Fred VanVleet was not a happy man while talking about the officiating between the Toronto Raptors and the LA Clippers. And he made his feelings explicitly clear by tearing into referee Ben Taylor.
“Most of the refs are trying hard. I like a lot of the refs, they’re trying hard, they’re pretty fair, and communicate well”, he said, per Erik Koreen of The Athletic. “And then you got the other ones who just want to be dicks and just kind of f** up the game.”
“I’ll take a fine. I don’t really care. I thought Ben Taylor was f**king terrible today. On most nights, out of the 3, there’s 1 or 2 that just f**k the game up. it’s been like that a couple of games in a row.” Raptors reporter Michael Grange posted the entire statement.
These are Fred VanVleet's full comments on the officiating tonight after Raptors loss to the Clippers. Just eviscerating. He will take a fine … very big fine: pic.twitter.com/YkSJfTdXdg
— Michael Grange (@michaelgrange) March 9, 2023
The team was called for 23 fouls compared to LA’s 18, and the latter had 31 free throw attempts to them, while Toronto had 14. VanVleet received a whistle for a tech foul by Taylor with 7:02 minutes remaining in the third quarter.
“There have been certain times this year where I feel our team is getting consumed with the way the whistle is going,” VanVleet said.
“Especially after the night we just had in Denver, the way that finished, so there were a couple of calls earlier that we all disagreed with. And if I say to my team, ‘Come on, guys, let’s keep playing [through] the bull****’ and that warrants a tech, I think that’s a little bit crazy. Like, what are we doing? Know what I mean?
Per ESPN, VanVleet’s three technicals of his eight have come from Taylor, and the former felt that was personal at a certain point. The end result was a Raptors loss as they went down 108-100 at the Crypto.com Arena.
“And there’s a fine line obviously, I understand that,” he further explained. “But I think the jurisdiction and the power trip that we’ve been on this year with some of our officials in this league is getting out of hand and I’ll take my fine for speaking on it, but it’s f***ing ridiculous.”
VanVleet will surely pony up a hefty fine from the league for his comments. And he may be ready for it. This season has seen ample spotlight on the referees, and with the guard not holding back, the focus just gets brighter.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver Explains How The Officials Would Be Disciplined
One of the narratives around the league doing the rounds is slapping fines on the officials for their erroneous calls. NBA commissioner Adam Silver set the record straight on how the officials would be disciplined.
According to ESPN, he said, “We don’t publicize discipline for officials. We don’t think that will be appropriate. But their assignments are affected by the quality of their calls, whether or not they progress into the playoffs, and then round by round is impacted by the accuracy of their calls and their demeanor on the floor. So there is a system for overseeing and making those judgments about officials. But more to your earlier point about getting the calls right, that’s again not a new issue.”
For now, the rant against poor officiating continues, especially with the Raptors vs. Clippers game becoming a topic of debate about the referees going about their business. Only time will tell the ramifications of VanVleet’s comments and what becomes of Taylor.
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