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Originally Posted by cdaref
I know the temptation is to learn all about the rules. And that is great. But for a new official, don't forget to spend a ton of time with the Official's Manual. If you know basketball or if you played, you probably know the vast majority of the rules that you will encounter in your game, and your partner can help with the weird stuff (note: this is NOT to say you shouldn't study the rules, you should!), but what you likely don't know much of at all is HOW to be a ref. So I would suggest you immerse yourself in the official's manual. Too many new officials worry too much about just studying the rules and don't spend enough time in the Official's Manual.
Good luck with your first year!
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What I've highlighted in red is largely untrue....too many widely believed myths exist for that to be possible.
In reality, if you had to eliminate one book completely, the officials manual is the first book you could do without. It has a lot of procedural stuff in it that helps us look smooth and avoid awkwardness, but they're really the most dispensable. For most of it you could figure out something that would work without ever reading the book...not true with the rules.
Getting to the right spot is useless if you don't know what you're looking at and whether it is legal or not (or worse, you have it completely wrong). The wrong call form any position is always wrong. A call from the wrong position can still often be right. And which would the players/teams/coaches rather have? They don't care where you are, just that you get the call right.
I wouldn't say that the rules are the most important, just that mechanics are the least. Above mechanics I'd put judgement, people skills, game management, etc. You need a basic overview of mechanics to get started (boxing in, eye contact, etc.) but then spend the time in rules books and any materials you can get on dealing with players/coaches and come back to the mechanics later.
I was observing some games recently where I saw several different errors in several games. I saw mechanical mistakes, procedural mistakes, game management mistakes, judgement errors, rules mistakes, etc. There were 3 of them in last minute of the games. Two of those completely derailed the game.
The mechanical mistakes were unnoticed by anyone but me....occassionally they led to a call that wasn't ideal but they rarely led to a wrong call.
The rules mistake completely derailed the game...it unequivocally led to one team losing a good chance to tie/win the game.
Situation: A1, with team A down 5 with about 40 seconds to go, launches a 3 point shot. As the ball is dropping though the net, the L whistles a foul on A5 (good call or not, I don't know, didn't see it). The L wipes the bucket. The T attempts to inform the L that the basket should count. The L disagrees and reports. The coach for A is furious (and rightly so). The L T's the coach and ultimately T's the coach again. (I was too far away to hear what was said but it was not obvious from my position). After shooting the 6 FTs, the T again goes to the L to discuss the play and eventually they counted the 3 points. However, instead of A being down by 4 (personal foul FTs were made) with the ball and 40 seconds left, A was down 8 (6 FT's made) with the other team having the ball. Game over.
The game managment situation followed a close but correct call but also led to two T's and the ejection of the coach in a tie game with under a minute to go.
Rarely will a mechanical error lead to the game blowing up in your face...but blowing a rule sure can (did)....and likewise for not knowing how do deal with coaches even when you get it right.