DENVER -- Kenyon Martin can joke a little about replacement officials. Overall, though, he doesn't think it's too funny.In an interview with FanHouse, Martin said he believes games will be "terrible'' with the replacements.
"I joked the other day with [Tim Grgurich] and Jamahl Mosley,'' the Denver Nuggets feisty forward said about talking to a pair of assistant coaches. "I'm going to get suspended in the first month of the season. I'm going to have 15 technicals in the first month just for the simple fact [replacement officials] don't know how I run my mouth. They don't know how I approach the game.''
They might find out in a hurry. Martin and his Nuggets play Thursday at Utah in the NBA preseason opener and first game using replacement referees.
"If they want the extra benefits, I don't know why they can't get it,'' Martin said. "Give [the officials that] in order to keep the game the same way. Because the game is going to be terrible with those replacements.
"It will be terrible. I believe guys will get more technicals. But that's probably what [the NBA is] looking for, more money. There are going to be more ejections. Tempers are going to be even worse. Attitudes are going to be even worse.''
Martin was told the NBA donates money from fines to charities so the league wouldn't make more money off technicals and ejections. But that didn't slow down Martin."It's going to be pretty bad,'' Martin said of NBA games. "The replacement refs, there's no way they're used to the pace of the game. ... The guys, except the rookies, they know the guys [in the NBA]. They know how to call the game if I'm playing, if Chauncey [Billups, a Denver guard] is playing, if [Allen Iverson, a Memphis guard] is playing. They know because we've been around.
"They know how we can talk to certain refs. Certain guys know me. I don't mean no harm sometimes. I might get out of line sometimes. But, for the most part, I get a little leeway. But with the [replacement officials], I don't have that leeway. ... You know how you can approach certain refs, what you can say to certain refs.''
Despite any leeway, Martin has incurred many fines, ejections and suspensions over his nine-year career. He had 10 technicals last season, five shy of the number that results in a one-game suspension.
Teammate Carmelo Anthony reached 15 last season, but NBA rules did not call for a suspension because No. 15 came in Denver's final regular-season game. But Anthony isn't worried about replacement officials.``To me, I think the players should just, at least in the first four to six games, not worry about it and just play through it."
- George Karl
"It's refs,'' Anthony said. "They'll learn the game. They watch films. Some refs, they've reffed [the NBA] game before. We got to play. They got to ref.''
Nuggets coach George Karl also isn't getting too bent out of shape about the replacements.
"I think there will be just more emotion in the game, more verbal confrontation of calls,'' Karl said. "To me, I think the players should just, at least in the first four to six games, not worry about it and just play through it. Understand we'll get good whistles and we'll probably get some bad whistles. ... Coaches think refereeing is bad no matter how good it is.''
Karl sees a positive in that some replacements who do well later could become regular officials. Still, he's hoping "sooner than later we'll have the first-class guys back in the league.''
Until then, Nuggets guard Anthony Carter believes there could be some rough patches.
"It's always going to be tough when you have a whole new set of refs,'' Carter said. "The other refs kind of know what other players do and what their moves are. Who's flopping? It's going to be a big challenge for them. ... They're going to be cursed out a little bit. They just have to have thick skin. They're going to miss calls, and we're going to be complaining. But that's part of the job.''Martin sure is complaining. He's pointing a finger at NBA commissioner David Stern to get the lockout settled.
"To get [the officials] back, it's ain't on nobody else,'' Martin said. "It's on David Stern to get it done. Ain't nobody else but on him to get it done.''
Chris Tomasson can be reached at tomasson@fanhouse.com.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
9-30-2009 @ 1:15AM
Giles said...
Doctor, doctor, it hurts when I run my mouth! "Then don`t run your mouth". Whatever happen to Joe Cool types, who were too COOL to run their mouths? KMart admits to running his mouth, but for some reason thinks the refs should know about it and permit it! They should send every trash mouth to the locker room to flush their talk where it belongs. Folks pay to see basketball. Which KMart and others are good at. Not to hear trash. If the replacement refs have the good sense to TOS folks who detract from the game, keep them. Only hire back the no nonsense refs, who call hooking and traveling and Ts. And only let go the replacement refs who don`t.
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9-30-2009 @ 1:49AM
qualitybutcher said...
The NBA doesn't need replacement refs to be terrible, it's terrible already.
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9-30-2009 @ 6:33AM
jcelvis1 said...
If refs are supposed to ref a game by the "way you run your mouth" then who really is running the game? Rules are either your best friend or worst enemy.
