(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] Rasheed Wallace is an NBA legend.
He has also been called
the most difficult man in the world to referee.
Wallace complained a lot.
Refs punished him for it which only led to more complaining,
then more punishment.
That cycle outgrew the usual relationship
between player and official.
It turned into beef.
As long as there has been organized basketball,
there have been referees.
James Naismith's original basketball rules
required officials, designating one umpire
as judge of the men.
That's a broad purview encompassing not just how players
interact with each other, but how players interact
with the referees themselves.
To constrain the latter, refs use technical fouls.
Many early accounts of organized basketball
reference players getting teed up for complaining.
The authority to punish players' unsportsmanlike conduct
in response to calls leaves a lot of room
for subjectivity and bias.
This invites problems.
Here's an article from the seventies talking about
how refs get accused of prejudice and vindictiveness.
These were all things long before Rasheed Wallace
came on the scene.
And then Rasheed Wallace came on the scene.
Wallace was always a great player,
but not always a ref antagonist.
His high school coach claims 'Sheed got
only one technical foul during those years.
But Wallace quickly developed a reputation.
In his rookie year with the Washington Bullets,
Wallace got a talking to for his immaturity.
He picked up over a dozen technical fouls that 95 96 season,
including his first ever ejection in February.
'Sheed got one tech for hanging on the rim
and then a second tech for protesting the first one.
You might remember the incident in March of 96,
when Chicago's Dennis Rodman got suspended for this headbutt
of referee Ted Bernhardt.
Well just days later, Bernhardt called a foul
that 'Sheed didn't like.
'Sheed muttered something about headbutts
so Bernhardt tossed him.
Too soon.
The Bullets traded Wallace to the Portland Trailblazers
after just one year.
In Portland, 'Sheed blossomed into a star
and continued to bicker with refs.
He made headlines in January, 2000
for getting ejected on back to back nights.
The first time it was Bernhardt again
who dealt Wallace two technicals.
'Sheed picked up a $7,500 fine too
because he went after Bernhardt
before Scottie Pippen stepped in.
The very next night 'Sheed got the hook
for elbowing Dirk Nowitzki.
A month later Wallace played in his first All-Star game,
a milestone that effected public dialogue about his persona.
What some would call volatility, others might call passion.
Where strangers saw a temperamental troublemaker,
teammates knew a fun loving goofball.
Yes, he'd racked up nearly 100 technicals
and been tossed from over a dozen games in his young career.
But 'Sheed insisted he didn't have a bad attitude
and his coworkers backed him.
'Sheed was a family man. 'Sheed was a team player.
'Sheed was also in pure basketball terms,
a long way from being an immature rookie
on the stinky 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 floor.
It was playoff time.
And through two playoff series victories,
the refs didn't eject 'Sheed.
He picked up 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 game one 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 picked up two quick fouls and had to sit
while the Lakers pulled ahead.
He returned only to get whistled seconds later
for a third foul on what appeared to be
a clean vertical contest of this Robert Horry layup.
Ron Garretson mic'd up by NBC defended his whistle.
- [Ron] You bumped him with your hip.
- [Narrator] Visibly dissatisfied with that explanation
'Sheed nonetheless 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 didn't get called for this swipe,
but 'Sheed recovered the ball anyway
and threw down a big and one dunk.
Defiant, he pumped his fist and glared at Garretson,
I guess, for not blowing the whistle the first time.
'Sheed was calm, though he did keep chattering
as he shot his free throws.
What ultimately did it was staring.
The NBC mic gave us insight
into Wallace's disqualifying second technical.
(whistle blows) - Whack, get out!
- [Narrator] And we heard Garretson's explanation
to dismayed Blazer Steve Smith.
- I asked him three times to stop staring at me,
trying to intimidate me.
I'm done.
- [Narrator] On one hand,
Wallace had been complaining a lot.
On the other hand, it's quite a leap
to read a prolonged stare as intimidation.
The announcers had no doubt this was a standard
unique to 'Sheed.
- [Announcer] Now, did he say anything? No.
Normally, do you get thrown out for staring? No.
- [Narrator] J.A. Adande agreed.
It was outlandish to throw a player out of a playoff game
for staring too much, clearly a reputation call.
And speaking of reputation, Pippen alluded to the fact
that All-Stars like Wallace tend to receive more leniency,
not Rasheed though.
The refs perceived him as aggressive.
Incidentally, if you're wondering how
that series turned out, Shaq and company won game seven,
despite a brilliant 'Sheed performance.
