Looking back, Stern has enjoyed his share of good fortune since he was anointed Commissioner in 1984. Right at the time of his arrival, the league was experiencing a resurgence of popularity courtesy of the rekindled Celtic-Lakers rivalry. Then came the Michael Jordan Era, which Stern milked for all it was worth by creating the “superstar culture” - one that sets apart the most marketable players and affords them with special treatment by officials - that remains in place to the present day.

On the dark side, of course, the Tim Donaghy scandal also happened on Stern’s watch. By all appearances, the league would like to move on by continuing to discredit Donaghy’s claims and pretending that such claims have no credibility. Dedicated fans of the league, however, know otherwise. I’m not talking conspiracy theories here. I refer instead to the fact that bad officiating continues to plague so many NBA games and nobody in an official league capacity seems to take notice or care.

Last night’s loss against the Hawks, of course, gets the blood boiling in Boston concerning this particular issue. The Celtics had the ability to win the game, yes, but the horrific officiating was also decidedly a factor. Especially so was Bennett Savlatore’s ejection of Doc Rivers from the game. A serious question for Mr. Salvatore: If you make a horrible call (or in this case, several horrible calls), should the protesting of such calls really be considered grounds for ejection? After all, the official NBA rulebook states, and I quote (from Section V., subsection f.):

Assessment of a technical foul shall be avoided whenever and wherever possible.

In other words, the game shouldn’t ever come down to your ego or hurt feelings. It’s bigger than you. Something to think about, anyway.

Perhaps what bothers me the most about this bad officiating business is that just this past fall, the NBA had an opportunity – a real opportunity – to address the quality of its officiating. The league could have, and should have, brought the issue to the negotiating table during the National Basketball Referees Association lockout that took effect on September 18th. This is when, according to AP reports, the league announced that it was locking out the officials, saying they had rejected its final contract offer.

Recall that the sides remained far apart for the next several weeks and that the league brought in replacement officials to call the preseason games. This was also the point when David Stern had reportedly withdrawn from negotiations after being criticized by the officials’ lead negotiator. During a later media conference call, Stern recalled: “I thought that perhaps the rhetoric had gotten a little bit too heated and it would be better for me to withdraw.”

In the early preseason games, the most noticeable differences between the replacement officials and their locked out counterparts were that more fouls were being called overall but, on the flip-side, that fewer technicals and traditional “star-treatment” calls were being made. However, as the pre-season progressed, even the problem of the excessive foul calls appeared to fade away.

Said Houston Rockets coach Rick Adelman at the time: “As the preseason went on, [the replacement officials] were better. I don't think they were arrogant, or anything like that. They gave the explanations, and they were doing the best they could. The first couple [games] were just foul after foul and call after call, and there was no rhythm to the games. After that, I thought it settled down fairly well. They just called things differently than the normal officials. They're pretty much going by the book.”

Going by the book. What a novel concept, removing subjectivity and personal grudges/star favoritism from NBA game officiating.

Meanwhile, as negotiations between the league and the officials' union stalled, a startling event occurred. The officials actually requested that Stern be brought back to the negotiating table. With Stern back in the mix, the NBA then bypassed their chance to address the problem of unacknowledged referee tenure and a lack of standards apparent to anyone who regularly watches NBA games.

Per the AP, the sides hammered out an agreement, summarized as follows:

The sides agreed on a salary structure that would give the refs a slight raise in the second year, but they remained apart on proposed changes to the referees' pension and severance packages, as well as a plan to develop younger officials by having them work in NBA games.

Notice that the salary issues were resolved but that the one point that could possibly be viewed as related to actual improvement of the officiating pool, in the form of younger referees brought in to potentially replace older and/or ineffective officials, was left on the cutting room floor.

Nice job, Commissioner. You blew it. Again.

What's the problem, you say? Just take a look at recent history and take a long moment to ponder what it actually takes (excluding felony charges related to gambling on and affecting the outcome of NBA games, of course) for David Stern to think that an NBA official should actually lose his job in favor of a younger referee who might actually call games by the book?

Consider Joey Crawford. He’s the guy who was closest to Brent Barry’s mauling by Derek Fisher in the closing seconds of Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals in 2008 but failed to see anything warranting a foul call (the league later acknowledged that a foul should have been called). He’s also the guy who tossed Tim Duncan from a game in 2007 for having the nerve to laugh (perhaps facetiously) while sitting on the bench. Crawford also allegedly challenged Duncan to a fight during the incident. In the aftermath, Crawford was “suspended indefinitely”. In actuality, he missed the playoffs that year and was reinstated by David Stern the following September. This wasn’t Crawford’s first “reinstatement”, mind you.

In July of 1998, after pleading guilty to IRS claims of cheating on his taxes (by falsifying income claims after pocketing extra money from downgraded airline tickets flying to and from games), Crawford resigned from his officiating duties, “effective immediately”. The following September, Stern reinstated him, stating afterward: “Based on my meeting with Joey Crawford, his commitment to an ongoing counseling program and a favorable professional evaluation that was performed at my direction, I am satisfied that Joey understands the standards of game management and professionalism the NBA expects from him and that he will be able to conduct himself in accordance with those standards.” Of note, Crawford didn't miss a game of work.

If Joey Crawford were standing beside me right now, he’d probably tee me up on the spot for my blatant laughing in his presence. Counseling, huh? The league may want to seek its money back from whatever therapist was used because Crawford has remained as arrogant, tyrannical and prone to calling excessive techincals as any official in the league. You don’t need to wait long to find out that Crawford’s calling the game because he’ll typically announce his presence with authority right away. Just this past Friday, Crawford tossed Spurs coach Gregg Popovich in the first half of the game for taking note of several early bad calls. The Spurs lost, by the way. Draw your own conclusions about the game and how it was called.

I don’t mean to single out Crawford, except for the fact that he’s a creep with a history of inserting himself into the outcome of big games and who has a spotted past demonstrative of poor character. One would think that the greatest professional basketball league in the world would hold itself to a higher standard. That said, Crawford is not alone in serving as an example of what is wrong with the NBA in terms of its officiating.

Bennett Salvatore, another convicted tax evader from the same IRS investigation, also stands out as an official who has developed a reputation for calling technicals and thus altering the outcomes of game as a matter of course. One would think that Salvatore would demonstrate leniency in assessing technical fouls considering his gross ineptness as an official. Not so.

I could go on. Bill Kennedy, in the words of a more prominent writer, deserves his own column at some point. Kenny Mauer is consistently terrible. I’m pretty sure Dick Bavetta blew a few calls alongside Dr. Naismith back in the day. The point is that the NBA had a terrific opportunity to conduct a grand experiment and use the lockout to bring in young officials who haven’t yet been corrupted by the status quo of modern NBA officiating. At the very least, the league could have used the lockout as a means of ridding the league of its consistently worst officiating offenders. But they blew it, and now we - the followers of this great game - are left to pay the price by watching the results of David Stern’s incompetence and utter lack of vision.