Replacement refs weren't that bad, were they?

Jeff Hornacek recently sat amongst some reporters during a preseason game at EnergySolutions Arena.

Tonight when I heard that the NBA and the real refs had come to an agreement prior to the beginning of the regular season I was reminded of something the former Jazz guard and current special assistant coach said to me during that exhibition game.

The play against Portland had gotten a bit sloppy, and I thought the replacement refs had made a couple of peculiar calls. So I remarked to another reporter that it’d be nice to have the official officials on the job again.

Hornacek surprised me with his response.

Not only did he compliment the officiating crew that was on the court, but he said it was really refreshing to see refs actually call things like palming the ball (which they had just whistled a Blazer for doing).

My response to his response?

“Yeah, yeah, that’s what I meant to say.”

OK, not really. But I did find it interesting.

I’ll also be interested to see what Larry Brown, who was fined $60,000 for his opinions and run-in with replacement refs, and other coaches who’ve had some rough moments with the fill-ins have to say. Here’s guessing they won’t be quite as complimentary as Hornacek.

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I’m sure we’ll have more on this, but I found a couple of interesting things in the short press release the NBA released regarding the two-year collective bargaining agreement that was approved by the National Basketball Referees Association on Friday.

For one thing, the NBA refs, who’ve been locked out since mid-September, will go through a three-day training camp over the weekend to get back into shape and gear up for Tuesday’s regular-season opener.

It would’ve been ideal, of course, had they come to their agreement earlier this week and gotten in a couple of preseason games.

And here’s a quote from NBA commissioner David Stern on the topic:

“We?are pleased to?reach this agreement. The?negotiations extended further than either side had hoped, but when our regular season tips off on Tuesday we’ll have the best referees in the?world officiating?our?games.?We?appreciate?the?job done by our replacement officials during the preseason.”