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Joey Crawford – Summaries
Joey Crawford – Summaries
JOEY CRAWFORD
1. HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
a. Dad was umpire
b. He always wanted to be NBA referee
c. After 1 semester in college returned home & started refereeing
d. Worked the eastern league (Scranton, WB) while working at the post office
e. Only get better when you ref good players
f. 25 years old when he gets to the NBA (1977)
g. 2 man crew & 20 teams
h. He was always trying to prove himself to other refs
i. He was really aggressive & there was no system
j. There was no film review back then
k. Film arrived when Darrell Garretson became in change of refs
l. Garretson created system where you weren’t at the mercy of the lead referee
m. We get better from watching film
2. FIERY REF
a. Very aggressive & bad temper
b. Always trying to prove himself
c. Garretson talked about his temper all he time
d. Crawford began talking to himself to try to calm himself
e. In 2007, he went to seek professional help after Duncan issue
f. He worked the finals in 29 of 30 straight years (not 2007)
g. After 2007, he enjoyed himself more the last 10 years
3. GET PLAYS RIGHT / REF THE SYSTEM
a. Need to be aware of matchups
b. We work the NBA referee system
c. At T, watch this, as C, watch this, & L ref this
d. And only 65 people are NBA refs, so we all know the system
e. If you ref the system on a constant basis, you will get the plays right
4. SUCCESS
a. Must have love of officiating to be successful — passion
b. Be a good partner
c. Get plays right
d. Want to improve & find people that will help you improve
e. Mentors that will be honest w/ you & make you better as ref
f. Find mentors that are difference makers
g. Find mentors that are educators / teach you
5. Communication W/ COACHES
a. Stay humble, admit mistakes, avoid arrogance
b. Coaches aren’t going to buy your shit, they aren’t clapping for you
c. You could be right, tape doesn’t lie
d. Admit mistakes
e. Find a way to get thru 48 minutes w/o burying your partners
f. Need to look HC / player in eye & be able to talk to them so they trust you
g. Always going to have problems in game
h. RUN THE GAME, BE CONFIDENT, & CREW
i. RUN GAME = KNOW RULES, GOOD PARTNER
j. When HC talks about partners — put a stop to it quick. I wouldn’t talk about your players, I’m not going to let you talk about my partners
6. ALLEN IVERSON
a. Tough to ref b/c on ground all the time
b. Tough b/c drive to the basket
c. Give him technical fouls b/c always arguing
d. Told him, Allen, refs are going to be here longer than you, we need to co-exist
7. ISSUES W/ CREW
a. Don’t talk @ issues on the court
b. Talk @ them in the locker room post-game
c. Ex. You want the last shot
1. Partner might think you want last shot b/c you don’t think he’s good enough
2. Crawford — “I want the last sec shot b/c I want to take the heat if something goes wrong”
d. Ex. Calls in your primary
1. During TO, “do me favor, we don’t need 4 eyes on the ball. You’re not trusting me — trust me & I’ll trust you”
8. ADVICE TO A YOUNG JOEY CRAWFORD
a. Stay calm
b. Be confident, not insecure
c. Wanted approval from fellow refs
d. Don’t be aggressive w/ players & coaches
e. Allow players & coaches to talk w/o attacking them
f. He attacked b/c insecure
g. Ego is insecurity
h. Lashed out if missed a play
i. At end of career, self-talk — get to the next possession
9. SHOT CLOCK
a. If you are aware of shot clock EVERY possession, your officiating will skyrocket
b. You must take peaks & then have an inner clock
c. L to T — take peak
d. C to C — take peak
e. T to L — take peak
f. Always know what the shot clock
g. At the end of the shot clock is where you have tough defense & imminent shot
h. Defense work their butt & then you call a marginal/ dumb foul as it is about to expire
i. If you know the shot clock is low, it will prevent you from calling marginal fouls
j. When the shot clock is low, only call obvious fouls (must be strike down middle)
k. You just woke up a coach
l. Not only do you bring yourself down, you bring the crew down
m. We need to talk about that play enough
10. DOUBLE WHISTLES
a. Why do we have double / triple whistles? Unnecessary
b. It means someone is looking at something they shouldn’t
c. Double whistles/ triple whistles — don’t know system
d. We have 2 whistles on a travel
e. Must trust partners
f. Screws up crew chemistry
g. Single defender drive to basket & you have whistle from T
h. L starts asking WTF & that screws up crew chemistry
i. Anytime have double whistles, review the film & work it out
j. Multiple defender — defender closest to you
k. Anytime double whistles are OK?
1. Danny Crawford — Each one of us ref 1/3 & there is no secondary
11. FAVORITE PLAYERS
a. Barkley, Jeff Ruland, Ricky Mahorn, Eddie Johnson, Shaq, Isiah Thomas
b. NBA is a family & there was mutual respect
c. Coaches would come after me & I would go after them & now we laugh about it
d. There are some that hold a grudge but he doesn’t
12. PLAYER / REF RELATIONS
a. Monty McCutchen talks to each team them about officiating
b. Monty & 10 refs meet w/ coaches
c. There is an effort to get along
d. The more we educate players about our job the better
e. Young refs don’t know what to say, so they say nothing — they aren’t arrogant — they need a few years to determine what to say
f. The more we know one another the more we will trust each other
13. MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS
a. 1st game w/ Jack Madden
b. 1st playoff
c. 1st Final w/ Jake O’Donnell — scared to death
d. 3 Game 7s in Finals — not many of them — took 2 weeks to come down from the games
14. FAVORITE EJECTION
a. Dismissed a player w/ the back of my hand
b. Lou Grillo says you dismissed the guy like he was a piece of shit
c. The guy was calling me every name in the book
d. But I shouldn’t have done it
15. FAMOUS BLOCK CALL
a. He was surprised by the play
b. Should have called player control foul
c. He then started w/ his block, block, block, block, block from baseline to the 28 ft line
d. It was a completely blown call
16. PLAY-CALLING GUIDELINE
a. Scott Foster has red-flag list
b. Crawford has play-calling guidelines
c. Battista took the guidelines & categorized them
d. Crawford will send the guidelines to whomever wants them
e. T — if T calls play at the rim on a drive to the basket, must be obvious (why? B/c not in his primary area anymore)
f. Entry pass => Ball/body = likely legal, body/ball = likely foul
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