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I disagree. I work high school games with a shot clock in DC, and I see a better product than in the non-shot clock high school games I work in VA. The shot clock allows me to more easily break the game down into smaller pieces and concentrate more on calling each piece correctly, it helps me to be more time aware in case a correction needs to be made, and there are fewer deliberate end-of-game fouls in the shot clock contests that I have worked. The shot clock is also a balancer, because the advantage is currently skewed to the offense in terms of dictating the pace of the game in games without a shot clock. With the shot clock, a neutral object dictates the pace of the game, not either team, so you won't have 40+ second possessions that are, in my experience, not usually productive. As an official, shot clocks also simplify other rules (I have a visual reference for 10-second counts, even if I might be required to make a visible count (no requirement in DC), 5-second counts on the dribble mare often eliminated in shot clock games, such as in DC), so I would be on board with it. Yes, there are incompetent tables, both with shot clocks and without shot clocks, but the shot clock will not by itself make or break the quality of the table personnel. Therefore, I believe that the shot clock would be a net positive.
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