re: Adam “Woke” Silver: I want 50% of new NBA officials and coaches to be women

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i doubt that an NBA court is large enough for this advantage to be materialized in any real way

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Ok. The male brain also processes visual motion quicker, in a somewhat significant amount as well

forgive me, that point went over my head. yes. they do

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Most refs played the game or were interested in the game of basketbal

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I would imagine female applicants similarly are "interested in" or "played" basketball as well

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Far far far more men are interested in the game of basketball or played it.

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There are 541,000 male HS basketball players, 5,400 D1 players

There are 430,000 female HS Basketball players, 5,000 D1 players



I wouldn't call that "far, far, far more"

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The only way to achieve a 50/50

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Silver said "roughly 50/50" and if you draw just on HS basketball playing population split it would be 55/45 Male/Female


I'd guess that would be within range of "roughly 50/50"

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I agree with your main points, but this gives me a funny image in my head here of Joey Crawford having an agility race vs a 35-40 year old woman ref.

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I honestly didn’t mean for people to think of physical speed

But nonetheless, here is a great gif showing of Joey’s physical prowess

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That's his point. The best refs and coaches aren't 99% male.

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Probably true, but women arent going after these positions likely because of interests and other reasons

The NBA is also only 8% white american. There is likely more able nba talent in this group as well.

But other interests, and also a self fulfilling prophecy so to speak keeps the number down.

I dont see a "problem" that needs to be fixed with either. But I find it interesting Silver only cares about 1 of these so called "problems"

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I wonder what happens the first time someone bangs their coach

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Dumb. Is there a rampant history of male coaches banging their WNBA players?

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but women arent going after these positions likely because of interests and other reasons

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If there is a female who'd be the GOAT referee that doesn't apply, the NBA had a recruitment failure. (Keep in mind, it may be more cost effective to accept that failure than trying to fix the failure.)


The reality is, it likely is extremely low cost to increase the ref the candidate pool by adding female candidates

- Public statement about wanting female refs / they will get opportunities
- Very low cost training seminars/clinics
- GLeague Referee opportunities to prove they can ref




My guess is this statement alone + low cost seminar/clinics will show huge returns on female applicant numbers

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Why is he only worried about making the refs and coaches 50/50 based on the population and not the players itself?

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He appears worried about having the best ref quality and you earlier are hitting on the point he appears to be focused on


The fact that females aren't interested/applying is the problem. It shows up in the final numbers of having 99% male refs


Silver is trying to fix the applicant/interest problem, he isn't trying to force a quota

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Why is he not advocating for this for the player pool?

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Because there is a clear physical/athletic advantage in being a male in the NBA. Pretty fricking obvious


The reason refs are 99% male, according to Silver, is either:

1) Potential talented female ref doesn't apply
2) Potential talented female ref doesn't have opportunity




It is no different than NBA without borders going overseas and providing basketball courts + access as a potential pipeline/recruiting/viewership goal

1) Generate interest in basketball
2) Provide resources to develop in basketball
3) Increase talent pool for NBA players


There are plenty of players in the NBA who likely would never have sniffed the league without the basketball without borders program giving them access, training and exposure

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Whatever happened to hiring the most qualified applicant?

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That went out in the real world a long time ago.
Now the fantasy world of sports is catching up.
It is truly moronic, though. I agree with you.