Gotnext Women's Basketball Boards

Vladimir Taltos · Joined: 15 Jun 2002 Posts: 72

...line of the article...

Kantner reportedly had no warning before firing

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ESPN.com news services

NEW YORK -- Dee Kantner, one of the NBA's two female referees, has been fired, the NBA said Monday.

Referee Dee Kantner can't believe the NBA fired her.

"Dee has been terminated,'' NBA vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson said. "There are times in a referee's development that we find that a referee is not making sufficient progress in her own development and sometimes a change is needed. In this case, we felt that her termination was warranted.''

Kantner and Violet Palmer joined the NBA's officiating staff in 1997. It was the first time in major U.S. professional sports that women officiated regular-season games in an all-male league. Both worked through the 2001-02 season.

In a story published in the Sacramento Bee, Kantner said she was given no warning before being fired and said she is "pursuing all options," which could include legal action.

"I'm completely stunned," Kantner told the Bee from her home in Charlotte, N.C. "I had no idea I was in trouble. I would have expected management to have said something, yet there was nothing in any of my reviews. I am completely blown away, to be honest."

Before she was hired by the NBA, Kantner was the supervisor of officials for the WNBA.

NBA officials are evaluated by Jackson, the league's supervisor of officials, staff observers and coaches and general managers.

NBA officiating director Ed Rush said referee Jim Kinsey also was dismissed, according to Bloomberg. At the end of last season, the league had 59 referees on staff.

The Bee story said an end-of-season ratings system ranked Kantner last, though she refutes the system that says she's the league's worst official, the story said.

:twisted:

Food for thought, huh?

VT

eaction83 · Joined: 14 Jun 2002 Posts: 130 Location: Fremont, CA

Hey it's the oldest tactic in the book--if you can't hack it, just blame the system. Why do you think American schools are getting more and more dumbed down every year? Parents can't be bothered to teach Junior good study habits and help him get his homework done every night, but they sure can find the time to scream at the teacher when he fails his test.

Course I'm just saying that to be flip. :) I have absolutely no clue what the NBA's referee evaluation system is or if Kantner has any case to make or not. And that article gives so little detail that it's impossible to form an intelligent opinion. But I would say, if I REALLY wanted to be flip, that if the WNBA's onetime supervisor of officials can't keep a job in the NBA, it sure explains a lot about the general quality of officiating in the league. :D :twisted: :D :twisted: :wink:

Vladimir Taltos · Joined: 15 Jun 2002 Posts: 72

e:

That was my general thought too...and the evidence on the court, of course, bears no resemblance to bad officiating at all... :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops:

VT

eaction83 · Joined: 14 Jun 2002 Posts: 130 Location: Fremont, CA

Okay, flippancy aside for a second. After listening to all the jock-male hosts on sports talk radio this morning--who watch a lot more NBA than I do (which is none in at least 8 years)--sticking up for Dee, and after hearing that even referee critic #1 Mark Cuban is going to bat for her, I'm beginning to think she's got a legit complaint here. Certainly when it comes to "due process" at the very least, since apparently nobody knows what the NBA's evaluation system is except the NBA, least of all the people getting fired by this "system". Actually, I have a pretty good guess as to what that system is. :D

"NBA referee evaluation worksheet:

1. Does he/she treat the league's most marketable players like gods and let them get away with things ordinary players can't?

2. Does he/she observe the proper order of giving preferential treatment to teams, as specified below?
a) the Los Angeles Lakers
b) the New York Knicks
c) the home team

3. Does he/she make an adequate number of horrible calls each game, so that the fans will be paying too much attention to him/her to notice the shocking lack of fundamentals among our players?

If the answer to any two of the above three questions is 'no', this referee is not properly fulfilling his/her obligation of assisting us in marketing our entertainment product, and should be terminated no later than one month after the season ends."

:twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

Gil · Joined: 25 Jun 2002 Posts: 84

FYI, folks....Here is the complete article from the Sacramento Bee that is the subject of this thread for your review.

Ailene Voisin: A flagrant, personal, technical NBA foul
By Ailene Voisin -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Monday, July 15, 2002

The NBA's top refs may have blown another call. Blown it badly. In a development that is provoking another heated debate within the league, Dee Kantner, one of two females on the 59-member officiating staff, was fired last week.

But no tears. None of those.

Kantner is only crying foul.

Loudly.

