Everyone's been waiting for the independent report on the NBA's referee program from former federal prosecutor Lawrence Pedowitz. It's out -- big ol' PDF file here, NBA press release here. The major hook Pedowitz offers: Tim Donaghy's allegations that other referees and the league conspired to "fix" games to extend playoff series are without merit. From the report:
We have discovered no information suggesting that any NBA referee other than Tim Donaghy has bet on NBA games or leaked confidential NBA information to gamblers. In this connection, we reviewed a suggestion that referee Scott Foster was somehow involved in Donaghy's conspiracy (a suggestion raised in a press report about Donaghy's phone records) and found it to be meritless.
If you'll recall, a FOX Sports report over the summer raised suspicion of Foster when phone records revealed how often he and Donaghy spoke on game days ... and how often those calls were followed by calls between Donaghy and his gambling connections. An analysis of Foster's called games also indicated funny business.
Pedowitz also finds no evidence that Donaghy made calls to affect games he bet on, a claim backed up by federal prosecutors who pinched the ref. The report does offer recommendations to improve the NBA ref program, but to be honest they aren't very strong and have little in the way of public outreach or transparency for the fans.
Basically, the report backs the NBA's line that the hiring of a new oversight guy will fix everything, and that really folks, there's nothing to see here. I have a hard time believing the paying public will buy it.
