Elite Officiating in Greek Derby: POV Cam!
Professionalism, teamwork, communication and much more...
There was a Euroleague game between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos on 14th March and OLY won the game 71-65 as part of Round 29 of the regular season. For us referees, there was another importance of the game, thanks to Euroleague: the POV Cam!
POV is an abbreviation of Point Of View meaning that you got the view of the person who is performing. In this video, we are seeing live action and on court experience from the point of view of experienced, veteran referee Sreten Radovic (CRO). For any regular basketball fan, this video may not tell more than a hype of being on the court or seeing some communication with the players they see on TV but for us referees, it tells whole a lot more.
So let’s see what hidden gems we can find in this clip;
0:29 - The jump ball. Radovic warns the players before he tosses the ball up to protect himself getting hit on the chin. Please pay attention, whistle always out of the mouth at the jump ball!
0:44 - Low-post game on the strong side, lead has perfect coverage, patiently waits and then calls the foul. Important point here is, OLY player approaches Radovic and asks for an earlier foul call and Radovic answers smoothly “we need to put the criteria, we will not call the small one”. This exchange serves as a great example of early game communication and an indication of the crew’s pre-game talk.
1:00 - Fall at the free throw line, apparently the crew chief called a foul on him but Walkup still complains and asks for earlier contacts to be called. Then it comes a great example of having trust in your colleague communication with players; Radovic says “I had my colleague there, who is in the perfect position and knows the criteria perfectly”. Walkup leaves the conversation convinced.
1:27 - Timeout conversation within the crew. Crew chief brings up the full court press that PAO does to crew’s attention and asks them to be alert on possible 8 second violations. After making his points, CC gives the word to his team if they have anything to add and everybody seems comfortable. We, again, hear the term “criteria”. What’s important to note here is, their communication is short, precise and clear. Third team on the floor, working on their job.
2:02 - Good example of lead referee mechanics. Ball is on the strong-side and lead referee positions himself on the edge of the play. The guard, then brings the ball to top of the key and lead moves to close down. In the meantime, a quick pass the weak side for an open shot, lead referee first decides to initiate rotation but after realizing the 3-point shot, he aborts the rotation and goes back to original position to officiate possible rebound situations.
2:26 - Poor example of lead referee mechanics. Ball is at the top of the key and we expect to see our lead referee in the close down position. However, we understand from the camera angle that lead is on outwards to the position. After getting the pick at the top, ball handler moves around the screen and penetrates to the basket. No adjustment from lead referee, no penetration to inside or any cross step to find a better angle and naturally, he found himself on the straight line with offensive and defensive players. Offensive player indicates that he has been pushed but as camera shows, lead referee was able to see nothing hence no call was made. Then, a technical foul is called on the aggressive gesture of the offensive player, which is expertly explained after, to his teammate, by the CC. Another point of emphasis is referee’s attitude while giving the technical, reporting to the table and clarifying it to other OLY player. He maintained his composure throughout.
3:21 - Communication with players. We see crew chief approaching to a player to start a communication. We understand there were possible complaints from the player at the game or maybe even a technical foul was called. At the beginning of the timeout, CC finds a suitable time to explain himself why he gave the technical foul or why he may give the technical, if not given yet. Here he is putting another “criteria”, for players about their way of communication with the referees. If you remember the earlier communication to OLY player about the technical foul, we see him being consistent to both teams and aligned in his explanations to all players.
3:40 - Help from teammate and use of Instant Replay System (IRS). Weak side out of bounds, lead referee is open to play but couldn’t decide about which player touched the ball last and gets help from colleague. His colleague points to OLY for position however PAO players don’t agree with the call and they start making the Coach’s Challenge Signal. Lead referee -also the crew chief - aware of the situation, approaches to table and PAO coach asks for an official challenge. CC communicates the reason of the challenge to the commissioner at the table and they start using IRS for review. After review, they get all the information they can, agree on the decision and get back to court for the game to continue.
5:18 - After a successful shot, new trail referee starts running with the players, his body is parallel to the base line and most probably he is right behind the ball handler, who is bringing his team to offense. He is running at the same pace with the game, not faster, running around like crazy or slowly walking behind everything. When team is set to play the offense, trail referee’s position is perfect, touching to sideline, 45 degrees to the play, distant and stationary. After the guard starts penetrating to his right, our trail referee also cross steps to his own right to maintain open angle with the matchup. Then, ball comes back to 3-point line for an open shot and trail referee now penetrates to his left, to officiate the 3-point shot. It’s a clear example of importance of working on our position and the result of angle adjustments (see 5.36-5.38).
6:04 - Center referee calls a foul on defensive team which is also the home team and this is the last minute of the game. We hear the crowd as well as the head coach of the home team, roaring and complaining about the call. Crew chief is calm and confident in his team, diffuses the tension of the head coach with his words. Even though CC had no idea about the call or the point of contact (sees only backside of the players), he fully trusts his teammate, explains to the coach how good his position was and finishes with a friendly suggestion: “So, trust us!”
In just 6 minutes, we have observed importance of pre-game talk, criteria setting at the beginning of the game, player and coach communication, building trust within the officiating crew and within the game with other stakeholders, professionalism, teamwork and examples of mechanics.
This is the elite level of officiating and, we can clearly see why.
We feel devotion!