[FlasherZ]

Shouldn't we just look at this practically? Time after time after time, I keep reading questions about crazy esoteric situations. If you follow the spirit of the rule, it's pretty simple - in these cases, timeouts are called to attempt to maintain possession of the ball where it looks like possession might be lost.

I'm interpreting your question as "should we allow a player from the other team to be able to put two hands on the ball and immediately call timeout, claiming player control so that team B can now inbound the ball as theirs?" That's silly and so far off the mark that it's laughable, whether the rulebook covered that case or not. If it's about a team retaining possession, then we have to ask if team B ever had possession in the first place, and it's clear they didn't.

Or what am I missing?

I'm constantly baffled by the focus on esoterics, when we as a society can't seem to get basic attitudes right toward officiating in the first place, from officials, coaches, and fans.