The NBA is working to improve officiating with the help of cutting-edge Hawk-Eye technology – as commissioner Adam Silver promised during the 2024 NBA Finals.
The league has been testing the company’s multi-angle tracking and replay systems, allowing referees to make faster, more informed decisions by automating part of the decision-making process.
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The technology will also provide networks with stunning visuals, taking a contested play into the virtual world and showing it from different angles so viewers can understand why a call was made.
Hawk-Eye has changed officiating and game broadcasting in several major sports since its launch in 1999.
Best known for its ball tracking technology used in tennis, the Sony-owned company has made an impact in cricket and, more recently, football.
It is behind the video assistant referee (VAR) system and goal-line call automation, implemented in most major national and international football competitions over the last decade.
The NBA partnered with Hawk-Eye about five years ago, initially looking to help referees in goaltending situations, Sam Bourne, Hawk-Eye’s product manager for the NBA’s tracking system, told The US Sun during the 2024 Las Vegas Summer League.
The league’s Replay Center in Secaucus, New Jersey, has begun using the company’s ball tracking metrics that track the trajectory of a shot and predict its impact on the rim during the 2023-24 season.
There, referees can now view the game feed with markers indicating whether the ball has reached its apex, whether it has a chance of entering the basket and whether it is inside or outside the rim’s cylinder.
But Silver, 62, confirmed at the start of the 2024 Finals that the league intends to expand its use of the technology in the coming years.
The NBA tested some of the innovations during Summer League, which has served as a testing ground for Hawk-Eye since the partnership began.
Hawk-Eye had 16 cameras located around the court at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center, including two ultra-high frame cameras that capture images at a rate of 480 frames per second.
The setup generated tracking points on the ball and players – 29 on each basket – while recognizing the color of their jerseys so the system could accurately collect data for each person on the court.
The information could be used for performance analysis, including an analysis of a player’s playing load and fatigue levels, Bourne noted.
Hawk-Eye experimented with a more advanced feed with another layer of logic to signal game events in real time based on collected data.
The updated system included a timeline that showed when goalkeeping occurred or when the ball went out of bounds.
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“That’s what we’ve been working on for a significant amount of time – getting the ability to automatically detect the goalie,” Bourne said.
The Replay Center had access to the timeline in Las Vegas, although it did not yet use the system to make calls, Bourne noted.
These automated goaltending decisions could be used for officiating purposes at the Replay Center as early as next season, the Hawk-Eye coach added.
“The goaltending thing is getting to a game-ready state,” Bourne said.
The NBA could also test automated out-of-bounds warnings, but they likely won’t be used for calling purposes for another year or two.
The ultimate goal is to have referees wear a special watch on their wrist, alerting them to automated decisions, Bourne said.
The system is already used in football, with referees being notified when the ball crosses the goal line to determine whether a team should score a point.
Hawk-Eye will also provide the NBA’s broadcast partners and in-arena producers with a visual representation of the play in question, generated by the data points collected.
In Las Vegas, the company was already able to generate a graphic that showed the ball inside or outside a virtual cylinder of the rim from different angles in a goalkeeper situation on the table.
Testing is ongoing, allowing Hawk-Eye and the NBA to fine-tune the tracking system — which has a margin of error of about 0.1 inch on the shoe — taking into account the fast-paced nature of the game.
The recent addition of the two ultra-high frame cameras is an example of both sides’ commitment to perfection.
Hawk-Eye installed them after discovering that a higher FPS feed was needed to provide the greatest possible accuracy on table goalie calls.
“We want to do [the game] fairer,” said Bourne.
“We want to make sure that [calls are] It doesn’t come down to human interpretation and there really is consistency in all decisions.”
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
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