You're the commisioner: How would you fix this referee disaster?

[ziggy]

If you were in David Stern's shoes, How would you go about cleaning up this mess with the referees and repairing that damage that is going to be done to the league's image?

The first that I would do is demand that the refs stop giving the stars all of the "benefit of the doubt" calls. There would be no more Dwyane Wade going to the line every time someone comes within 5 feet of him, Every ref would be told to make every call by the letter of the law. I believe that this would stop a large majority of the questionable calls that happen every game and give the refs a little more credibility.

[dvdbumpus]

No freakin clue. Obviously you're going to have to toughen up the rules on refs, and possibly have a ref looking at replays and watching over things in a booth.

That's quite a pickle.

[Mustachio]

its gonna have to be a complete over haul. you gotta get the taste outta the average NBA fan.

Id say start with rule adjustments. like ziggy said, you cant have this once you been in the league a few years you get foul calls. I mean I understand the purpose is to make stars, but it turns the fans off more than making the player famous in my opinion.

Next your gonna have to have an independent quality control group. Basically like the 4th ref, sits at the table and reviews calls immediately so as to avoid protest. So say a ref calls a phantom call... a coach protests... then the QC ref reviews it and makes a decision. It would have to be an independent group so it takes blame away from the official crew. basically like NFLs replay system only quicker. the quality control group basically shows that the sole responsibility isnt only on the refs now. that way no game can be decided by one rouge referee.

[dav7z]

I agree with both Ziggy and Must, First the STAR calls have to stop and the games called the same on the road as at home . Ref should not live in the city for the game they calling. Like football each team should have two protest per half . If the call is a good call a time out is charged. INSTANT REPLAY. Last year they did it a few times at the end of a half as far as time on the ckock.So that rule would not be hard to change. Any ref caught betting on any games at all should be kicked out of the league.

[ALong13]

This is hard, and I'm glad I'm not David Stern, we have to have a stricter for referees, Referees should not be allowed to call the "silly" fouls that happen when a person lightly taps the opposing player. Referees should have to watch tape of bad calls made by themself and other referees to learn what to and not to call. Maybe retake a class, and revise the rules. Fines should go to referees and suspensions as well for misbehavior. I don't know how much Instant replay will change, as their will always be questions, it's known to happen in baseball as well, the gambling is what hurt the NBA. So mainly punishments for off-the-court actions should not be handeled lightly. If a referee gets hit with a DWI, or something like that he should be suspended as well without pay....and such...