Tim Donaghy is coming at the NBA hard with allegations of a crooked referree corps that throws games, influences otucomes, and holds grudges against certain players and coaches.  He’s trying to take the league down with him, all so he can get a little bit of money through selling his tell-all book. 

Should he be trusted?  I don’t think so.  How can you trust a man with his back against the wall, who has proven to be a snake, a thief and a liar, who is clearly trying to gain whatever monetary profits he can off his immoral decision to bet NBA games?  I just don’t think he holds any credibility at all, or that we can trust a single word that come out of his mouth.

At the same time, I’m positive some of the things he will say, has said, are true.  Just like in any other profession, I’m sure there are some unethical NBA referrees, and I’m sure some guys do hold grudges, and other guys have probably bet on games.  The only problem is, we don’t know which parts of Donaghy’s stories are bullshit and which parts are real.  We can’t trust a single word coming out of his mouth, but some of it has to be true, right?

Rasheed Wallace thinks so (via the Herald):

Rasheed Wallace said tonight he believes the Tim Donaghy scandal will eventually get deeper. He predicted a major problem for the NBA when all the facts come to light.

“I always said to myself and had the thing that there’s no way that the things that he did he could do them by himself,” Wallace said. “I always said that. It’s virtually impossible. The things that he’s been accused of, there’s no way, to me, in my opinion, he could have done those things by himself.”

I’m with ‘Sheed.  How could he do these things by himself?  And, if he did do it by himself, don’t you think there’s some other scummy ref out there who did the same things?

But I’m also with Doc, who doesn’t think he can trust Donaghy at all (via ESPNBoston):

“My buddy,” Rivers joked when Donaghy’s name was brought up by reporters before Tuesday’s game against the Bucks. Asked if he had heard Donaghy’s comments about Rivers trying to persuade refs, Rivers challenged the credibility of someone who admitted to betting on NBA games.

“I’ve been trying to get on younger players for a long time and persuade them to do things as well,” said Rivers. “I don’t know, I’m so sick of that guy right now, I really am, for our league. I love our league, and I hate what’s going on, that we’re giving a guy like him credibility.”

It’s a tough line to straddle.  Clearly, what Donaghy says probably has some merit but, at this point, I probably wouldn’t even trust him if he told me Tony Allen has a low basketball IQ.  That’s how much credibility he’s lost.

Ray Allen has a more balanced view on things, saying that while Donaghy makes some points that might be valid, it’s hard to trust a man in his position, a man with his reputation (via the Globe):

In the wake of the Tim Donaghy scandal and its recent fallout, Ray Allen said NBA referees need to be held accountable for their actions, but he stopped short of saying he believed everything Donaghy had to say to the media in recent days.

“He made a very strong case,” said Allen. “I can’t say that he would do anything to jeopardize — he went to prison, it’s hard to say whether or not he would lie or make something up of that nature. “

So what is the real deal?  What is true about Donaghy’s allegations, and what isn’t? 

I just don’t know, and I don’t know if we’ll ever really find out.  I still find it hard to give weight to his words, but it’s also tough to discount them.