[Mr KLC]

MIAMI (AP) -- The NBA is going to take a look at having more officials on the court.

The league said Monday that nine upcoming NBA Development League games will feature four- and five-person crews instead of the customary three, in an effort to collect data and see if having additional officials involved affects the game.

All nine games will be hosted by the Long Island Nets at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, home of the NBA's Nets.

The first of the trial games is Dec. 26.

"We are confident in how our three-person system works and are constantly thinking of ways to improve our game," said Bob Delaney, the NBA's Vice President for Referee Operations and Director of Officials. "The four- and five-referee initiative is a prime example of that focus and will help the NBA with research and development."

"I'm a little more of the school of thought that the more people that are out there, the less accountability there is," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said, adding that having more people on the floor will make the court seem even more crammed.

Washington coach Scott Brooks said he's never thought of adding more refs, then offered a bit of a comical perspective.

"It'll just give me a couple extra guys to yell at," Brooks said. "That'll be great. I like it. I'm tired of just yelling at three."

The experimental crews will have three different configurations.

There's a four-person crew with two officials in lead spots, and two others split between slot and trail positions. Another four-person test will have two officials in the slot, with the others in the trail and lead. And the five-person crew will feature the existing three-person system, but with two other officials in stationary lead positions on opposite ends of the court.

The NBA said five games will be devoted to the four-person tests, with the five-person tests being phased in starting Jan. 12. In all, 10 of the D-League's teams will be exposed to the larger crews.

[Mr KLC]

You can watch the first experimental game live now (Westchester/Long Island)

https://www.facebook.com/nbadleague/

[Mr KLC]

http://www.sportsbookreview.com/foru...al-thread.html

[sportsbook_12]

Three is enough. What's next, hire an umpire?

[t-wizzle]

Three is fine but they should have someone on the sidelines for reviews so they don't need to stop the game for minutes at a time and to speed up the ends of games.

[funnyb25]

They could have 6 and would still miss obvious calls

[jtoler]

Great, more refs for fixing.

[Mr KLC]

There were 59 fouls called in the game today. To show you how many that is, the most fouls called in any of the Christmas games yesterday was 45. The game lingered on for almost 2 1/2 hours. Both teams scored 232 points, but you are going to have a lot of points when teams are camped at the free throw line. Not a fan of it after the first game.

[shadymcgrady]

Great, more refs for fixing.

Bingo

[astro61200]

There were 59 fouls called in the game today. To show you how many that is, the most fouls called in any of the Christmas games yesterday was 45. The game lingered on for almost 2 1/2 hours. Both teams scored 232 points, but you are going to have a lot of points when teams are camped at the free throw line. Not a fan of it after the first game.

More refs = more fouls called. Almost every possession has at least one act that could be called a foul, it's either missed accidentally or overlooked. When you add another ref you raise the likelihood that it isn't missed or overlooked by 25%.

[Dirty Sanchez]

Three is enough. What's next, hire an umpire?

Don;t be silly...everyone knows umpires are in baseball