I have always wondered - how does the NBA differentiate the number "8" from the number "53" with its two-hand reporting?

Maybe it speaks to my mental state, but it's one of the things about NBA mechanics I've always been perplexed by...:o

You mean if it ain't broke, don't fix it?

I don't know if they still do it, since I haven't watched a National Basketball Entertainment game in a while, but here's how they used to do it: when reporting a single digit number with both hands (such as "8"), instead of their fingers pointing up, they would point each hand in toward the other so their palms would be facing their chest and their hands would be at a 90 degree angle to the floor.

I hope you were able to follow that.

Huh? Reducing the closely guarded distance from 6 feet to 3 feet somehow "fixes" the issue of inconsistent counting? How do you get from one to the other? :confused:

My experience has been that "lower level" scorekeepers don't have problems reading the official's signaled numbers, they have problems with paying attention. Either they're busy texting, chatting with the person running the clock, or heads down recording the foul before you get there to report it.

But when you report digits serially, with some scorekeepers I'm never really certain if they got that the foul was on white 14, or whether they might have given the foul to white 4, because they spaced off the first digit.

No, but not requiring them to count during a dribble reduces the number of times that they have strain themselves by counting to 5. Wonder how they manage to administer throw-ins? Hmmmmm.

So say "fourteen" instead of "one-four".

Gee, and I always thought they removed it just because the shot clock was so short. Silly me. But at least I know to whom I should defer judgment....

I do. And it usually works very well. But it happens just often enough that I end up having to deal with a "the book is all messed up" complaint that I'm never willing to trust them entirely.

I can see that if you've got a short shot clock, you don't need a closely guarded rule as much to force the action. But the argument that officials are too inconsistent in their counts as a primary reason to remove just one of several counts, AND shorten the distance to three feet doesn't make sense to me.

I don't see coaches teaching defenders to get within three feet. And the players only get quicker as you go up the ladders. Do they get many closely guarded counts in NCAAW? Maybe on traps or after the dribbler picks up her dribble?

Either way, I think the proposed rule change makes NO sense for HS ball. Frankly it seems like somebody just wants to be more like college, without really thinking about why.

No.

Ding ding ding ding ding!
We have a winner.

I think that many of the Women's Basketball/NBA Mechanics and rules are being pushed by those that work that game or have ties to that game. Just because they work in those settings does not mean it will work in the HS setting. I am so tired of other Women's basketball always trying to bring their crap to ever level.

Peace

New Signal ???
 

Isn't this the new "over the back" signal?

Soupy Sez ...
 

Are you sure that his guy is not "Doing The Mouse"?

http://tvparty.com/bgifs12/soupyheader05.jpg