National Basketball Referee's Association general counsel Lee Seham responded angrily to the NBA's unwillingness to suspend Atlanta Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer for making on-court contact with a game official.
Budenholzer was ejected for coming onto the court and brushing against referee Ben Taylor on Saturday night in a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
"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.", Seham said in a statement.
NBA Coaches Association president Rick Carlisle, the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks, responded to Seham in a released statement Tuesday morning.