Trail in 2-Whistle

[Rich]

Originally Posted by johnsonboys03

When I'm at the trail position and the ball goes to the opposite corner I usually turn my focus in the paint area. Your partner can't see due to watching the ball. Most of the rough play will happen as the big men jockey for position.

The reality with 2-person is that when a trail is on ball, the lead's gotta expand his primary to get anything off-ball not in a fairly direct line between the ball handler and the trail. Same goes when the ball drops into the primary of the lead.

When I'm the trail, I go where I need to in order to officiate. If I have to go 2/3 of the way across the court in order to work a defensive matchup involving the ball, I do so -- but the farther on the court I go the deeper I am (if I'm halfway across the court, I'm probably a few steps in the backcourt getting angles). When the ball drops into the lead's primary and I release the ball to my partner, I try to quickly work back closer to the sideline down near the free throw line while looking inside and picking up any post activity and any screening activity. If the ball comes back up, I start working that arc again.

I find that in 2-person, I'm the most active as the trail when teams move the ball around the perimeter a lot. What choice do we really have unless we want to be across the court guessing?