Chris Paul Isn't Worried About Replacement Referees

Cleveland's Shaquille O'Neal stood with the NBA's incumbent, locked-out referees last week, calling officials "vital" and saying that the players "need perfection" from game crews. But Hornets capo Chris Paul isn't sweating the replacement corps, which will descend upon New York for a boot camp later this week before taking the reins on October 1 when the preseason schedule kicks off.

Paul told his hometown Winston-Salem Journal that he's not worried teams will be overly physical with him if less experienced referees are roaming the sidelines.

It's a quiet sentiment which could very well be widespread, considering players are often as critical of referees as fans. Few of the league's current player base experienced the ref lockout of 1995 -- Shaq was around for that, and suffered an injury attributable to the lack of control replacements had over the proceedings. Refs have taken more heat than ever in recent years, and in the opinion of many players (like Paul), the officials could seem utterly replaceable.

It's telling that while many fans (myself included) are apopletic about the prospect of the folks who reffed Summer League working real live regular season games, at least one top player isn't that worked up. Again, I wonder how widespread the sentiment is.