Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr is the latest to speak on his discontent with the NBA's last two-minute report policy.
On the surface, it would make sense that coaches would lend support to the use of the reports since head coaches argue calls all of the time.
Kerr doesn't see it that way and spoke with reporters saying he understands the intent but doesn't see how it's helping anyone out.
“I’m not a huge fan of the two-minute report myself. It does put the refs in a tough spot. I don’t know what it accomplishes, but I do appreciate that the league is trying to be transparent about what they’re looking at, and how the refs are judged and all that. But I’m not sure to what extent it really helps anybody.”
Commissioner Adam Silver made a commitment to be as transparent as possible regarding league officiating after the scandal dating back to the Tim Donaghy years.
For now, this is the league's end all, be all solution for accountability to players, fans, and media regarding its officiating.
Kerr also feels one of the main reasons many don't like the process is because it is just too automated for basketball.
“In my mind, I think the league is trying so hard to be perfect with the officials, where every call is being judged. From what I gather, every official is graded on every call. There’s too much gray area in basketball. I don’t believe that you can just say that every call is right or wrong. I think there’s a feel element that’s lacking right now. I could give you a lot of examples, but I just think that there should be more feel involved.”
It's easy to criticize someone else's solution when standing afar, but Kerr offers a few suggestions he feels would help the situation as well.
“A call that’s made five minutes into the game maybe shouldn’t be called (in) the last five minutes. Maybe as a referee, you have to establish that, ‘Hey we’re not going do that. You can’t hold and grab.’ But maybe it’s questionable whether it’s a foul, but you call it early to set the tone. I believe in that kind of officiating. But I don’t know that that’s how the league is approaching it. I think they’re taking a very systematic approach, and trying to make it perfect when it's absolutely an imperfect world we live in.”
The league would be wise to take feedback from the coaches and players to tweak modify the rule as best as possible.
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