NBA players poll: Referees are the biggest issue in the league / News - Basketnews.com

A quarter of all NBA players who participated in the poll named officiating as the biggest issue in the currently NBA, naming inconsistency and lack of accountability as the main factors. Scott Foster was named the worst referee while Tony Brothers was elected the best.

Credit: AP Photo/LM Otero - Scanpix Credit AP Photo/LM Otero - Scanpix

An annual poll by The Athletic revealed interesting details about what NBA players think. From the most underrated to the most hated, from the worst fans to the player they'd least like to fight, 108 players gave their opinion.

As a bonus question, the players were asked what the biggest issue facing the NBA currently is. More than a quarter of all respondents (25.8%) answered that officiating is the most significant problem.

The lack of accountability was referenced multiple times by at least several of the players.

"Ref accountability. It's the thing right now. Because there is none. There's just not a system set up for it. And it's been real shaky, I think, this year. Just something to keep them accountable. I don't know if I want to take their money. But something to get them to have some type of, 'I can't f— this up' mentality," one player told.

"When the game ends, we get graded on our performance and all that. [With the refs] is all hush-hush. If I was commissioner for a day, visibility and feedback from the players based on a grading system for referees game by game. [The process] can be behind the scenes but it can't be like every time we speak out or are upset we get fined," added another.

"I think there needs to be some sort of back and forth with the way refs are graded, and that the players should have something to do with that. Or at least, there should be visibility to see how they're graded. Feedback. A voice. If there's a game where we thought we didn't get a great whistle, let me go in and see how you graded them, or let me have feedback. Let me see how that affects him because I feel like there's been a lot of issues this year across the league."

The lack of consistency between the games and the calls was the biggest issue for a lot of the players who chose refereeing as the biggest issue.

"The game should be taught to be reffed the same way by everybody, and I don't feel like [it is]," one player said. "As a player, you've got to figure out what a ref is trying to call today. I feel like everything should be refereed the same way."

"I just don't think there's a consistent level of officiating. They all referee differently and that's hard for players to get a feel for how they can play on any given night," another player added. "And the superstars being looked after the way they are — that's kind of my European background. Everyone's treated the same over there and it just makes it a lot easier to go in and know how you can defend."

Asked to name the worst NBA referee, the players had a clear answer - it's Scott Foster, who received 25.4% of all votes.

Tony Brothers, in return, was named as the best official with 28.8% of the vote.

"He’s the worst ref to ever do it in the NBA," one player said about Foster. "He takes everything personally. He's awful."

"He always talks s— to us," one player said about Brothers. "He interacts with us instead of taking everything personally. He'd be like, 'Sit your ass down, you know you fouled him.'"

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