Rasheed Wallace's career-long beef with NBA referees was iconic

(upbeat music) - Rasheed Wallace is an NBA legend. He has also been called the most difficult man in the world to referee. Wallace complained a lot. The

referees

punished him for it, which only led to more complaints and then more punishment. That cycle surpassed the usual relationship between player and referee. He became

beef

. For as

long

as organized basketball has existed, there have been

referees

. James Naismith's original basketball rules required referees, designating one referee as the men's judge. This is a broad area that covers not only how players interact with each other, but also how players interact with the referees themselves.

To limit the latter, referees use technical fouls. Many of the early accounts of leading players in organized basketball were criticized for complaining. The authority to punish unsportsmanlike conduct by players in response to calls leaves a lot of room for subjectivity and bias. This invites problems. Here is an article from the 1970s that talks about how referees are accused of bias and revenge. This was all

long

before Rasheed Wallace appeared on the scene. And then Rasheed Wallace entered the scene. Wallace was always a great player, but not always an antagonist to the referees. His high school coach claims that "Sheed only received one technical foul during those years." But Wallace quickly earned a reputation.

In his rookie year with the Washington Bullets, Wallace received criticism for his immaturity. He committed more than a dozen technical fouls that '95-'96 season, including his first ejection in February. He was given a technical for hanging on the edge and then a second technical for protesting against the first. You may remember the incident from March 1996, when Chicago's Dennis Rodman was suspended for this headbutt by referee Ted Bernhardt. Well, just a few days later, Bernhardt called a foul that 'Sheed didn't like.' She muttered something about headbutting and Bernhardt threw him away. Too soon. The Bullets traded Wallace to the Portland Trailblazers after just one year.

In Portland, 'Sheed became a star and continued to argue with referees. He made headlines in January 2000 for being ejected on consecutive nights. The first time it was Bernhardt again who gave two technical fouls to Wallace. 'Sheed was also fined $7,500 because he chased Bernhardt before Scottie Pippen intervened. The next night, 'Sheed got the hook for elbowing Dirk Nowitzki. A month later, Wallace played in his first All-Star Game, a milestone that affected public dialogue about his character. What some would call volatility, others might call passion. Where outsiders saw a temperamental troublemaker, teammates knew a fun-loving fool. Yes, he racked up nearly 100 technical fouls and was ejected from more than a dozen games in his young

career

.

But 'Sheed insisted he didn't have a bad attitude, and his co-workers backed him up. 'Sheed was a family man. 'Sheed was a team player. 'Sheed was also in pure basketball terms, a far cry from an immature rookie on the stinking 96 Bullets. He was the face of an excellent Blazers team that finished the 2000 regular season with 59 wins. It became particularly important for Wallace to stay on the court. It was playoff time. And in two playoff series wins, referees did not eject 'Sheed. He got a technical here and there, but never two in a game. Blazers coach Mike Dunleavy helped Wallace make sure of that.

But Rasheed Wallace's reputation preceded him in the first game of the Western Conference finals. In that series, Portland faced the Lakers, the kind of big-market superstar-driven team that some would say benefits from referee favoritism. 'Sheed committed two quick fouls and had to sit as the Lakers took the lead. He returned only to be whistled seconds later for a third foul on what appeared to be a clean vertical contest off this Robert Horry layup. Ron Garretson, holding the NBC microphone, defended his whistle. - You hit him with your hip. - Visibly dissatisfied with that explanation. 'However, Sheed disengaged and returned to the bench.

But a frustrated Wallace kept talking from the sideline and Garretson hit him with a T. Fast forward to the third quarter. Ron Harper was not penalized for this hit, but 'Sheed recovered the ball anyway and threw down a great dunk. Defiantly, he clenched his fist and glared at Garretson, I assume, for not blowing the whistle the first time. 'Sheed was calm, although he continued chatting while he took his free throws. What he finally did was stare. NBC's microphone gave us insight into Wallace's second disqualifying technique. (whistle sounds) - Out, out! - And we hear Garretson's explanation to the dismayed Blazer Steve Smith. - I asked him three times to stop looking at me, trying to intimidate me.

I've finished. - For one thing, Wallace had been complaining a lot. On the other hand, it's a big leap to interpret a prolonged stare as intimidation. The announcers had no doubt that this was a 'Sheed-only standard. -Now, did he say something? No. Do you usually get kicked out for staring? No. - J.A. Adande agreed. It was unreasonable to eject a player from a playoff game for watching too much, clearly a reputation issue. And speaking of reputation, Pippen alluded to the fact that All-Stars like Wallace tend to get more leniency, though not Rasheed. The referees perceived him as aggressive.

