Putting the ball back in play
 

Watching the Lakers Celtics game from 87 and I noticed how quickly these officials are putting the ball at the disposal of the thrower after a violation or oob. Which leads to an obvious question:

How long do you wait to put the ball in play? Does it depend where the throw-in is (and which way we are going)? Does the skill level of the game matter? Any specific examples would be great.

Without subs, I look at the table.
Then I look at my partner.
Doesn't take too long.

The sooner I get the ball in play, the sooner the clock starts running again. Which means, the sooner I get to go home.

Get in. Get done. Get out.

Clock table partner ball in play.

Plus or minus a rare brief word with a coach or player as required.

Short and Sweet ...
 

Well put. Simple. To the point.

Don't forget, count ten, after substitutes. I'm not putting the ball in play with eleven players on the court, and neither is my partner, if I can help it.

I choose to count to 5 twice.

Five Red, Five White ...
 

Good point. Me too.

The NBA normally puts the ball in quickly. Think about why the ball goes to the sideline on every call, No need to decide where it goes. Players know where to go. On fouls in backcourt once you have reported it gets thrown to the sideline and ball comes back in..

I believe it the speed is there for a couple of reasons.
1) The fans are there to watch the game not watching between calls
2) When the ball is is play a coach or player is less likely to worry about the call just made, they have to think about what's going on out there..
3) Games at 2:15 are just about right... With people's attention span anything more than 2:15 for a basketball game gets tiring...

I really can't add to the good advice that has been posted in this thread except to say, that nothing good ever happens when the ball is dead, so the quicker one can get the ball back into play the better.

MTD, Sr.

Feeling Groovy ...
 

MTD, Sr.: I seldom disagree with you, however, in this case, I must. I wish that you would reword your statement, "the quicker one can get the ball back into play the better", because this is not necessarily true. All correctable errors happen during dead ball periods, and many uncorrectable errors happen during these same dead ball periods as well, i.e. giving ball to wrong team for a throw in after a time out, giving the ball to the wrong team during an alternating possession throwin (sorry coach, you'll get two out of the next three), putting ball at the disposal of a player for a throwin while there are eleven players on the court, etc.

As Paul Simon wrote, "Slow down, you move too fast".

I always figure if I had to take my shoes off to count, there's 11 players on the court. ;)

I don't know if I should rephrase my statement, because I said the advice in the thread has been good so far. There are certain things that must be done before putting the ball back into play and those things MUST be done. But once those things are done, get the ball back into play, don't screw around. That is what I mean by "the quicker one can get the ball back into play the better." Maybe a better phrase is one that MTD, Jr., likes to use: Festina Lente, which is Latin for "make haste slowly."

The important thing is to do what you are supposed to do and then get the game going again.

MTD, Sr.

Festina Lente
 

Good advice from Junior. Hopefully he will join the Forum, if he hasn't already (see thread about chat rooms).

That's like the Supreme Court's "with all deliberate speed". :)

Junior has not joined the Forum yet. He graduated from high school last night so he is now officially a high school graduate. Next Monday, the better half, Junior, I head off to Ohio Northern University for his freshmen orientation. Other than caddying and officiating the some basketball shootouts and umpirng so some summer baseball games, he has only two things to worry about: 1) Getting his tuchus ready for the college swim season (ONU's first meet is Oct. 18th; I didn't realize the NCAA Div. III swim season started so early.), and 2) playing baseball with his brother in a Senior Knothole league three times a week.

MTD, Sr.