Atlanta Hawks coach fined $25,000 after ‘incidental contact’ with referee

Mike Budenholzer, who is President of Basketball Operations and also the Head Coach of Atlanta Hawks, has agreed to accept the fine of $25,000 from National Basketball Association. This fine was imposed after Budenholzer had an 'incidental contact' with the game referee, Ben Taylor, during the game with Cleveland on Saturday, November 21st 2015. This incident took place in the 2nd quarter of the game when Budenholzer was trying to argue a non-call on a previous possession. During the argument, Budenholzer took several steps onto the court to argue his case during live play. The match referee, Ben Taylor, immediately stopped the game and then ejected Budenholzer of the field.

In a statement, Lee Seham, the National Basketball Referees Association general counsel said, "Referees operate in an environment in which an influential NBA team owner has repeatedly mocked the efficacy of fines as means to change bad behavior. Recent league precedent dictated that a coach who aggressively charged onto the floor during live action and physically interfered with a referee would be suspended. We are now operating at a lower level with less transparency, degraded safety, and diminished respect for the game. Coaches should compete by creating better teams, not by physically intimidating officials."

Mike Budenholzer was quoted as saying:

" With the league's permission, I have reached out to and apologized to Ben Taylor for what happened in the game versus Cleveland. Ben is an excellent young referee who is a valuable member of the NBA family. We all understand that any contact - - including incidental contact - - with an official is unacceptable. I accept the NBA's fine and look forward to putting this situation in the past."

 

Posted by on Monday November 23 2015, 9:31 PM EST. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0

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