Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich
For me, it's a reminder as the T/C to stay connected to the play.
Example - a player starts a drive out of my primary as the T. He's going away from me now. But instead of having my feet locked in position, I need to move to officiate that matchup and stay connected to that drive. I'm going to give the L the first crack on a secondary defender, but the outside officials can't just let that matchup go and figure the L will get what needs to be called.
Likewise, the C needs to work to get angles and be ready to get illegal screens, fouls against cutters, and also fouls against jump shooters in the lane, fouls against players that curl in your direction, etc. The C can't take possessions off cause most of the players are on the other side of the floor. The C has a unique look -- a "sideways" look that the T and L do *not* have -- and a strong C can save the crew on a fair number of possessions a game.
As the L, I'm still going to call a fair number of fouls -- but they're going to be fouls primarily in the paint or on contact that opens up to be on the end line and would likely straightline the T/C from the outside angle they have.
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Rich, this is an excellent analysis, identical to what our local association stresses to our members. I have noticed in our area especially, the tendency of Trail officials to stay in one place instead of, as you emphasized, to move to stay with the match up and stay connected to the drive and even to the completion of the play which may include offensive rebounds and put-backs. When the Trail hangs back near the division line, it pretty much makes it a two person officiated game.