Hawks Have Third-Best Officials This Season

How can this be true?

Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Although passionate and attractive, the Atlanta Hawks fanbase is pretty mild-mannered. They don't yell silly slogans like 'bing-bong' or have delusional visions of a 'process.' 

However, there is one subject matter that animates Hawks fans more than anything - officiating. Who can blame them? The NBA changed rules during this offseason which directly impacted Trae Young's offensive attack.  

Trae Young argues a call with an official during the 2020-21 NBA Season / © Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

Young's game has not only survived the changes but has evolved for the better. However, he still has accrued 11 technical fouls this season. Back in November, there was a dispute between him and an official, where someone called the other a 'cry-baby.'

🤔… Hmm Interesting.

I get fined though😂🤐 #WhyIsItPersonal https://t.co/sfwxeswiuu

— Trae Young (@TheTraeYoung) November 7, 2021

Well, we now have new evidence to consider. Tom Haberstroh of Meadowlark Media released his 'referee ratings' which analyze officiating crews assigned to each team. According to Habestroh's formula (explained in the tweet thread below), the Hawks have received the third-best officials this season. The referee rating system indicates that only the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors have had better crews assigned to their games.

👁️THREAD: The NBA assigns its best, most-experienced referees to the Lakers and Warriors. Worst-caliber refs: Magic.

The league almost never puts rookie referees on Lakers, Sixers and Knicks games.

I'll explain the simple way I calculated Ref Rating. (1/x) #basketballilluminati pic.twitter.com/27LLGct6b2

— Mr. Statistician Face Man (@tomhaberstroh) March 4, 2022

The research done by Haberstroh is genuinely fascinating. Not only does he find a correlation between more prominent games and better officials, but also bigger markets and better officials. In Haberstroh's words, "Even on non-National TV games, the Lakers receive the best referees on average. Wizards, Rockets, Magic still at (sic) bottom."

If Haberstroh's formula holds up, then Hawks players, coaches, and fans will have to consider this next time they scrutinize the officiating. NBA referees are far from perfect, but it appears that the situation could easily be worse for the Hawks. Stay locked into Sports Illustrated's AllHawks.com for breaking news, highlights, and analysis.

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