NBA Referee Bill Kennedy Fined for His Antics, Union Cries Foul

Apparently, the NBA referees union doesn't like it when their employees get fined.

An article that came out today titled "Refs Angered by Fine of Official in Rivers Spat" claims that referees are supposed to stare down coaches instead of argue with them.

On Thursday, Doc Rivers was fined $25,000 for speaking out against the actions of NBA referee Bill Kennedy.

In the article, there's a quote from referee union spokesman Lamell McMorris.

"Some things you cannot take out of the arsenal of the officials, said McMorris. "It’s not a stare to start some kind of disagreement or goad him into getting ejected, it’s just like, ‘Hey, enough is enough.'"

Later on in the article, McMorris is quoted as saying, “As far as we’re concerned, Bill Kennedy followed every rule according to the referees' manual as it relates to handling situations like this. The only person in this scenario who has had a pattern of behavior that is unprofessional is Doc Rivers, not Bill Kennedy.”

Doc Rivers, on the other hand, had a different perspective. After he received his second technical foul from the loss against the Chicago Bulls, Rivers said the technical was “the most unprofessional tech I’ve ever had.”

Rivers elaborated more on the situation by implying it was Kennedy who was goading him.

"He stood there and stared me down and stared me down and goaded me until I turned around and said, ‘What?’ That’s when I got thrown out of the game.”

McMorris, though, is puzzled by Kennedy getting a fine and voiced his frustration, saying, "The thing that’s most troubling is the fact that this person [Kennedy] was fined for doing his job, and for following the rules and the training, and for trying to do his job to minimize the situation and the conflict, and for walking away.

"So that’s very troubling to all the officials, and they’re very alarmed by this matter, because one matter like this affects the ability of all of them to do their jobs.”

McMorris obviously has no clue what he's talking about. Has he even bothered watching his officials this year? They have been pathetic! Rivers has every right to blow his ejection out of proportion because he knew the NBA wouldn't do anything about Kennedy's actions unless there was a big deal made about it.

The NBA claims that there's a system that grades each official after every game. Well, it's been obvious throughout the year that the system is flawed, and the referee union hasn't done a thing to change the behaviors of the referees. The referees today have way more power than they should.

Take the Rivers situation as an example. In the article that was written, McMorris claims that an official has a right to stare to state the official has had enough.

How long should that stare be?

Refs have every right to give a coach a look that is a warning for them to stop, but for a ref to continually stare down the coach—this time Rivers—and goad him into a technical, that isn't being professional, Mr. McMorris. In fact, it's being juvenile and the NBA had every right to punish Kennedy for his actions.

Of course, the Union is planning to file an appeal against the fine that was handed out to Kennedy. Kennedy does deserve to be fined, but one can argue the fine affects Kennedy more severely because he makes less than Rivers.

This is a valid argument, but Kennedy should not be left off the hook because the fine affects him more.

He needs to be fined. He shouldn't be escaping punishment.

Also, the NBA referees union should have done a better job here by taking accountability for  Kennedy's actions. McMorris could have used better judgment by saying that referees can give coaches a look that says "Knock it off." Yet, stating that a referee can stare down a coach just goes to show how off the NBA refs are.

It doesn't matter if it's a NBA referee or a person on the street: If someone is staring at someone long enough, someone is going to say something. They are going to be goaded to say something because they are uncomfortable with the situation.

In this case, Rivers didn't have a choice other than to say something to Kennedy because he wouldn't stop staring. In the end, the fine should have been appealed, but only for how much it was, not because the actions taken by Kennedy were correct.