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Talk is cheap, but not so much for coach Larry Brown and the Charlotte Bobcats Wednesday.
Brown and the franchise were each fined $60,000 by the NBA, regarding Brown's comments and actions this week. The first $35,000 of each fine was for Brown "verbally abusing" referees during Monday's preseason loss in Atlanta and for not leaving the court in a timely manner after being ejected.
The additional $25,000 in each fine related to the NBA's perception that Brown publicly criticized officials after the game.
Neither Brown nor Bobcats general manager Rod Higgins chose to comment on the NBA's decision. These fines come at a sensitive time for the league, which has employed replacement officials during a labor impasse with the National Basketball Referees Association.
The NBA recently distributed a memo to teams, reminding them not to publicly criticize the work of replacement referees. Fining Brown and Memphis coach Lionel Hollins (a $25,000 assessment) was apparently the NBA's way of reinforcing that statement.
This chain of events began at halftime of the Bobcats' 17-point loss to the Atlanta Hawks, after Charlotte forward Gerald Wallace was charged with a questionable offensive foul.
Brown approached lead official Kevin Scott, who charged him with a technical foul. Things became sufficiently heated that Bobcats point guard Raymond Felton acted as a barrier between Scott and Brown as the two walked off the court.
Then, with about 31/2 minutes left in the third quarter, forward Vladimir Radmanovic was charged with a personal foul and a technical foul, setting Brown off again. He began shouting at Scott, a former college and development-league referee, and Scott responded with a second technical foul, an automatic ejection.
Looking stunned, Brown lingered on the court for several minutes. Finally Scott walked to the scorers table and called for Hawks security to remove Brown from the court. He left at that point.
Brown didn't speak with reporters immediately after the game. Asked the next day if he deserved to be ejected, he said, "I'm sure I did."
Asked about the numerous fouls being called this preseason by replacement refs, Brown said it reminded him of summer-league games, when action is constantly stopped by whistles and "you never get to see the kids play."
That apparently was the comment that cost Brown and the Bobcats $25,000 each, because there was little else he said Tuesday regarding the officiating.
Notes
The Bobcats have lost combo guard Flip Murray for at least the rest of the preseason with what the team describes as "early signs of a stress reaction" in his left shin.
Murray missed Monday's game with the injury. He suffered a stress fracture while playing college ball at Shaw and had a procedure to insert a steel rod in his left tibia. The Bobcats have no timetable for Murray's recovery.
Two other Bobcats, center Nazr Mohammed (back spasms) and Felton (sore throat) also missed practice Wednesday.
The Bobcats will hold a practice open to the public from 6 to 8 p.m. tonight at Time Warner Cable Arena. A 15-minute autograph session will follow.
