The Downbeat: Did the Utah Jazz change NBA Officiating?

Dennis Lindsey did it. Is there nothing he can’t accomplish? (if one of you mentions re-sign Gordon Hayward I will give you a backhand that sends you into oblivion)

It was well documented the amount of frustrating end-of-game calls that went against the Utah Jazz for the last two seasons. It was well documented well by Andy Larsen of KSL.

But the Utah Jazz were documenting it also, if not more discreetly. Unless you forgot, Dennis Lindsey sat down with Adrian Worjanowski to discuss the wild disadvantage his team was facing with NBA officials.

Today, this small bit of news was slipped into the NBA news cycle amidst Kevin Durant’s twitter schizophrenia.

The NBA has been pursuing a more data-driven and analytical management structure over referees, integrating more technology as part of its officiating program...

...Byron Spruell, who was hired as the NBA's president of league operations in 2016, has been working to reshape the administering, training and recruitment pools of the league's referees. He is directing the NBA's search for Delaney's replacement, which could include a retired referee in a high-ranking management role reporting to a new director, sources said.

Anything the league can do to improve officiating will be helpful to all teams. My biggest hope is that being more “data-driven” means that officials will be less influenced by both emotion and star power. It seems like an unspoken rule that you have to earn the respect of officials in the league. That for some reason, rookies receive different types of foul calls than veterans.

Dante Exum is a perfect example of this type of “rookie treatment.” I’ve never seen a player, game after game, receive foul calls for doing the same types of things you would never see a veteran/star player called for. If I could remove anything from this game I love, it would be that.

Recently, FIBA banned an official for match manipulation. I absolutely don’t think this type of thing is happening in the NBA, but I am damn sure that there are officials in the NBA who are not good enough to stay in the league. We all know who they are.

If data-driven means anything, I hope it means overseeing which officials are negatively affecting games too often, and, if the officiating from those officials doesn’t improve, they are released.

Joe Ingles recently spoke with the Utah Jazz radio voice, David Locke.

I love Joe Ingles and I love Rudy Gobert. Something tells me this will happen. As Kevin Garnett once said, “Anything is possible!”

Kristen Kenney, courtside reporter for the Utah Jazz, has been doing interviews for the upcoming season. This little tidbit from Derrick Favors is a big reason for Jazz fans to get excited.

Can Favs hit that three? If so, our offense will be in great shape.

Steve Starks announced that we are days away from having Vivint Arena and Zions Bank Basketball campus completed.

Almost there. Almost there.

Finally, Tavan mentioned it yesterday, but Kevin Durant admitted that he indeed created faux Twitter accounts.

This makes me think that just like the backlash bothered Kevin Durant, I wouldn’t doubt it has bothered Gordon Hayward. But, you know what, they deserve the backlash.

For seven years, here at SLC Dunk, we have watched, cheered for and written about Gordon Hayward like everyone else. And he turned his back on all of us. He deserves every boo and twitter troll he receives. If he’s feeling down about his decision like KD apparently did, good. Because I promise you that Hayward cared very little about what he put fans through who supported him for so long.