In some ways, the DVD resembles the highlight films every basketball-loving kid wears out watching again and again. Lebron James, Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant, Amare Stoudemire, Steve Nash, and others are prominently featured plying their trade.

Continue reading

Then you take a second look, and you realize this is no highlight film. Howard and Garnett are shown banging against each other as they run up the floor in transition. Howard eventually gets called for the offensive foul after he extends his arm to push Garnett away. Amare Stoudemire sets a screen with his left leg sticking way out so the defender can trip over it. Offensive foul. Lebron James sprints halfway across the court to protest the lack of a continuation call. This year, that sort of behavior would get him whistled for a technical foul.

These plays and others are part of the NBA's officiating points of emphasis DVD, which is shown before each new season to players and media members alike. It's late Tuesday afternoon, and I'm sitting in a media room in the bowels of the Verizon Center alongside other media members, including Wizards TV guys Steve Buckhantz and Phil Chenier. The session is led by NBA officiating supervisor Don Vaden, a former NBA ref (1993-2003) who is now a supervisor of officials, and current referee Mike "Duke" Callahan, who a couple hours later will be serving as the crew chief for tonight's exhibition game between the Wizards and the Atlanta Hawks.

The session is off the record, so there's no quoting, no photos, no blogging, no tweeting. However, copious, detailed notes are taken, and there's even a quiz at the end (more on that later).

Plays are introduced in categories (traveling, block/charge, etc.), run once in real time, then shown again in slow motion. Sometimes the calls are obvious, like the Stoudemire pick play (officials are watching for legs being extended outside the plane of the body on screens this year). Sometimes, a second look at the slow-motion replay is needed, as is the case with some of the traveling violations. On one play, a player jumps off and lands on his right foot, then puts down his left foot. It's traveling, but it's not obvious in real time.