LA attempted 37 free throws compared to Portland 16.
Interesting.
Anyway, 'Sheed's relationship with the refs
did not improve in 2000-2001.
In fact, Wallace broke his own unofficial record
that season, by racking up 41 technical fouls
in 77 games played.
That led to seven ejections.
'Sheed got fined in preseason
for refusing to leave the court
and berating the refs.
He got 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 a hell of a season.
That 01 season was 'Sheed's masterpiece,
but these two parties continued to have
a complex, beefy relationship.
Sometimes it was lighthearted.
In a 2002 game against the Lakers,
Pippen reacted to this call on 'Sheed
by throwing the ball into the crowd
and he got ejected.
Portland fans in attendance had all received
these weird freebie Bill Walton dolls,
and they chucked them on the floor
to express their displeasure.
'Sheed had a laugh about the whole thing
with referee Bennett Salvatore.
- They throwing them at you.
I'm trying to stay here and protect you
- [Man] Good idea.
- [Narrator] Sometimes the beef spilled off the court.
During a January, 2003 game, referee Tim Donaghy,
whose name you will hear again,
gave Wallace a technical for throwing the ball
toward fellow ref Scott Wall.
'Sheed insisted he was throwing the ball to Wall,
not, you know, at Wall.
After the game, Wallace shouted at Donaghy
about the technical saying it was bullshit
and he was gonna get his money back.
Donaghy told Wallace to watch the tape.
Wallace moved toward him, raised up his arms,
and there was some cursing and, well, whatever happened,
the league predictably took the side of Donaghy
and suspended 'Sheed for a whopping seven games.
In 2004, Wallace became a Piston and won a ring.
He entered his thirties a champion
who still had a bone to pick with the refs.
Wallace accused officials of coming to games upset,
of taking out problems they had at home,
of being felonious.
He wasn't going to take that treatment lying down.
But he did modify his approach somewhat.
'Sheed could innovate.
First of all, it's worth mentioning
that Wallace tried to help Donaghy and Garretson
restore order during the infamous
Malice at the Palace brawl, but yeah,
on regular non brawl workdays,
'Sheed kept collecting technicals.
Not as many though, because he saved more and more
of his criticism for post game.
Like during the 2005 Eastern conference finals
against the Heat.
'Sheed once again grew tired of Shaq getting calls
and referred to the officials as extra help
for the Heat, forces working against
the less glamorous Pistons.
Then he implied the league and its officials
were deliberately swinging outcomes
so the series would run a full seven games.
Detroit coach Larry Brown's comments here,
echoed that of several 'Sheed coaches.
He's right that refs don't treat him fairly,
but he can't let that affect him.
But therein lies the beauty of vilifying refs off the floor.
Yeah, the league will fine you, but that's just money,
not a technical or ejection that might hurt your team.
Such distinctions only became more important
as the NBA tightened its rules,
like suspending players who accrued
16 or more technical fouls in a season.
In late 2006, commissioner David Stern went further
explicitly authorizing refs to call more quick techs.
He pointed to a small handful of players
slowing down games with their complaints.
That suspension rule hit 'Sheed first.
And he knew full well those comments were directed at him.
But Rasheed Wallace is a man of principle
and no crackdown was going to silence him
if he felt wronged.
Once again, his campaign took many forms.
One was a new phrase, an exclamation that immediately
embedded itself in basketball culture.
'Sheed would get called for a foul he didn't like.
If the guy who drew the foul missed a free-throw,
'Sheed would utter three words.
(crowd cheering)
- [Rasheed] Ball don't lie!
- [Narrator] The basketball will not go in the hoop
if it knows the ref misused their whistle.
Even with new tactics, 'Sheed couldn't avoid
getting booted now and then.
Detroit made it back 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 game six
of that series.
A lot, Wallace complained, then got ejected for it.
Had there been a game seven
'Sheed would have been suspended.
The outcome of that series bolstered Wallace's belief
that refs not only targeted him,
but favored teams like LeBron's Cavs
who were good for ratings.
The refs helped the league
by putting their so-called darling in the finals.
The game had become more entertainment than sport,
like wrestling.
Rasheed Wallace was certainly the most prominent
anti-ref voice of his era,
but he got some backup from unexpected sources.
In 2007, a study of racial discrimination
among referees found that refs called significantly more
fouls on players of a different race.
And that the racial composition of an officiating crew
was important enough to influence the outcomes of games.
That same year, it came out that the FBI investigated
NBA referees for allegedly betting on games.
