Quote:
Originally posted by just another ref
It is all about saving time. After roughly a jillion of these games, we have still not weighed all the angles, be we have decided that timeouts and free throws at this level cost more in time consumption than they add to the game.
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You are correct that in a running clock game shooting free throws eats up a great deal of playing time, especially with young kids because they don't know exactly where to line up.
However, if you only give the team that is fouled in the act of shooting the ball OOB, a smart coach will figure out that every time the opponents have an easy shot, his team should simply hack the shooter.
A way to fix this problem is to simply award a point as well as the ball OOB, or award two points and give the ball to the other team along the end line. I officiate a high school summer league that does this. It really speeds up the game, gets the kids more actual basketball plays, and discourages fouling.
I also agree with automatic 2 for Ts, flagrants, intentionals, etc.
Rec league/summer league is not the time to practice free throws.