“How is it that everybody on Earth can see these traveling violations except for the three people that we pay to do the job? I don’t get it.... But I can literally put together a blooper reel of plays that are embarrassing travels that are just not called. I believe it’s a case of they have so many things to look at -- they are looking at defensive three seconds, the contact in the lane when people are cutting through the lane, they’re looking at the charge and block circle -- they’re looking at everything except what they should be looking at which is the basic rule of the game, which is traveling.
“And it’s a shame because guys are getting away with murder out there and the fans see it. My favorite is when you see the visiting team travel and you see like a 1,000 fans in the background all doing the traveling signal with their hands. If those people saw it, how come the refs didn’t?”
That Steve Kerr rant in a radio interview on KNBR 680 in the Bay Area (via CSNBayArea.com) is going to cost him $25,000. The league announced the fine Sunday. It is not a surprise, the league always fines criticism of referees, even when the coach/player is right.
And make no mistake, Kerr is right. Inconsistency on travel calls is an issue in the NBA. Kerr was mad because he thought DeMar DeRozan was getting away with a lot of walking on plays in transition during the Warriors win over the Raptors this week. He was planting a seed. Of course, the Warriors have some guards that take advantage of the liberal traveling calls in the NBA at times.
The Warriors have been doing a lot of seed planting this season. GM Bob Myers went to meet with the NBA league office about some of the flagrant foul calls against Draymond Green that they think are more reputation than reality.