By the way, if you're wondering how that series turned out, Shaq and company won game seven, despite a brilliant performance from 'Sheed. LA attempted 37 free throws compared to Portland's 16. Interesting. Still, 'Sheed's relationship with the referees did not improve in 2000-2001. In fact, Wallace broke his own unofficial record that season, accumulating 41 technical fouls in 77 games played. That led to seven expulsions. 'Sheed was fined in preseason for refusing to leave the field and reprimanding referees. He was suspended and fined in February for throwing a towel that hit referee Gary Benson in the face. And that somehow wasn't Sheeds' only towel-related suspension that year.

It was an incredible season. That season 01 was 'Sheed's masterpiece, but these two parts continued to have a complex and strong relationship. Sometimes he was cheerful. In a 2002 game against the Lakers, Pippen reacted to this 'Sheed call by throwing the ball into the crowd and was ejected. All of the Portland fans in attendance had received these strange Bill Walton dolls as gifts and threw them on the ground to express their displeasure. 'Sheed laughed about the whole thing with referee Bennett Salvatore. - They throw them at you. I'm trying to stay here and protect you. Good idea. -Sometimes the meat went out of bounds.

During a January 2003 game, referee Tim Donaghy, whose name you'll hear again, gave Wallace a technical foul for throwing the ball toward fellow referee Scott Wall. 'Sheed insisted that he was throwing the ball to Wall, not, you know, to Wall. After the game, Wallace yelled at Donaghy about the technique saying it was stupid and that he was going to get the money back from him. Donaghy told Wallace to watch the tape. Wallace walked up to him, raised his arms and there was some cursing and, well, whatever happened, the league, unsurprisingly, sided with Donaghy and suspended 'Sheed for a whopping seven games.

In 2004, Wallace became Piston and won a ring. He reached thirty and was a champion who still had unfinished business with the referees. Wallace accused the officials of showing up to games upset, of bringing up problems they had at home, of being criminals. He wasn't going to accept that treatment without doing anything. But he modified his approach a little bit. 'Sheed could innovate. Firstly, it's worth mentioning that Wallace tried to help Donaghy and Garretson restore order during the infamous Malice at the Palace fight, but yes, on normal non-fight workdays, 'Sheed was still collecting technical data. Not as much, though, because he saved more and more criticism for after the game.

Like during the 2005 Eastern Conference finals against the Heat. 'Sheed once again grew tired of Shaq taking calls and referred to the officials as extra help for the Heat, forces working against the less glamorous Pistons. He then implied that the league and its officials were deliberately changing the results so that the series would last a full seven games. Detroit coach Larry Brown's comments echoed those of several 'Sheed coaches. He's right that the referees don't treat him fairly, but he can't let that get to him. But therein lies the beauty of vilifying referees from the field. Yes, the league will fine you, but that's just money, not a technical foul or ejection that could hurt your team.

Such distinctions only became more important as the NBA tightened its rules, such as suspending players who accumulated 16 or more technical fouls in a season. In late 2006, commissioner David Stern went further and explicitly authorized referees to call faster coaches. He noted that a small handful of players slow down games with their complaints. That suspension rule hit 'Sheed first.' And he knew very well that those comments were directed at him. But Rasheed Wallace is a man of principle and no amount of repression was going to silence him if he felt aggrieved. Once again, his campaign took many forms.

One was a new phrase, an exclamation that immediately became embedded in basketball culture. Sheed would be called for a foul that he didn't like. If the guy who committed the foul missed a free throw, 'Sheed would say three words. (crowd applauding) - The ball doesn't lie! - The basketball will not enter the hoop if it knows that the referee misused his whistle. Even with new tactics, 'Sheed couldn't avoid getting kicked out from time to time. Detroit returned to the 2007 Eastern Conference Finals, but lost to rising superstar LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron shot 19 free throws in the decisive sixth game of that series.

A lot, Wallace complained, and then he was kicked out for it. If there had been a seventh game, 'Sheed would have been suspended. The outcome of that series reinforced Wallace's belief that the referees were not just targeting him, but favoring teams like LeBron's Cavs, which were good for ratings. The referees helped the league by putting their so-called favorite in the final. The game had become more of an entertainment than a sport, like wrestling. Rasheed Wallace was undoubtedly the most prominent anti-referee voice of his era, but he received support from unexpected sources. In 2007, a study on racial discrimination among referees found that referees called significantly more fouls on players of a different race.

