I'm a Ball Watcher...

[Welpe]

"Watching balls go by."

Well according to a fellow official that was waiting for his game after mine, I was doing a bit of ball watching outside of my PCA. He didn't offer any specific details after I asked but said he noticed I was doing it at both lead and trail. We don't often get other officials observing us so this is good information to hear. I thought I was doing a good job of focusing in my area too as I was picking up off ball contact and talking with the post players at lead but maybe not as well as I thought.

Does anybody have any tips to ensure you are staying in your PCA?

A couple of situations where I'm wondering if my fellow official noticed what I was doing and felt I was ball watching too much. I'd appreciate any feedback on these:

I've been trying to feel out where the ball is to know if I should have on-ball coverage or not by using occasional, quick glances towards the ball. Is this a bad idea?

Also, I find while at lead and a player attempts a 3-point shot, I will mark the attempt, follow the shooter up and down and then take a quick glance to the basket to indicate if the shot is successful or not. I then look back to the shooter to see if there's any late contact. Should I be doing something different here?

Thanks!