I ideally want no marginal fouls on any player at any point during the game. The time/score situation dictates the patience of my whistle and my processing of the play more so than who the player is. That is not to say that a foul in the 1Q isn't a foul at the end of the game, but it is to say that I need to have higher certainty in critical situations.
If it looks like I'm protecting a team's best player you can bet the other coach will let me know it, so I don't do that. There are some officials that basically stop one step short of teaching that protecting the best players is a good practice, and the foul needs to be a trainwreck to be called. To me that's a shameful way to officiate.
That said, if I have the opportunity to get a foul on a GFU that puts him on the bench and the film can support, I won't hesitate to grab it.
|