@movernie
(Photo Credit: Raptors.com and Sportsnet.ca)
In case you were living in a case in the past 2 days, you may have heard of the Toronto Raptors Fred VanVleet rant’s on NBA officiating and his frustration on the bad reffing by Ben Taylor.
His media conference video went viral as many people have never seen a player who will specifically called out a bad official by name and Fred’s rant didn’t hold back and he swear quite a bit in the entire rant. People were shocked on the “not hold back” opinion by Fred.
After watching the video myself, I thought the video was entertaining, Fred sounds like a gangsta swearing but I am totally supportive and understand why Fred was frustrated and why he wanted to let it all out.
In case you can’t watch the video or prefer to read his words, here is the verbatim of Fred’s rant from the video:
“I mean, I don’t mind, I’ll take a fine, I don’t really care,”
“I thought Ben Taylor was f***ing terrible tonight. I thought that most nights, a couple out of the three, there was one or two that just f***ed the game up. It’s been like that a couple games in a row.”
“You come out tonight competing pretty hard, third quarter, I get a bullshit tech, change the whole dynamic of the game, the whole flow of the game,” said VanVleet.
“We’re losing a bit of the fabric of what the NBA is and was, and it’s been disappointing this season.”
“Most of the refs are trying hard, they communicate pretty well and then others who just want to be dicks, and it f***s the game up. Nobody is coming to see that s***, they’re coming to see the players.”
I think Fred’s frustration was a built up from a previous game when his teammate, Scottie Barnes got a technical foul and got ejected out of the game in the most crucial 4th quarter when the game was on the line with a few minutes left in the game. And with the ejection, Raptors lost the momentum and eventually lose the game to the Denver Nuggets.
If you watch the Scottie Barnes ejection video, I really don’t know where the foul was. Scottie was just talking to himself and then the ref just ejected him. It’s frustrating when refs are trying to do too much or messed up the outcome of the game by thinking they are the NBA god or something. Honestly, no one is perfect and we get it, refs have a tough job to make especially they have to decide if they should call a foul or no foul at the most crucial part of the game. But I found the NBA league has been getting more softer and softer in the past few years. People are getting technical fouls for no reasons or when they just showing some emotions, they get penalized. It’s just really taking away from the joy and flow of the game.
I don’t know if the build up of Scottie ejection against the Denver Nuggets have anything to do with Fred’s frustration especially Fred got a technical foul in this game vs the LA Clippers.
I found Fred’s rant was very valid, he covered a lot on why he is frustrated. He pinpointed Ben Taylor, the official who Freddy thought did a terrible job in the officiating of the game vs the Clippers. Freddy also mentioned how fans wanted to see players play. The fans aren’t here to watch the refs kicking players out or messed up the outcome of the game.
Moreover, Fred backed up his comment by mentioning most of his technical fouls this year, majority of them were called by Ben Taylor. So, Fred thinks Ben Taylor is out there to get him, with a personal vandetta.
I think the reason why this colour commentary by Freddy went viral was that…there was lots of swearing in it but more importantly, very rarely, a player would pinpoint and called out a ref’s name and commented how bad a job he did.
I do, however, thinks it’s important in this situation for Freddy to called out Ben Taylor. One, Freddy wants the NBA league and other players to pay more attention on the officiating by Ben Taylor. More importantly, Freddy wanted to pinpoint Ben Taylor and doesn’t want to generalize the entire refs as bad. He clearly mentioned that there are refs who are out there to mess up the game and outcome of the game. However, he also praises that there are refs out there who are trying hard to call a fair game and do their best to officiate a good game. Thus, calling out Ben Taylor was important.
Yesterday, the NBA has fined $30,000 USD on Fred’s rant. And I have to say, although $30,000 USD is a lot of money for many fans, $30,000 is chum change for Freddy who makes $20M+ a season and for him to call out a ref and swearing in the entire media scrum, $30,000 is well spent.
I really hope the NBA takes notice on feedbacks such as Fred VanVleet and other players and fine tune the referring integrity of calling more fair and fun games. It’s imperative for the players and referees to communicate and work together to provide a better product on the court for fans to enjoy. It’s important the players can talk to the ref to get a better feel of what’s allowed and not allowed during the game. Perhaps the ref gives the players more warning before just toss them out right away without any warning.
And this is my take on this situation.
MoVernie QUESTION: What are your thoughts on Fred VanVleet’s rant?
Fred VanVleet went OFF on referee Ben Taylor and NBA reffing in general in his post-game after the Raptors loss. Haven't heard anything like this. pic.twitter.com/VcMkGTh0k3
— Faizal Khamisa (@SNFaizalKhamisa) March 9, 2023
