NBA’s Sound Bite: $100,000 Fines

The microphones NBA coaches are being asked to wear on their lapels aren’t much bigger than a dime.

Small as they are, though, they are causing a big controversy, one that has been growing by the day.

The Seattle SuperSonics and the Toronto Raptors were each fined $100,000 Monday by the NBA because their coaches, Paul Westphal and Butch Carter, refused to wear microphones during Sunday’s NBC-televised game.

The coaches have offered to pay the fines out of their own pockets.

A week earlier, Pat Riley refused to wear a microphone during the Miami Heat’s game against the Lakers at Staples Center. The league let Riley slide, but said if any coaches refused to abide by the league edict after that, their teams would be fined.

“It’s an unfair restriction on my ability to compete,” Westphal said before the game.

And earlier in the week, he’d said, “If you say something negative about a player on the other team or your team, a referee, you can’t tell me that somebody is not going to hear that tape that you don’t want to hear it. It’s an unfair position to worry about how you are identifying the problems. It inhibits the way you coach, the decisions.”

New York Knick Coach Jeff Van Gundy and Houston Coach Rudy Tomjanovich are scheduled to wear microphones tonight when their teams play on TNT. Van Gundy said he is against it and might pay the fine himself, although he added, “I have family members to think about.”

Miking coaches and putting cameras in the locker rooms at halftime were discussed by Commissioner David Stern with NBC and Turner Broadcasting, the league’s national cable carrier, before the start of the season.

Although San Antonio’s Greg Popovich wore a microphone when the Spurs played the Lakers on Christmas Day, the league did not require it until this month. Unmanned cameras in locker rooms begin next month.

Stern says some coaches have been wearing microphones for 20 years and this recent resistance is a mistake.

“They are trying to push back the clock,” he has said.

The NBA says it is only trying to enhance telecasts. Stern has said that viewers should be able to hear the same things that people seated at courtside get to hear.

The NBA, NBC and Turner deny trying to stop a downward trend in ratings. But the fact that ratings are down 14% from last season on NBC and 18% on TNT and TBS is no doubt a factor.

NBC’s Hannah Storm said on the air Sunday that all coaches’ comments are taped and screened for profanity and for key strategy. Also, she said, coaches have the option of turning off the microphones at any time.

Carter wore a microphone when the Raptors played Portland on March 6 on TBS, but took it off at halftime. Of his decision to not wear one Sunday, he said, “I talked with [players] Charles Oakley and Antonio Davis and they asked me not to wear it. They thought it was an invasion.

“My general manager [Glen Grunwald] asked me to wear it, [but] I cannot afford to lose the respect of my players. If I have to, I’ll pay the fine.”

Commented NBC’s Peter Vecsey, “Butch must have gotten a bigger raise than we thought.”

Vecsey also said, “I think the coaches are absolutely against this because I think that they’re insecure. I think they’re paranoid about [what they say] getting out. They’ve been denying us access over the years, more and more, and I think they league is saying, ‘Enough of this.’ ”

NBC’s Bob Costas said, “As Westphal said, there are a lot of things they say that may be interesting but are nobody’s business. These guys are concerned about possible outtakes, even though NBC’s intention here is innocuous, just to get entertaining or interesting tidbits. They don’t know where the outtakes might wind up.

“They also worry if they’re asked to turn it on and off, will they be mindful of that. And if they’re thinking about turning the thing on and off, does that take their attention away from their main job, which is to coach the game.”

Broadcast partner Doug Collins, a former coach, said, “The concerns of the coaches that I’ve spoken to is, ‘Will I speak differently with my players? Will they speak differently with me?’ ”

Portland’s Mike Dunleavy has already worn a microphone for an NBC telecast and said he felt somewhat inhibited in what he said to his players in the huddle.

“It takes away a little of the naturalness,” he said. “Guys know they’re being listened to. I think it inhibits them and me from saying things they need to say--sometimes positive things and sometimes negative things.”

Indiana’s Larry Bird said, “When you really want to say something to a player to motivate him, you have to do it a little bit differently. If they put it on the air, it can not only make you look bad but also the player.”

Said Van Gundy, “You’re going to have to say, ‘Please, I’d like you to please run back on defense. It would behoove us if you would run back.’ ”

Utah’s Jerry Sloan may be the most outspoken opponent.

“If they insist on doing it, I’ll get my throat cut fighting it,” he said. “They will not mike me. They can fire me, or have me fired, they will not mike me.”

The next battle is over the cameras in the locker room, and the players and their union will be more involved in that.

Billy Hunter, executive director of the players’ association, said he will take the matter to arbitration if the league proceeds without the union’s consent.

“Our position is, they just can’t implement this stuff,” Hunter said. “What are you going to see? A bunch of guys sitting around a locker room? What purpose does that serve? I don’t see where it has a great benefit. The detriment offsets the benefit.”

Said the Jazz’s Karl Malone, “Next thing you know, they are going to have cameras in the showers with us. And they’re going to have it on the Internet while you’re washing your . . . . “

Said Bird, “I’ll just have my players sit there naked and that won’t last very long.”

Westphal wonders if Stern would appreciate cameras pointing at him.

“I’m sure a lot of people would love to have sat in when David Stern and the owners were planning their strategy to end the lockout,” Westphal said. “That would have gotten good ratings.”

Said Vancouver Coach Lionel Hollins, “Fans know what goes on in a locker room. Where’s the mystery? Once it’s shown, then what?”