Are NBA referees too quick to give technicals and ejections? | Devine Intervention

Yahoo Sports NBA reporter Dan Devine is joined by The Rights To Ricky Sanchez’s Michael Levin on the “Devine Intervention” podcast to discuss the state of refereeing in the NBA this season, and explain why referees are giving out technical fouls and ejections too freely that it’s disrupting the flow of the games.

Hear the full conversation on “Devine Intervention” - part of the “Ball Don’t Lie” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen

Video Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

MICHAEL LEVIN: So I coach my wife's basketball team, my wife's adult women's basketball team. And I am frequently drawing the ire of referees, making probably $25 for a game. And I'm just like, dude, you're not [BLEEP], whatever it is. I have never been teed up, but I've gotten pretty close a few times.

So I'm a ref guy. I've always been a ref guy. As a kid, I'm a ref guy, whatever. I understand how difficult of a job it is at this speed to call the game. And there's fouls that they're going to miss.

One of them-- one of my pet ones is charge calls. I think they just love doing the charge gesture. I don't think that they're oftentimes looking at it. I think they're just like, ah, I get to do it, I'm going to do it.

I don't mind missed calls. What I mind as a ref, and how-dare-you situation, is when they make it about them, and they, like, stop the game. They stop the flow and momentum of a game to call a technical foul for, like, hanging on the rim, or, like, mean mugging at someone, gesturing in any way. Like, it just doesn't need to be the case.

And the most insane one is when they call a technical for delay of game, and thus delay the game further by making them walk-- the other team walk to the other side of the court and take a slow one free throw. It drives me insane.

And there's so many-- there's so many people thinking about how can we make the NBA regular season matter, and how can we make it faster? And you saw baseball, obviously, make their games way faster, and it was a success and all that stuff. And it's like, can you just tell the refs to stop being [BLEEP] losers and just, like, call the game and pretend like they don't-- don't get so-- they're so soft and heated. And they're acting like, well, they have to restore order, like this is [BLEEP] Supreme Court.

And it's just like, guys, it's a basketball game. You're allowed to talk [BLEEP]. You're allowed to get mad. You're allowed to clap in a general direction.

You should be allowed to suck it to the crowd, Joel. You should be allowed to do that without getting fined for it. And it's just all of these things, when it slows it down, and there's already basketball.

I think the NBA should move to the Elam Ending. I've thought this for a while. I think it's way more dynamic. And it's how everybody plays pickup basketball. Like, why wouldn't it happen the last couple of minutes of every NBA game? Or most NBA games are total torture, and they shouldn't be that way.

But why during the middle of the game are you also slowing it down so the refs can go, like, I'm in charge? Just so you know, I'm in charge. You think you're in charge? I'm in charge. I'm Mr. Ref.

And it's just like, god, I hate them. I hate refs. I hate refs. I hate umps. I think it is a despicable career. And if you go into it, you should feel the shame of taking-- I'm sure they make good money, but it's not-- there's no amount of money that would be worth it to me, for me or anyone in my circle of loved ones to become a ref.