NBA coaches can start to breathe a sigh of relief as it looks like regular league referees will be back to work at the start of the regular season. The deal is not yet official but their looks to be nothing standing in the way of the deal being finalized by Friday.
The deal was brought about after an unexpected meeting took place on Tuesday between NBA commissioner David Stern and the head of the referees union Lamell McMorris. Negotiations were not even close the last time the two sides met which has led to a lockout and use of replacement and WNBA referees during the preseason. Head Coaches have definitely not been happy with the officiating early on and some coaches have been really paying for it. Just recently Charlotte Bobcats head coach Larry Brown and the Bobcats organization were fined $60,000 apiece and a day later Stan Van Gundy of the Orlando Magic was fined $35,000 for comments made towards officiating. So far games have had a very slow pace with way too many fouls called and some coaches have even compared it to the feel of a summer league game.
So this deal is definitely coming at the right time with the season set to start next week. If the deal gets finalized on Friday, which is expected, then NBA referees will start a weekend training the next day to get them prepared for the start of the regular season on Tuesday. One source said that “things look promising” and that everybody expects for this to get done. Great news for the NBA and all of its fans as the season can get going and the game will start to look like what NBA basketball is supposed to look like.
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