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Steve Kerr shares ideas for improving player-referee relationships around NBA

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It’s no secret that the relationship between the officials and the players in the NBA this season has been just about as bad as it’s ever been. It’s reached the point that many in the league are trying to come up with ways to resolve this tension and Steve Kerr shared with Fitz & Brooks on Tuesday afternoon what he’d do to restore a healthy working relationship between the referees and the athletes.

“I think we need more personal meetings with the officials,” Kerr said. “I’d like to see maybe once a month, whatever crew is coming in to do the game that night to come by shootaround. Maybe we send one ref to one shootaround and the other [ref] to the other [shootaround] and just talk to the guys, keep them up to date on what’s going on around the league, answer questions. Because the more you know somebody personally, you’re going to work well with them in an intense environment.”

Perhaps the reason why Kerr feels that more off-court interaction between the refs and players could do both sides some good is because he experienced this power of communication first-hand.

“Before the season starts, they send a couple of officials to our facility. They show us a video and it’s a chance to get to know them a little bit, but it’s a very informal gathering as opposed to the high-pressure game nights,” Kerr said. “This year was really interesting. Bill Spooner came, who’s a great guy. I hadn’t seen him since Sacramento of last year. Bill Spooner tossed me last year and I said some really unkind things to him that I’m not proud of.”

The Warriors ended up losing that game 109-106 in overtime and once Kerr had time to cool off, he decided to apologize to Spooner whenever their paths crossed next. The regular season came and went, and it wasn’t until after the Warriors won their second NBA Finals championship in three years that Kerr ran into Spooner.

“I guess eight months later, I see him. He’s in our facility and he’s the nicest guy. I go up, I’m completely ashamed of what I had said to him back in December in Sacramento,” Kerr said. “We have this great conversation and he’s totally understanding and said, ‘I probably made a bad call. I didn’t handle it right.’”

To listen to the full interview check out the podcast below, and skip to 9:15 for Kerr on the officials and players.