"I'm completely stunned," she said from her home in Charlotte, N.C. "I had no idea I was in trouble. I would have expected management to have said something, yet there was nothing in any of my reviews. I am completely blown away, to be honest."

And, suddenly, the NBA has another officiating scandal, perhaps with Ralph Nader passing off to Kim Gandy of the National Organization for Women. This refs mess just won't go away. Neither will Kantner.

The most respected official in women's college basketball when hired five years ago during the Darell Garretson/Rod Thorn era, Kantner not only challenges the validity of an end-of-season ratings system that ranks her last, she refutes the notion that she's the league's worst official.

She ponders a personality conflict.

She thinks stats can be manipulated.

She thinks she has a case, and a cause and, at the least, she has allies in high places: More than a dozen coaches and general managers contacted this past weekend not only were surprised by her ouster, several reacted angrily. Indeed, while league vice president Stu Jackson and officiating supervisor Ed Rush contend that Kantner failed to progress sufficiently in her five seasons -- and bolster their contention with even more numbers -- this is where the situation becomes interesting. And complicated. And controversial. And political. And perhaps even unseemly.

Among other things, Kantner appears caught in the midst of a pair of power struggles, one involving coaches and general managers alienated by the Jackson-Rush officiating regime, and therefore attach only minimal significance to their ratings; another that traces back to the time when she and Violet Palmer were hired -- and nurtured -- by the now-retired Garretson and current New Jersey Nets GM Thorn.

New bosses, of course, bring in new people. Their own people. Their kind of people. And according to sources close to the situation, Jackson and Rush never approved of Kantner's aggressive demeanor or her sociable, on-court persona. Rather, both seem to prefer Palmer's more subtle, understated style.

Yet several coaches and general managers -- some who were initially cool to the idea of women as referees -- say they became converts largely because of Kantner's confident, chatty manner, along with her refusal to be intimidated.

"I thought she was going to be a very good ref," said one coach who, like his peers, asked that his name not be used for fear of retribution. "She was really good at talking to us and explaining why she made this or that call. But something changed this year. It was almost as if, with Darell and Rod gone, she had become fearful of making a call. It seemed like they were trying to take away what she did best."

Added another coach who had been particularly critical of Kantner following one game last season, "Do I think she deserved to be fired or was the worst in the league? No, not even close. I can think of 10 guys who are worse."

One longtime coach even allowed that, "if she files a lawsuit and I get subpoenaed, I'll support her all the way. This is just not right."

But here's the problem: How do you square these most recent comments with the coaches' and general managers' rankings, which rated her 59th and account for 40 percent of the final computation? (Jackson and Rush combine for 50 percent of the total, overseers the remaining 15 percent.)

Anger. Resentment. Alienation. Lack of credibility. Will that do? An undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the current officiating system is almost universal, highlighted by a lack of input and/or feedback from the NBA office staff. The degree of frustration and, to a certain extent, resignation, is almost shocking.

"We ask how refs are hired and fired, and we never get any real answers," said one coach. "A lot of us just have our assistants do (ref evaluations) and don't even look before we sign. It doesn't matter what we think, so why waste our time?"

Asked about this, Jackson bristles.

"If that's the case, that's terrible," he said, "because we take these things seriously. A lot of thought goes into this. And we do have a review system, and (Kantner) was subject to the normal reviews. If she's saying we don't ... it's just not true."

Kantner, an engineer by trade, knew that breaking the gender barrier was not going to be easy. But she isn't finished yet. She says she is "pursuing all options," and you know what that means.

caune · Joined: 12 Jun 2002 Posts: 1562 Location: Phoenix

wow Gil, thanks for posting that column.
My first instinct when hearing Dee was fired was....well they will need another women ref, maybe they can take Sally Bell or Bonita Spemnce off our (WNBA) hands????
But seriously, it seems Dee is getting squeezed out because of her personality? Oh there is a lawsuit in this and I hope she takes 'em for all she can! BTW, were ANY other refs fired or just Dee?

The Santa Barbarian · Joined: 08 Jul 2002 Posts: 35

"But here's the problem: How do you square these most recent comments with the coaches' and general managers' rankings, which rated her 59th and account for 40 percent of the final computation? (Jackson and Rush combine for 50 percent of the total, overseers the remaining 15 percent.)"

105%?

eaction83 · Joined: 14 Jun 2002 Posts: 130 Location: Fremont, CA

Yes, one other ref, Jim Kinsey, was also fired according to the story VT posted originally. I wonder what his personality was like?