OT: Major Progress Made With Refs

[King Of The 4th]

An unexpected meeting Tuesday in New York that included commissioner David Stern and Lamell McMorris of the referees' union has created a productive dialogue where a deal may be reached shortly.

The referees will vote on the new proposal on Friday.

The league's new offer, sources said, has the support of the referee union's executive board and is expected to be ratified with scant resistance after the NBA's 57 tenured referees watched replacements from the D-League and WNBA work the entire exhibition season.

"A lot is happening behind the scenes," one source said.

"Things look promising," said another source.

Looks like the refs may be back after all.

[SonicYouth34]

Good. These preseason refs sucked.

[celticfan42487]

They're bad... but I'm not sure how much better the regular refs are.

[DorfonCeltics]

I actually think the replacement refs have done a darn good job. What I like is you don't see them making too many superstar calls. I also like the flow of the game with the replacements. I wish the so called real refs would just stay locked out.

[tombattor]

Eh, I don't really care either way. Regular refs and replacement ones both have their good and bad. But they all pretty much even out at the end for all teams, so it's no big deal. If they want to hold out? No one will be missing them. Because the NBA can easily hire and train new refs. I'm sure there are thousands who would love that opportunity and it's not like you need some natural gift or talent to be a ref.

[Hilltop]

All this complaining and criticism of the new referees has given the old bunch some leverage that's for sure. They may not have done a bang up job, but I thought they were getting better as the Preseason progressed. I guess I'm just sick of these old self-important showboats of referees.