To reach or not reach

[fiasco]

Originally Posted by Smitty

I will let a travel go most of the time out of my area unless it's in the paint where my partner is clearly screened. Most of the time.

Really? The only time I let anything go is a) if it's out of my area and I'm not 100% sure of the call or b) it's blatantly out of my area and/or sightline and there's no reason I should be looking there in the first place, because I'm gonna get a rash of crap from a coach as to why I'm not paying attention to my primary and I won't be able to give him a good reason.

One of the first games I ever did, I was lead about two feet off the lane line. The ball went from my primary to the other side of the court, then down to the baseline opposite me. The two players I was watching went down into the lane. As my head turned to follow them, I saw the person with the ball blatantly travel. My head was turned that direction because of the players I was following, I waited a split second to see if my partner would call it. He didn't, so I picked it up.

He gave me a rash of crap about "don't call outside your primary." If I had known what I know now, I wouldn't have taken the lecture from him, and would have told him "I call what I see. It's called the PRIMARY for a reason." But, I would've pre-gamed it with him anyway.

This is one of the main parts of my pre-game. I tell my partners "I don't want you to go looking for things in my primary just to look, but if you see something I don't, go get it. I'll do the same for you. This isn't a whistle-blowing ego contest. We're out there to call what we see."