A pretty good official!

[BktBallRef]

I saw one tonight. His name is Eli Roe. Eli was in town tonight and was kind enough to leave 4 tickets fro me at the Will Call window. Thanks Eli!

His mechanics were sharp, his calls were consistent and he has a good athletic build. I was very impressed. Reminds me of Joe Forte!

Now, if we could just get the NF to go to the NBA rotation and switches. What we're using now is an NBA rotation but it's about 10 years old. There present system is much smoother than what we're using now. Watch a game on TV and it's evident. But, I knew this before tonight but it's much clearer when you see it in person. I'm sure we'll get to it in another 10 years. Then we'll be 10 years behind again.

Oh yeah! They have real, real ugly shirts!

[Edited by BktBallRef on Mar 9th, 2002 at 12:02 AM]

[JugglingReferee]

Would you be kind enough to type some of those differences in for me/us?

Mike

[BktBallRef]

I'm not the expert at them but I'm sure someone will help out if I screw this up.

1- Calling official always ends up tableside on shooting fouls. This saves time since he/she (Eli had a female partner tonight! I thought she handled herself quite well) doesn't have to switch to opposite table.

2- On shooting fouls, all 3 officials switch, unless the slot or trail tableside calls the foul. Then the other two officials switch.

3- They normally don't switch on non-shooting fouls.

4- Rotations on transition from T to L are smoother. If the ball is going to the weak side, the new L continues to move across the endline and the new T follows and becomes the slot, C. This happens smoothly even if the T has crossed the division line yet.

5- Of course, they don't have a central reporting area and don't have to come to a stop when reporting. They use both hands to report numbers. If I'm not mistaking, players also entered while they were reporting.

6- Foul mechanics are sharper and demonstrate moreso what actually occurred than some of the NF signals do. The whistle stops the clock, not a raised hand. I've always said that timers stop the clock when they hear the whistle, not when a hand goes up.

7- I did not care for the way they count 5 seconds. Chops go high above the head with 1 finger extended. A similiar motion is used to chop the clock. It looks like a quick "We're #1!" I didn't care for it.

That's a few things and I may not be completely clear on all of it. Watch the NBA on NBC and you'll see the differences that I'm talking about.

[crew]

bktballref,
that was a pretty good explanation of mechanics, cant be the first time youve seen them?

in addition
for fouls in the front court the calling official always goes to trail, whether it is table side or opposite. the other two officials switch positions(cannot remain in the same position on a foul call unless already trail).

for fouls in the backcourt the refs just slide(no switches).

also they are taghut to report the nature of the foul.(ie-hit to the head, trip, hit on the arm, etc)

the reasoning for the switches they use is it is a natural movement to just walk to the spot you are going to and report at the same time. also they like for the officials to go trail table side on shooting fouls so they can explain what they saw without long distance communication.

the earliest nba 3-man mech would put the crew cheif(wiley veteran) nearer the coaches because it was believed they could explain/difuse the coaches better than the rooks. ed rush decided about 4-5 yrs that the younger officials were good enough officials to rotate near the coaches and explain what they saw. and so the present nba rotations were born.

[BktBallRef]

Originally posted by crew
bktballref,
that was a pretty good explanation of mechanics, cant be the first time youve seen them?

I'm not the old dinosaur you think I am crew.

[BBarnaky]

Glad to hear you took in a game of Eli's. He is an outstanding referee and has unlimited potential. He has helped many other officials get better along his journey in this business. Eli spends countless hours watching tape, reviewing rules, talking with fellow officials about plays and situations, and working out all in hopes of getting better and becoming one of the best.

Did you have any plays you wished to discuss from his game?

[BktBallRef]

No, I covered everything with Eli in an email after the game. He's all squared away now!

Nah, I mentioned a few things about the game. He agreed with what I saw as they saw the same things in their tape review. And, of course, he picked up a lot of things that I didn't and told me about the review with his partners. They're pretty serious about their critique.

They had a couple of Defensive 3 seconds and a call out of his primary that Eli made, that they coach ate him up for calling. I think he got it right, but that doesn't always get you out of trouble. There was a double whistle on an offensive foul. Eli dropped and his partner seemed to lose her concentration and lost the fouler. But overall, I thought they worked a very good game.

There was a play with about 18 seconds to play where the ball clearly went OOB off Red. Eli's male partner Ed, gave the ball back to Red. No foul, no one else within 5 feet of the guy. But sometimes things catch us off guard. I was just surprised that the center, Leslie, didn't come to him and offer help. Eli was at trail and wasn't in a position to help. They saw the same thing I saw in the review and Leslie said she wasn't 100% sure on the call. But it was very clear, I think she was probably just too uncomfortable to do it. Red was home, down 4, "do I really want to take the ball away from them on a call that isn't mine?"

That's why have a tough time realistically thinking that an offical is going to come his partner on a traveling call such as the one we discussed earlier. I've never seen it done.

[crew]

Originally posted by BktBallRef

That's why have a tough time realistically thinking that an offical is going to come his partner on a traveling call such as the one we discussed earlier. I've never seen it done.

i have seen this done twice this yr in nba games. even the announcers picked up on the miss and were kinda downing the missed call but the refs came together and got the play correct. after the play was corrected the announcers were stunned and began to give credit for the crew getting the play corrected.

[eroe39]

Originally posted by BktBallRef
I
5- Of course, they don't have a central reporting area and don't have to come to a stop when reporting. They use both hands to report numbers. If I'm not mistaking, players also entered while they were reporting.

Very true, substitutes are not a big production in the pro game like they are in high school or college. When the whistle blows for a call and the subs are there they just come in. Our table personnel are very competent and will get the number. I have had games where the P.A. announcer announces the fouler before I have even reported it. Most of the times we never even beckon the subs in. And similarly, no official has to raise their hand up and let the official with the ball know when it's 5 on 5. The official with the ball is responsible for not inbounding until he/she sees 5 on 5. No help should be necessary although sometimes it is given.