Things Officials Should Probably Not Be Saying In A Game ...

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by JeffM

I understand that saying "on the floor" is considered unacceptable so I stopped saying it.

However, I think it quickly conveys the essential information that the foul was before the shot.

So, I have said "spot" or "designated spot" instead. However, many players don't seem to understand what that means and I've been asked by players if it was a shooting foul.

I've also used "white ball" which seems to works better.

So, what is the best way to say it? I don't think that "before the shot" would be any more acceptable than "on the floor".

"before the shot" is just as easy to say as "on the floor" but is actually accurate in its meaning since it says that the foul occurred before the shot. A player could be shooting while still "on the floor" so a player could be getting 2 FTs having been on the floor. Why confuse thing when you don't need to?

"Spot" isn't used at the time of a foul but when administering the throwin on the backcourt endline mostly after a timeout.