Jackson says officiating no joke

NEW YORK CITY — There’s no more capable executive in the National Basketball Association (NBA) to manage its game-related operations than Stu Jackson.

I reached that conclusion after a 30-minute interview the other day with Jackson in his 15th floor corner office at the league headquarters in the Olympic Tower building off Fifth Avenue beside St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

NBA Asia senior director for public relations Cheong Sau Ching arranged the interview which was confirmed by international public relations assistant Rebecca Mandelman for 11 a.m. last Tuesday.

Jackson, 47, played varsity hoops at the University of Oregon and Seattle University where he earned a degree in business administration in 1978. He did marketing work for IBM in Los Angeles after graduation and in 1981, started a career in coaching. Jackson was in Rick Pitino’s staff at Providence College and New York until he became the NBA’s second youngest head coach ever at 33 with the Knicks in 1989.

Jackson joined the NBA as director of basketball operations in 1991. He assisted in administering the league’s officiating staff with a sharp focus on team and player discipline and operational procedures relating to trades, player waivers and the salary cap. He also served as the NBA’s liaison to USA Basketball for the 1992 Olympics.

In 1994, Jackson engineered the formation of the Vancouver franchise in the NBA as president and general manager. When the Vancouver franchise moved to Memphis, Jackson rejoined the NBA as senior vice president of basketball operations and USA Basketball Senior National Team Committee Chairman.

Since he’s in charge of making sure there are no hitches in playing over 2,500 games in a season, Jackson is extremely busy. Still, he made time to talk to me and never showed he was in a rush. In fact, deputy commissioner Russ Granik knocked on the door of his office to consult Jackson during my visit.

When Granik saw Jackson had a visitor, he asked if they could meet after the interview. Jackson didn’t hurry me up. I had a list of 20 prepared questions, some of which Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) commissioner Noli Eala suggested, and Jackson answered them all.

On officiating, Jackson said it takes four to seven years for a referee to break into the league. It’s a long maturity process that guarantees a core of well-trained and well-prepared arbiters. Supervisor of officials Ronnie Nunn, who is Ernie de Leon’s counterpart in the PBA, reports directly to Jackson.

"We’ve got a recruitment committee that looks at prospects from a variety of sources–referees in the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union), high schools, small colleges, major colleges, and others. We’ll go anywhere to look for the best officials. The first entry point is the summer leagues where we conduct officiating camps in Los Angeles, Utah, Boston and Orlando. The second phase is doing staff work in the NBDL (National Basketball Development League) or the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association). The third phase is working pre-season games. Referees are salaried employees. They’ve got a union and a collective bargaining agreement."

Throughout the season, Jackson said the performance of referees is constantly evaluated. "The education factor is ongoing," he explained. "We operate an interactive website where we communicate with our referees, administer weekly tests concerning rules and monitor their progress."

Starting the 2001-02 season, the NBA instituted rule changes that made the league a lot more exciting and dramatic. Jackson was involved in deliberating on the changes with Select Committee on Playing Rules chairman Jerry Colangelo, Jerry West, Dick Motta, Jack Ramsay and Bob Lanier. The basic changes were eliminating the illegal defense guidelines, reducing the time to advance the ball past midcourt from 10 to eight seconds, ignoring touch fouls or incidental contact and calling a defensive three-second violation. Last season, the NBA introduced the instant replay rule.

Jackson said eliminating the illegal defense guidelines was bound to happen. "It’s become easier for fans to understand the game," he noted. "It’s also made it easier for officials to work the games. It’s reduced the incidence of subjective interpretation. Coaches are now free to use different kinds of defenses and the game has become very unpredictable as a result. You don’t get too many isolations and clearouts anymore."

Jackson said the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) rule on interference above the rim has been discussed in league deliberations but never approved. The FIBA allows a defensive player to tap the ball away from the hoop once it hits the rim even if over the cylinder. In the NBA, interference is prohibited if the ball is above the hoop.

NBA players seeing action in FIBA competitions such as the World Championships or the Olympics are often thrown off by the rule. Jackson said the FIBA rule on basket interference makes for an exciting play and draws an immediate reaction from the fans. In the PBA, it was introduced this year.

On the salary cap, Jackson said the league makes sure players are paid according to what their contracts stipulate. "The goal is to level the playing field and the Board of Governors appreciates that," he said. "If a team is found guilty of circumventing salary cap rules, the league comes down really hard with severe sanctions such as in the Joe Smith case where we took away five first round draft picks from Minnesota, suspended the general manager and slapped a fine of millions of dollars."

Jackson said he leans on his experience as a former player, coach and team general manager to do his job. "I feel fortunate in doing what I’m doing," he said. "I wouldn’t trade my job for anything. I utilize all my experiences as a player, coach and general manager to do my work. So if you ask me what experience has helped me the most in my work, my reply would be all of the above."

No doubt, a big reason why the NBA operates so smoothly is Jackson.