Say what?!: Pleading your case with officials has become a subtle

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Jan 25, 2006 | by Tim Buckley Deseret Morning News

They're not registered lobbyists, but perhaps NBA players ought to be.

Over the course of a typical two hour-plus game, after all, there is more petitioning, promotion and pressing of one's case than in a week's worth of Washington politics.

No lavish trips are offered, no fancy dinners bought, not even a cup of coffee shared.

Still, there are usually more attempts on the part of players to influence a referee's thinking in four quarters than there are efforts to push pork and client causes through Congress in any one D.C. day.

And each approach is just a little more creative than the last.

"There are so many different ways you can do that," Jazz guard Devin Brown said.

Some players will speak through a shirt pulled up over the lips, so as not to make it obvious they are trying to work a ref. Others nudge up while free throws are being shot.

Center Greg Ostertag often waits until a timeout to make his argument. Point Milt Palacio tries to soft sell. Forward Andrei Kirilenko shakes hands with each official before a game, but shakes his head when a call goes against him.

Occasionally, something works. More often, it does not. But it's almost always worth the effort, Jazz players say.

"There are some officials that you can talk to and it will make sense to," Ostertag said, "and there are some that you can't.

"There are some that are set in their ways, and they're arrogant, and they don't want to hear what you have to say, and they think their way is the right way, and that's it."

Ostertag finds most refs more willing to chat during a timeout than right after a whistle.

"You just talk to them, in a calmer situation," he said. "You say, 'Look, I'm not saying it wasn't a foul. I'm just saying, this is what my argument is on that.' "

Take a recent game against the Los Angeles Lakers, when ref Tony Brothers called Ostertag for fouling Lamar Odom even though in Ostertag's mind the Lakers forward brought the ball to the Jazz center's chest as Ostertag was backing up.

"I said, 'Tony, look, that can't be right,' " Ostertag said. " 'How can it be a foul on me when I'm giving ground?' "

That particular call was not reversed.

But another involving Ostertag -- an obviously errant out-of- bounds call -- was corrected by a different ref a few games later against the Los Angeles Clippers.

"That was a great situation for him to say, 'I missed that call - - my fault,' " Ostertag said. "Some officials will do that for you."

Sometimes, though, admission of a mistake is made. Yet the call stands as is -- either to be made up at some more-opportune and less- obvious time, or forgotten altogether.

"I say, 'I didn't touch him,' " said Ostertag, a 10-season veteran. "Under their breath, they'll say, 'You're right, I missed that one.' I don't have a problem with that, even if it was a bad, bad call. Just say, 'I missed it. I blew that call. My fault.' "

Style of approach frequently plays a big part in whether a ref is willing to go down the road of admitted error.

"You can't confront the guy," said Tyrone Corbin, the current Jazz assistant coach who played for eight teams including Utah during his 15-year NBA career. "If you want the guy to give you a fair shake, you can't.

"If you get any opportunity when a free throw is going on, go stand next to the guy and just talk to him," Corbin added. "You don't have to make a gesture. You can stand there, hands down, looking at the play, and just talk to him. I think they receive that a little better, instead of trying to embarrass them."

Palacio, now in his seventh NBA season, also advocates the don't- show-anyone-up method of call-lobbying.

"I just say, 'Ref, you know what? Can you please just watch it? I understand that Coach (Jerry) Sloan is on you, but I'm just asking,' " he said. "The biggest thing is you have to talk to the refs in a manner that you want them to talk to you. If you go in there screaming and spitting it at them, you won't get the call.

"If you go to the ref like I do -- just say, 'Ref, you just need to watch that; it's the same thing they're doing to us -- the ref will look at you and say, 'You know what? I will watch it. You know what? I appreciate the way you came and talked to me,' " Palacio added. "But if you go at him screaming at him and cussing at him, he's not going to listen."

Brown figured that out while playing previously in San Antonio, where he learned a few trade tricks from one of the league's all- time great lobbyists.

"Pop (Spurs coach Gregg Popovich) would say at the beginning of the season, 'There are only a couple guys that I want talking to the refs, and one of the guys is Robert Horry,' " Brown said. "One of the reasons he did that is because of the way (Horry) did it. So, you kind of learn from that.

"You kind of go up, say, '(Whatever the ref's name is), hey, you missed that one,' pat him on the butt and move on. Not, just constantly, 'Hey man, you missed this one and you missed this and you missed this one.' After that, the ref's not going to give you anything. I mean, I've seen that quite a bit, where guys complain and complain and complain, and they're not getting anything. But a guy will just walk up and say one thing and walk away and leave it at that, and the next thing you know he gets a couple calls.