Former NBA Ref Steve Javie Joins ESPN

Posted by | 06/10/2012 at 10:43 pm

Following in the lead of Mike Pereira, former NBA referee Steve Javie has joined ESPN.

Sports Illustrated reported Sunday that Javie will serve as a rules analyst for ESPN during pre-and-postgame coverage of the NBA Finals. Javie retired from the NBA after the 2010-11 season.

Javie is not the first NBA referee to join the broadcasting ranks. In the 1970s, Mendy Rudolph served as an NBA analyst for CBS.

Currently, Ronnie Nunn hosts a show about officiating on NBA TV.

The addition of Javie should do little to quell the annual cacophony of complaints about NBA referees. The NBA is plagued by fans and local media types who simply cannot fathom that their favorite team could lose fair-and-square, and thus prefer to believe David Stern is pulling the strings.

Still, Javie hopes to provide a perspective that he says is missing in NBA coverage. “[F]ans of the NBA have never heard from or been given the perspective from the officials’ point of view,” he told Sports Illustrated. “I’m hoping for positive feedback because I believe it’s something that’s been missing.”

(Sunday’s news from Sports Illustrated)

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  • http://twitter.com/asportsscribe Jason Clinkscales

    Wait… there’s a show about officiating on NBA TV? Why is this the first I’ve heard of it?

    • Paulsen

      Making the Call with Ronnie Nunn. It’s been on for several years now, dating back to before Turner took over NBA TV.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Andrea-Cavalli/757338131 Andrea Cavalli

    I like it..Javie was one of the best refs, if not the best, in the NBA and it’s nice to see a ref giving his perspective on those games. But, as Paulsen said, idiotic homers/conspiracy theorists will keep whining no matter what..you know what, I’d love to see those fans out there on the court officiating a game and making those decisions in a split second..basketball, especially at the NBA level (unbelievable and quick athletes, very small court) is absolutely impossible to officiate and there are many 50/50 calls than can go either way meaning you’ll never be able to make anyone happy.

    It’s also a matter of angles. People need to understand that just because you see something on TV it doesn’t mean refs, who have different angles, see it the same way (many times you think a call should’ve gone team X’s way but when you watch the replay from a different camera you’re not so sure about that anymore..have people ever noticed that? it’s impossible)..plus, unlike fans, refs don’t have the benefit of slow-motion from countless different angles. I wonder why people struggle to realize that.

    Hopefully Javie will teach people how this thing works. But when you talk to many people who’re not fair-minded and have already made up their minds about refs, it’s like talking to a wall.

    I bet that if those homers were given the chance to officiate a game, they would realize how tough the refs’ job is and it has really nothing to do with refs hating certain teams or helping certain other teams winning.

    /Rant