Quote:
Originally posted by ref18
A patient whistle is not a good idea for the game of basketball. The main reason behind this is that the game can progress too far for you to backtrack in the second or two that it takes you to think. If an infraction occurs, the play must be stopped immediately, no question about it.
In other sports like football, they want to you think over your call before you blow the whistle, and that's where I get into trouble, because I've been conditioned to make split-second decisions, and sometimes I will make the wrong call because I don't take enough time to think it over.
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Patient whistle doesn't mean taking time to think it over. It means waiting to see what develops in the play. It means not calling a ticky-tack foul against a team that's behind by 25 when the ball goes into the basket. It means waiting to see if the little bump affects the next step or two. It means not calling a minor hand-check one step before the shot, to see if the contact continues so you can call it a shooting foul. It means being willing to say to a coach, "Yea, it was a late whistle." It means knowing when to wait as described here, and when not to.