And that the racial composition of a referee team was important enough to influence the results of games. That same year, it emerged that the FBI investigated NBA referees for allegedly betting on games. That investigation led Tim Donaghy, remember him from before, to plead guilty to two felonies and serve time in prison. After Donaghy came out, he wrote a book full of all kinds of crazy and incriminating stories. Among many other things, Donaghy included 'Sheed's name on a list of players the referees couldn't stand. Players he and his betting colleagues sometimes referred to for techniques, focusing on their every move.

Wallace, a Celtic at the time, said, look, I'm not a liar. Everyone thought he was crazy and militant, but look what has come to light. In addition to the broader claims, that specific notion of a technical foul reward seemed right to 'Sheed. Especially in those record-breaking years, all it took was a laugh or a look to get the T. He insisted that he didn't complain any more than anyone else. The NBA, of course, didn't want to hear it. Commissioner Stern described Donaghy as an isolated case at the beginning of the scandal. The league then worked hard to stop the publication of his book.

Of course, that wasn't going to change Rasheed's mind. The veteran veteran kept receiving technicals and fines, kept suggesting that he was subject to fake calls, kept insinuating that NBA golden boy LeBron was getting away with murder. During Boston's 2010 playoff series against the Heat, the league fined Wallace for accusing the referees of harassing him and suggesting that Dwayne Wade received preferential treatment because of television ratings. Researchers have studied these types of things as well, although the methodology involved can leave one with more questions than answers. The NBA certainly doesn't like this stuff. Anyway, 'Sheed's last act as a Celtic was trying to get into the referee's locker room after Boston lost Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals to the Lakers.

He just wanted to talk. Perfect farewell. Wallace retired a few days later, but even outside of the NBA, 'Sheed managed to make headlines for arguing with basketball referees. 'Sheed returned in 2012 to play someHow many games with the Knicks. He was expelled from one of them after playing less than 90 seconds. All it took was three words to get technical number two. The ball doesn't lie. - Dragic fails the technique. -'He retired permanently in 2013 and the referees must have been relieved to say goodbye to the most difficult man in the world to referee, as Danny Crawford called him.

While he doesn't talk to NBA referees much anymore, 'Sheed certainly hasn't stopped talking about them. In this video on his son's YouTube channel, Rasheed suggested that referees have some kind of complex about their own failed basketball

career

s. - A lot of those guys didn't make it to Varsity or were like DIII or NAIA, or, you know, whatever, and they wanted to have the aspirations and dreams of playing in the NBA, but they couldn't. -He also implied that Ron Garretson, the crazy referee, has something in common with Tim Donaghy. - Exactly, that's what I'm saying. He was one of those cheating referees. -And he explained why he thought Garretson accused him of bullying in 2000. -You know, I'm a tall African-American guy, over seven feet tall, and he's a small guy.

You know, he has a Napoleon complex. He is a little, I am so small, now I have all the power, I am a referee. -'Sheed also appears on television, and his former teammate, Kevin Garnett, loves to talk to him about conspiracy theories, like in this Area 21 roundtable. -So you think he's already premeditated? - Come Come on, man, you don't want to mess with this conspiracy theory. - No, no, no, I have to ask. Do you know how many times you get kicked out of the game? I do this recently. - And do you know how many times I was right? - How often? - Oh, very much. - It's kind of funny, by the way, that Garnett is the moderating voice there as a guy who once compared the 2006 technical foul crackdown to communism under Fidel Castro.

Anyway, while this conversation includes 'Sheed insulting', it also includes memories about a healthier player-referee dynamic. - When we first came to the league, the referees told us where we were wrong. - That's what I'm talking about. - Because they would talk to you. - If you had conversations, yes. - I would say, man, I didn't travel, he would say, you did. Was it like that, or you... That resonates, considering how bad relations have been at times since Wallace and Garnett left the league. The point is that referee bias is not just a Rasheed Wallace problem. Believe who you want to believe, but academics and corrupt referees alike have identified blind spots and abuses of power that go beyond a single player.

What made Rasheed Wallace unique was the campaign he waged throughout his career to call out perceived bias and abuse and thwart every tactic the league deployed to silence him. Yes, 'Sheed seemed immature at times and moody at others, but it was all in service of a mission. This meat was a crusade.