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I am all for getting together with my partner late in a close game to make sure we are on the same page, know the team foul count, time out situation and to remind the trail that he or she has the last shot. It would also be a good time for the "R" to check the book and make sure everything is good with the book and to remind the timer when to start the clock.
As for coaching:
Players should know how to play and I am not going to tell them not to "reach" or to set good screens. Some players reach in and steal the ball. A reach is not a foul.
If I have been making the right calls all game long they they should know they what they can and cqnnot do by the last ten seconds.
I will on a free throw situation remind players to let it hit and on an inbound play remind the thrower if it is a spot throw in or they can run the baseline, especially after a timeout.
As far as letting the players decide the game.
I agree. They decide it in the first minute and the last. If you call a foul in the first minute that same call better be a foul in the last minute or second.
Let the players decide the game is just a way if saying I don't want to make the tough and right call and be the deciding factor in the game. Well, if you don't make that call you are the deciding factor in the game.
Now, your judgement of what a foul is may be an entirely different issue. That's another discussion thread.
No one says officiating is easy. You need to make the tough call in the tough situation, especially if you have been calling the same thing a foul all game long. On the other hand, if you have been letting the same thing go all game let it go in the last ten seconds also.
Everyone wants a consistant game and that is what everyone should get.
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