TO request when you have no timeouts

[Rob1968]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Just because it's not "illegal" to communicate with a coach regarding the number of time outs (other than using the last one) that he has remaining, doesn't necessarily make it a good idea to do so. The statement, "Coach, you've got one timeout remaining", may seem innocuous, may foster good rapport with the coach, and is certainly legal, but if there's been any miscommunication, or error, between the official scorer, the visitor scorer, and the officials, why take a chance on communicating this possibly "tainted" information to the coach?

Under the worst case scenario, he takes another timeout that he thought he had (but due to miscommunication, or error, he really didn't have any left), you inform him that your charging a technical foul for an excess timeout, and we all know what he's going to say next, "But he (pointing to your partner) told me I had one timeout left" (Or worse, "But you told me I had one timeout left"). If the rule required us to inform a coach regarding how may timeouts (other than using the last one) he had remaining, then we would have to do it, but the rules don't require us to do this (other than using the last one), so why bother?

When a phone call between the official, and the assigner, occurs in the early morning, it's always nice to be able to include the statement, "I followed the rules", and informing a coach that he has a certain number of timeouts remaining certainly isn't illegal, but it's not following the rules either.

Billy,
My point is that it is not breaking a rule, either. The rule I quoted doesn't say, "Do not inform the coach(es) of their remaining time-outs, until they have none left." I check with my table crew several times during each game, for various reasons. And when I ask them how many time-outs remain, I verify with both the official book and the opponents' book. It's a game management protocol, that keeps me and my crew out of trouble, keeps the table crew engaged, and avoids problems.
And, I always inform the coach(es) when they have no time-outs left.
Now, in my little corner of Rome, if a supervisor ever tells me to not inform the coach(es) except when they are out of TO's, I'll gladly comply.
To me, it's not unlike our local interpretation of the automatic fouls on a ballhandler, in which our supervisor/interpreter said to use a closely guarded situation as the guideline for the multiple touches foul calls - (rather than the "even when the second touch happens 80 feet after the first"); or talking to players to avoid having to call 3-seconds, or holding fouls, etc.