With technical foul calls nearly doubled compared with the same point last season, players union director Billy Hunter wants Commissioner David Stern to lighten up on the NBA’s crackdown on complaining — or he might even seek legal action against the league.
Players are fined for every technical foul they receive, and 122 were called through the first 51 games of the season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. There were 66 through 50 games last season.
“You say you want to deter it, curtail that kind of conduct on the court, and now it’s kind of dipped down so the slightest little inclination … a guy throws his hands up, the refs are now calling a tech,” Hunter said. “It’s incumbent upon the commissioner to kind of tell the referees, instruct them they got to back off a little bit.”
And if he doesn’t?
“We will probably be compelled to bring an unfair labor practice action or something,” Hunter told the Associated Press. “Try to seek some relief.”
Layups
Larry Brown will get $18.5 million from the New York Knicks, less than half of what the Hall of Fame coach had left on his contract when he was fired. The team’s owner, Cablevision Systems Corp., announced the terms of the settlement Wednesday. Brown had four years and more than $40 million remaining on his deal when the Knicks fired him in June after one season. . . . Celtics forward Al Jefferson, averaging 11.3 points, had his appendix removed and likely will miss two weeks.
