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I always appreciate an official that administers the OOB at the correct spot. We have plays set up for frontcourt baseline inbounds, frontcourt sideline inbounds, back court sideline inbounds, etc... so if the ball is supposed to be on the sideline but the official rushes guys to the nearest baseline spot to hurry up the game, it is difficult for 5 guys to get coordinated and set up properly. Not a huge deal for most cases, but if our opponent is giving up layups on our baseline inbounds play and the official puts a ball in play on the sideline because he's sloppy or lazy, it can cost us some easy points.
Any extreme case of this happened a few years ago. Down by 2, 7 seconds left, we get a steal near the top of the key area in our backcourt and call time out (rather, we request a time out and the nearest official grants it, thank you). As my players are headed to the our bench, I ask the official where the ball will be inbounded, and he points to the sideline in front of the opposing bench and says "right there coach". I draw up a play where my fastest player will receive the ball in front of the opposing bench which allows him to curl and attack the middle of the court with his right hand going full speed. Coming out of the timeout huddle, I see the other official holding the ball at the end line, but then walking to the sideline opposite the opposing bench.
Im frantically trying to find out why they switched sides and the other official says "that's where the nearest point was when you got the steal". I ask to confer with both officials, telling them that I specifically asked one of them where the ball would be inbounded and they told me verbally, as well as pointingto, the sideline in front of the opposing bench. The official that told me that says "my bad, its his call". The other official says to me "whats the difference? You wouldnt want to inbound it right in front of their bench anyways, would you?" I reply "I want to inbound it where your partner told me we were supposed to inbound it, where I went into my timeout being told it would be inbounded and where I drew up my play based on where he told me it was gonna be inbounded". I have no timeouts left, and obviously the officials are not going to grant my rhetorical request of "can I get another timeout then since you lied to me??!?"
We try to adjust our play on the fly but alas the only shot we manage to get is an off-balance 17 footer that rims out.
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