We'll find out over the following days and weeks what kind of gambling and mob problems there might be among the ranks of NBA referees. Maybe the allegations will stop at one. Or maybe things will get more complicated.

Either way, the crisis, of course, isn't so much about this or that referee, or this or that call, or this or that game.

In the big picture, the crisis is if all those people who love watching the NBA find themselves in the position of not trusting the referees. That's an indictment of the game itself. It has been brewing for ages, and now it's a disaster.

The NBA keeps telling us how many ways they assess their referees. They insinuate that if we knew what they know, we'd trust those referees, too. Maybe that's true. But telling us so isn't going to convince anyone.

Thanks to technology and the web, that could be really simple. Let us go online after every single game and see video of every single call, all neatly sliced and diced by player, by time of game, by type of call, by referee, and by a bunch of other things I haven't thought of yet. Let us even rate the quality of the calls, and keep files on various referees right there on NBA.com. Let us compare what constitutes a traveling call in one game compared to another. Let us think like referees.

The downside would be making the quality of the referees the topic, when you'd rather not make that the topic. But the upsides would be:

• A chance to prove the NBA really did something concrete in response to this crisis.
• Powerful incentive for referees not to intentionally blow calls for any reason ever.
• Lots of learning and discussion about NBA rules, and better understanding of the challenges officials face.
  
• A discussion ender for every referee complaint: Go watch for yourself.
• A whole bunch of free referee oversight.
• Traffic on NBA.com.
• A bright spotlight for the really good referees.
  
• That rare and pleasurable feeling for us fans that the league trusts us. Extending trust is one of the best ways to build it, right?