The National Basketball Referees Association is responding this week to the recent rumors about official Ben Taylor.
After a loss to the LA Clippers earlier this month, Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet unloaded on Taylor, the ten-year NBA refereeing veteran. He called Taylor out by name, saying that he was “f–king terrible” and gave him a “bulls–t tech” that night. VanVleet also said the majority of his technical fouls this season had been assessed by Taylor, suggesting that Taylor had something “personal” against him.
Here is VanVleet’s full rant (but obviously beware of the bad language).
Fred VanVleet went OFF on referee Ben Taylor and NBA reffing in general in his post-game after the Raptors loss. Haven't heard anything like this. pic.twitter.com/VcMkGTh0k3
— Faizal Khamisa (@FaizalKhamisa) March 9, 2023
VanVleet drew a fine of $30,000 from the NBA for the rant. But many were wondering if his blunt comments had actually achieved their intended effect.
In a recent podcast appearance, basketball writer Tom Haberstroh, formerly of ESPN, shared some interesting stats about Taylor ever since VanVleet’s scorched-earth rant. Haberstroh said that Taylor had been the crew chief in 41 of his 52 games officiated this season before the VanVleet rant but only in one of his five games since then. He even described the situation as Taylor having been “demoted” in his assignments.
"Since that Fred VanVleet rant… the NBA has actually demoted Ben Taylor in his assignments."@tomhaberstroh on how the #NBA has handled the Taylor/VanVleet situation with @JDBunkis.
— Sportsnet 590 The FAN (@FAN590) March 21, 2023
Definitely caught my eye that the NBA moved referee Ben Taylor out of his usual crew chief role in four of the five games after the Fred VanVleet press conference. Here's more on that: https://t.co/byWtaS2nUA https://t.co/QW7FOkqZzn
— Mr. Statistician Face Man (@tomhaberstroh) March 22, 2023
But in a tweet on Thursday, the NBRA responded to the claim that Taylor had been demoted. They ripped it as “categorically false” and said that the assignments in question had been released weeks ahead of time. The NBRA added that Taylor’s duties “remained unchanged.”
This is categorically false. The schedule for the games referenced was released weeks in advance. Ben Taylor is a Part Time Crew Chief and frequently receives Referee assignments throughout the season. His positional assignments remained unchanged. https://t.co/BxRr7yY2k0
— NBA Referees (@OfficialNBARefs) March 24, 2023
Haberstroh also backtracked about his characterization of the situation as Taylor having been “demoted.”
To clarify something here: Ben Taylor has NOT been demoted or disciplined by the NBA to my knowledge. Demoted is a loaded word, shouldn't have insinuated that! BT is working as a crew chief in tonight's Atlanta-Minnesota game. https://t.co/QW7FOkqZzn
— Mr. Statistician Face Man (@tomhaberstroh) March 22, 2023
It seems like NBA officials have been under greater scrutiny this year with players getting more and more comfortable about publicly blasting them. But with the NBRA’s statement here (as well as Haberstroh’s backpedal), it doesn’t appear that Taylor has actually suffered any adverse consequences from the league as a result of VanVleet’s rant against him.