That investigation led to Tim Donaghy,
remember him from before,
pleading guilty to two felony charges
and serving time in prison.
After Donaghy got out, he wrote a book full of all kinds
of wild and incriminating tales.
Among many other things, Donaghy included 'Sheed's name
on a list of players refs couldn't stand.
Players he and his betting colleagues
would sometimes target for technicals,
focusing on their every move.
Wallace, a Celtic at this point was like, see,
I'm not a liar.
You all thought I was crazy and militant,
but look what's come to light.
Besides the broader claims, that specific notion
of a technical foul bounty sounded about right to 'Sheed.
Especially in those record setting years,
all it took was a laugh or a look to get the T.
He insisted he didn't complain more than anyone else.
The NBA, of course, wouldn't hear it.
Commissioner Stern called Donaghy an isolated case
at the outset of the scandal.
Then the league worked hard to stall his book's publication.
That of course wasn't gonna change Rasheed's mind.
The aging vet kept getting technicals and fines,
kept suggesting he was subject to bogus calls,
kept insinuating the NBA's golden child,
LeBron, got away with stuff.
During Boston's 2010 playoff series against the Heat,
the league fined Wallace for accusing the refs
of baiting him and suggesting Dwayne Wade
got preferential treatment because of TV ratings.
Researchers have studied this kind of stuff too, though,
the methodology involved can leave one
with more questions than answers.
The NBA certainly doesn't like these things.
Anyway, 'Sheed's final act as a Celtic
was trying to get into the referee's locker room
after Boston lost game seven of the 2010 NBA finals
to the Lakers.
He just wanted to talk. Perfect farewell.
Wallace retired a few days later, but even outside the NBA,
'Sheed managed to make headlines
for arguing with basketball referees.
'Sheed returned in 2012 for a handful of games
with the Knicks.
He got kicked out of one of them
after playing less than 90 seconds.
All it took was three words to get technical number two.
[Rasheed] The ball don't lie.
- [Announcer] Dragic misses the technical.
- [Narrator] 'Sheed retired for good in 2013
and officials must have been relieved to bid farewell
to the most difficult man in the world to referee,
as Danny Crawford called him.
While he doesn't talk to NBA refs much anymore,
'Sheed certainly hasn't stopped talking about them.
In this video on his son's YouTube channel,
Rasheed suggested refs have some sort of complex
from their own failed basketball careers.
- A lot of those guys didn't make Varsity
or was like DIII or NAIA, or, you know, whatever,
and they wanted to have the aspirations and dreams
of playing in the NBA, but couldn't.
- [Narrator] He also implied that Ron Garretson,
the whack ref, has something in common with Tim Donaghy.
- Exactly, that's what I'm saying.
He was one of those cheating refs.
- [Narrator] And he explained why he thought
Garretson accused him of intimidation back in 2000.
- You know, I'm a tall African American guy,
over seven feet tall, he's a little guy.
You know, he has a Napoleon complex.
He's a little, I'm so little, I got all the power now,
I'm a referee.
- [Narrator] 'Sheed also goes on actual television, plenty
and his old teammate, Kevin Garnett,
loves to get him going about conspiracy theories,
like in this Area 21 round table.
- So you think it's already premeditated?
- Come on, man, you don't wanna get me
on this conspiracy theory. - No, no, no, I gotta ask.
You know how many times you're thrown out the game?
I do this recently.
- And you know how many times I was right?
- How many times?
- Oh, a lot.
- [Narrator] It's a little funny, by the way,
for Garnett to be the moderating voice there
as a guy who once compared the 2006 technical foul crackdown
to communism under Fidel Castro.
Anyway, while this conversation features 'Sheed
calling names, it also includes reminiscence
about a healthier player ref dynamic.
- When we first came into the league, yo,
the referees would tell us where we went wrong.
- [Man] That's what I'm talking about.
- [Man] Cause they would talk to you.
- If you had conversations, yeah.
- I'd be like, man, I didn't travel,
he'd be like, yo, you did.
You went like this, or you -
- [Narrator] That resonates,
considering how bad relations have gotten
at times since Wallace and Garnett left the league.
The point is referee bias isn't just
a Rasheed Wallace problem.
Believe whomever you choose to believe,
but academics and crooked refs alike
have identified blind spots and abuses of power
of ranging beyond just one player.
What made Rasheed Wallace unique
was his career long campaign to call out the biases
and abuses he perceived and to frustrate every tactic
the league deployed the silence him.
Yes, 'Sheed came off immature at times and cranky at others,
but it was all in service of a mission.
This beef was a crusade.