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The NBA has opened its training camp in New York for replacement officials, a group that includes 35 with experience in the NBA's Development League, six with WNBA experience and two that worked in the NBA before being fired in recent years.Those numbers are based on the list of 44 officials -- obtained by FanHouse -- who had agreed to be part of the camp. (You can find the list, which has not been confirmed by the NBA, at the end of this post.)
The league has been preparing to open both its exhibition schedule next month and the regular season with replacements after contract talks with the referees' union hit a stalemate.
Although league officials sounded confident that the replacements will be better prepared than they were when last used in 1995 (during another contract dispute), they did not have an easy time getting enough quality officials into this camp.
"A lot of guys turned them down,'' said one referee who declined an offer from the NBA to join the group of replacement officials, "... for different reasons.''
The exhibition schedule begins Oct. 1 in Utah. The replacements, according to one source, will be paid $1,100 per game, which is less than a third of what the average regular official makes. They also will be paid $80 a day in meal money, along with all travel and hotel expenses.
Most notable among the replacement officials are Robbie Robinson and Michael Henderson, both of whom were fired by the NBA for poor job performance.
Here is a tentative list of the referees who have agreed to serve as replacement officials, according to information obtained by FanHouse:
Steve Anderson, Brett Barnaky Scott Bolnick, Lorenzo Bronson, Nick Buchert, Deldre Carr, Jose Carrion, Marcus Clayton, Andre Crawford, Kane Fitzgerald, Edward Gaines, Carlos Gonzalez, Micheal Henderson, Don Hudson, Byron Jarrett, Keith Kimble, Marat Kogut, Karl Lane, Jamey Luckie, Tre Maddox, Glenn Mayberry, George McDaniels, Will Mensah, Matt Myers, Brent Nansel, JT Orr, Mike Price, Robbie Robinson, Kevin Scott, Garrick Shannon, Brian Shelley, Lamont Simpson, Jeff Smith, Kevin Sparrock, Clark Stevens, Ben Taylor, Josh Tiven, Tony Turner, Scott Twardoski, Kurt Walker, Ken Washington, CJ Washington, James Williams and Jeff Wooten.
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