Quote:
Originally Posted by Snaqwells
Coaches can only request timeout during a dead ball (including after a made basket, when we can spare a moment to glance.) All live ball TO's must be requested by a player on the team in control.
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That would at least convey some of the responsibility for communication to the coach and the players where it belongs, rather than saddling the officials, in the heat of the moment with their eyes on the action, with the expectation that they hear, confirm, and acknowledge every request that's given or else they're trying to somehow shaft the team. Just last week I was accused with the words, "There, are you happy? You cost us a possession because you didn't give me a timeout when I asked for it!" (There was no player control at the time).
I've been asking coaches lately to make their TO requests somehow multisyllabic. Like "How 'bout a 60 second timeout here!" Or "We'd like a timeout." Or, "We have possession, how 'bout a timeout." When they stand there and just yell "Time!", that one word request gets lost in all the other terse orders they're barking continuously to their teams all game long. The jury is still out on the experiment.
Just make it easy...only players on the floor may request a timeout. Let the coaches teach their players to keep an eye on them instead of us. Used to be that way back when I started in the late '70's, if I remember right.