[ChuckElias]

This is obviously just my opinion, but some of you have made this way more complicated than it really is. First of all, just to be completely clear, when I say "squaring up" it means "the official has his/her shoulders parallel to the boundary line". Until this thread, that's the only definition of "squaring up" I've ever heard, and so that's how I'm going to be using it. Ok, technical terms are out of the way, so. . .

In my experience, the decision for the Lead to go ball side is a fairly easy one. There's only two reasons to for the Lead to go ball side in a 2-whistle game:

1) The ball has been passed into the low-post, or is very likely about to passed into the low-post; or

2) There are two or more players banging for position on the strong side, and there is nobody banging for position on the weak side.

That's it. If neither of those things is true, then stay put. If the ball comes below the FT line in a 1-on-1 situation, then stay put. It's the Trail's primary anyway. Let the Trail take it all the way to the basket.

Now, once you go ball side, you are responsible for everything inside the 3-point arc and below the FT line extended (that's a change this year). So forget about squaring up. Yes, that means that you may have the ball and the bodies in the post, but there is no reason for you to turn your body. Officiate this play exactly as if you were on your "normal" side of the court. Keep yourself angled in toward the lane area. If the play moves toward the 3-point arc, then you move toward the 3-point arc; but stay angled toward the lane. Mirror the movement of the ball.

As to the Trail's responsibility when the Lead comes ball side, the Trail has everything that the Lead doesn't have. So if the Lead came ballside to officiate banging bodies, but the ball is still above the FT line, then the Trail has the ball. If the Lead came ball side to take the entry pass to the post, then the Trail has the other players. Once on the court, this should not need to be communicated. In pre-game, it should be made clear that when the Lead comes across, s/he's either going to have the ball or not; in either case, the Trail has everything else.

Again, just my opinion. Keep it simple.