NBA Coaches Critical of Officiating, Subsequently Fined

In the NFL, it is widely known, whether explicitly stated or not, that the Quarterback is the poster-child, so to speak, of an organization and of the league, and therefore can't be hit in anyway that, in a sense, may cause pain - after all, if a star Quarterback goes down, what will the team and the NFL do - obviously it would make too much sense to move on to the second or third string quarterback on the team.

Enough ranting about that - I could go on for days on why professional quarterbacks should be fair game 100% of the time.

In the NBA, however, it is not the players that get added protection from the league, but the officials that call the games. Already in the playoffs, three head coaches: Rick Adelman (Houston), Nate McMillan (Portland) and Doc Rivers (Boston), were all fined after post-game comments that they made in regards to how various games were called. The Cleveland Cavaliers coach, Mike Brown, was also fined on multiple occasions during the regular season for disagreeing with calls that the officiating crews that made.

Perhaps I am wrong, but the last time I checked, the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives citizens of the United States the ability for free speech, whether it is for or against an issue or topic at hand. While fining an NBA coach is not an issue that requires attention from the justice system, the NBA should keep that in mind as they repeatedly assess these $25,000 fines for coaches merely expressing how they felt about a certain call on a play or overall how satisfied they were with the officiating crew.

Rather than fine these coaches for remarks made in post-game press conferences (in response to questions often specifically addressing the officiating), the NBA should instead let those concerns be aired and then take those concerns and use them to evaluate and grade officiating crews, much like how Major League Baseball uses computer tracking of pitches to evaluate and critique umpires.

Maybe eventually the NBA will realize that there needs to be less focus on what coaches say and more focus on how to generate revenue in poor-performing markets and making it so that the majority of teams are financially viable (which I will admit, they are doing, especially after the recent announcement of loan money that the NBA secured to distribute to teams that would need it - see more at http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/61537 ).

In the meantime, let the coaches say what they have to say - it makes for good news and helps intensify both the game itself and the players that look up to the coach. Having an outburst on the court is one thing, but after the game is over and in the books, the coaches should have the right to say what it is that they feel about the game, the team and, of course, the officiating.