Mark Cuban has been a harsh critic of NBA officiating for a long time. He took that criticism to another level Saturday night by calling out the men who have been in charge of officiating in recent years.
The Mavericks team owner was angry with a decision that went against his team in its four-point loss to the Hawks. As he tweeted through the rage, he touched on what he considers the biggest problem with officiating: bad supervisors.
Refs have bad games. Crews have bad games. But this isn't a single game issue. This is the same shit that has been going on for 20 years . Hire former refs who think they know how to hire , train and manage. Realize 2 years later they can't. Repeat https://t.co/GPqvvWSpuT
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) February 23, 2020
In the past 12 years it's been Ronnie Nunn, Don Vaden, Bob Delaney , and now Monty Mccutcheon . What do they all have in common ? You know the definition of insanity ? https://t.co/GPqvvWSpuT
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) February 23, 2020
McCutchen has been the league's vice president, head of referee development and training since December 2017.
The officiating crew for Mavs-Hawks on Saturday was Rodney Mott, Derrick Collins and Matt Myers. They called 22 fouls on the Mavs and 21 on the Hawks. Free throws were 26-19 in favor of host Atlanta. Those aren't the facts that Cuban is complaining about, however.
MORE: Clippers' George fined for "home cooking" comments
His main complaint was with how the crew handled a late goaltending call that became a basket after a whistle.
That's why he began his thread with this salvo:
Just when you think the NBA officiating can't get any worse , guess again. This is absurd
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) February 23, 2020
So they call a goaltend. They literally blew the whistle that it was a goaltend. There was a putback after the whistle. After review they said no goaltend but count the basket ? WTF is that ? That's NBA officiating.
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) February 23, 2020
But wait there is more. 1 of the refs told us it was an inadvertent whistle, so it was not goaltending. Doesn't matter that people stopped . They thought the whistle came after the putback. So the basket counted. So what where they reviewing if it wasn't a goaltend ? https://t.co/FPnNy1mRKe
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) February 23, 2020
Cuban won't get any satisfaction from the NBA over that sequence; he will instead get a hefty fine from it. Cuban, of course, is willing and more than able to pay for the privilege of going nuclear after feeling wronged — and of making a larger point about improving referee development.