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9-30-2009 @ 7:28AM
Koch said...
They dont know how you run your mouth kenyon. Maybe you should keep it closed and play the game. The regular refs should give you technicals for your diarhea of the mouth problems. Why cant black athletes just play the game? Why do they have to act like animals? Must be their culture.
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9-30-2009 @ 4:07PM
Another Great Da said...
FU-Hater
9-30-2009 @ 7:07PM
Smokey said...
Wow you thought and thought very hard on that one, huh? When you say things as that you know how that make you sound?
9-30-2009 @ 8:06AM
skoolbeans said...
REPLACEMENTS WILL BE TERRIBLE?,YEAH I QUESS THEY WON'T BE BETTING ON OPPOSITE TEAM LIKE REGULARS...
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9-30-2009 @ 9:23AM
chechi402 said...
Just give the replacement refs a chance. They have a job to do just like the players. These players weren't always superstars, they started somewhere too. The replacement refs work hard just like the players. Just play the game!!
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9-30-2009 @ 9:55AM
Koch said...
Go pump gas for a living moron. and shut your big mouth
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9-30-2009 @ 10:21AM
Dark Alley Demon said...
And we wonder why kids who plays high school basketball and in youth league are the way they are. Who do the kids look up to? Hey, Kenyon, put on the stripes and try it. That goes for anybody who criticized the officials. Let see how you do.
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9-30-2009 @ 11:37AM
stefanickj said...
I have an idea, why don't some of these overpaid loudmouths donate some of their salary to help pay for the refs.
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9-30-2009 @ 4:48PM
crc said...
"he's a thug" - mark cuban
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9-30-2009 @ 1:41PM
imarks said...
Would love to see Kenyon and other like minded NBA players share their outrageous salaries with the refs that they so want to get their benefits..Then we will see how warmly Kenyon will embrace the replacement refs.
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9-30-2009 @ 1:45PM
BigRan said...
Overpaid? you stiffs kill me. All the revenue these guys produce and they're overpaid? No, you are just underpaid. Not only should Kenyon continue to run his "diarrhea" mouth, the players should not play, and fans shouldn't watch the NBA until this is resolved. The real issue here are the rat scab replacement scumbags willing to work while their counterparts are being locked out. Whats to stop them from locking the players out next, like the 1995 season, or whats to stop you're employer from locking you out and hiring an illegal alien? Grow some balls. And what's with George Karl, is he that much of a puss, " To me the players should stand by while the refs take it in the ass, play through it with a smile until its their turn to take it in the ass." George Karl, f@*k you. A couple years from now when we're watching rat replacement players, and our best guys are in Europe making even more money, you chumps still won't get it.
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9-30-2009 @ 1:49PM
Daniel said...
Maybe the games will be call based on play now rather than NBA front office favoritism. Whatever, NBA basketball sucks anyway.
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9-30-2009 @ 2:48PM
go1go2dc said...
lakers repeat!!!!!!!!!!!!! have a nice day everybodyelse!!!!!!!!!
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9-30-2009 @ 3:05PM
strapman said...
Money has ruined the nba. The punk ass players have 10s of millions of dollars by the time they are 25, and become lazy. I can't say that I blame them, I'm just saying that it has ruined the game. What I can't figure out is, why does anybody go to an nba game? Is your life really so empty that this is the best thing you can do with your time and money?
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9-30-2009 @ 3:09PM
paryback said...
the nba is the tatoo league---hope they have attendence way down
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9-30-2009 @ 3:38PM
mivogo said...
The problem will be they don't give Kenyon Martin extra leeway when he runs his mouth? That they'll treat all players equally??
Maybe Kenyon can--egads--not run off at the mouth as he has always done, maybe help them out a little? Oops, sorry--those rookie refs better watch out!
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9-30-2009 @ 3:58PM
Giles said...
One of the problems with officiating is the NBA management seem to agree with KMart. Don`t call chicken Wings, don`t call three or more strides to the hoop when only 1 1/2 are allowed, don`t enforce the rule captains can ask to clairfy but not argue a call and no one else is allowed to chat with the ref AT ALL, though many refs allow small talk not about the game during time out. It is NOT racial. Every athlete has a mouth. KMart claimed he ran his. Lots of other guys run theirs. I disagree with them doing so, but I am not league management. I want to see basketball, if they want to run their mouths, let them guest on Oprah, or be interviewed by Kathie Lee on Today, or whatever. That is what chat shows, not the nba, are for.
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