots or inane commentary by the play-by-play crew if that is the cost of getting calls right.Most every announcer says at some point during a telecast of a sporting event that the referees or umpires get it right most of the time, and I think that’s true. But in the wake of this scandal and the latest allegations, the league should do more to ensure that games are well officiated and that officials are held accountable. Simply denouncing Donaghy as a criminal doesn’t repair the damage. Improving the officiating process does.mjohnson@nysun.com

Even if Donaghy Is Lying, Change Is Needed

Even if Donaghy Is Lying, Change Is Needed

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