Is NBA officiating bad? You're (expletive) right it is

Privately, a handful of assistant coaches have complained to me that this season was one of more inept for game officials they have experienced.

Complaining about the officials, to be fair, is something all coaches do far too often. This year, however, the complaints seem to be more bitter and numerous.

Part of the problem, coaches and players say privately, is the Tim Donaghy effect. By all accounts Donaghy was a lone, bad wolf, but his terrible acts have given players and coaches more license to question calls.

But this isn't solely an issue of game-official competency. There is also a management component. There continue to be embarrassing shot-clock issues that a league of the NBA's greatness should never experience.

There have been clock and shot-clock malfunctions seemingly every postseason going back a decade. It was a shot clock malfunction in the NBA Finals that helped the Chicago Bulls maintain their dominance in the 1990s.

There was a clock issue in Game 3 of the 2006 Finals between Miami and Dallas that led to this statement from Stu Jackson, the league's senior vice president of basketball operations:

"Upon review of Game 3 of the NBA Finals between Miami and Dallas, the NBA League Office has determined that the game timing system malfunctioned on two separate occasions in the fourth period. With 45.3 seconds remaining in the game, the clock continued to run for 2.5 seconds after a foul was called on Jason Terry of the Mavericks, and with 4.3 seconds remaining in the game, the clock continued to run for 0.9 seconds after a foul was called on Udonis Haslem of the Heat. In both cases, the cause of the problem was a malfunction in the electronic device worn by one of the game officials, which is designed to automatically stop the clock when the referee's whistle is blown. The NBA will replace the defective equipment for subsequent games of the Finals."

The problem was supposed to be fixed, but in the 2007 Eastern Conference finals there was another clock problem that delayed Game 6 an astounding 21 minutes, as well as in Game 3 of the East quarterfinals this year between the Celtics and Hawks, when Atlanta personnel had to blow air horns to signify the end of 24 seconds. These are not miscues occurring in preseason games that no one is watching. They are happening in huge moments in some of the league's most high-profile contests.

The NBA is apparently taking steps to correct some officiating issues. The act of players flopping has become a plague, and the league knows it. There was a published report that stated the league office will begin fining serial flop artists next year. That's a good start.

Still, more needs to be done. Or you're going to start hearing more players other than Wallace launching expletive bombs at the game's officials.