NBA in talks with famous tracking system vendor over help for referees after LeBron James’ ‘replay center’ speech

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver revealed that they are working to introduce new technology to help referees.

Public criticism of officiating in any sport, let alone the NBA, is nothing new.

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However, this came to light in April via one of the game’s biggest names, LeBron James, when he highlighted the work of the replay center in a viral post-game speech.

After the Los Angeles Lakers lost 101-99 to the Denver Nuggets in Game 2 of the Western Conference first round, James took over officiating that night.

More specifically, he took issue with a non-call by Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. after he got in his D’Angelo Russell’s face on a layup.

A subsequent foul on Porter was eventually overturned following a challenge by Nuggets coach Michael Malone.

“To be honest, I don’t understand what’s going on at the replay center,” James said.

“D’Lo was clearly hit in the face during the trip.

“What the fuck, we have a replay center…it doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t make sense. It bothers me.”

Speaking to reporters before Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks, Silver revealed that the league is working on new ways to help referees.

“That’s where we should be able to make the most progress,” he admitted.

“As I said before, there will always be human error in the case of referees.

“That doesn’t mean we can’t continue to do a better job training employees.

“But when it comes to technology, again, it’s one of the things we’ve been talking a lot about with the Players Association and the Referees Association as well, and I’m thinking that when the season ends this year, maybe we’ll even put together a force -task of constituent groups.”

To be more specific, Silver explained that the league continued to work closely with Hawk-Eye, a company known for its work in tennis, football and cricket, among others.

The brand uses “optical tracking, vision processing, video review and creative graphics technologies” to assist in arbitration, according to its website.

This could provide the NBA with an opportunity to take “objective calls” out of the hands of referees.

For example, Silver cited situations such as: “Which of the hundred fingers on the ground touched the ball last at that moment?”

He admitted that “it’s harder than I imagined,” but eventually believes that “technology will solve this.”

It’s important to note, however, that Hawk-Eye’s collaboration with the NBA is nothing new.

The two sides have worked together since 2019, with the N.B.A. advertising in 2023 that they had agreed to a long-term partnership.

The goal was to “deploy Hawk-Eye’s 3D optical tracking technology that will, for the first time, enable NBA tracking data to capture the game in real time in three dimensions, including the movement of each player on the court and the ball, all with latency of less than one second.

“This technology will provide the opportunity to improve officiating, increasing the accuracy of calls and the speed of the game, including, in future seasons, through automated calls on plays such as out of bounds and goalkeeping.”

As for issues regarding the replay center, such as seemingly excessively long delays, Silver admitted that such situations are “sometimes frustrating for all of us.”

But in response to that, he pointed out that replay officials often have to scan “16, 18 different camera views.”

“And while you think that after 20 seconds you’ve seen six angles, you’re ready to stop, then you’re left thinking that it might be that the 15th angle shows something more conclusive than the others,” noted Silver.

“So you sit there and sit there and sit there.

“It’s frustrating and frustrating for the players.

“I think it just shows that as much as we want to get every decision right, it needs to be balanced with a game of flow and stoppage.

“That’s why we justify having more replay at the end of the game than in the middle of the game.”

While this may be the case, Silver once again admitted they “can do better,” adding that technological advances should help.

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