States & 2 man vs 3 man

[RollTide]

Pa Official,

You brought up one of the points I've thought about as I read some of these other posts. However, I'm not sure I agree with your statement about 'mechanics'.

The biggest difference, from my experience anyway, in working 2 man vs 3 man is working the Lead, frontcourt-baseline. Whereas in a 2 man crew, we don't rotate, in a 3 man crew you do cross the lane and rotate.

I can tell you that I see a big difference in the way a lot of our veterans (non college level officials) that called 2 man for 20+ years (no rotating with ball in the frontcourt) work the baseline vs the younger officials that have worked in 3 man crews their entire tenure (5-6 years).

The younger less experienced guys rotate much quicker than the veterans. If I were to call all season in 2 man crews then have to implement 3 man 'mechanics' for playoffs, I personally don't think the 3 man crew will call nearly as good of a game.

Reasons I would offer to validate this statement:
1) I wouldn't rotate when working the L nearly as much as I probably should (remember, when the L doesn't rotate when needed, C and T are NOT in good positions to referee)

2) I wouldn't be used to the different primary area

3) I would be more hesitant to blow my whistle because of indecision as to whether or not it is my call

4) I would be doing too much thinking instead of being able to relax, let my reflexes/instincts take over, because I would be out of my normal element

I assume the 'mechanics' you were referring to are what positions we are to take on the floor following fouls, violations, oob in frontcourt/backcourt, etc. I would agree that those mechanics would be easy to adjust to (to the officials that have called in a few 3 man crews before)