Held Ball Signal Mechanic

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Rich

Look, I'll admit that what we do doesn't completely conform to the mechanics manual.

We hold on the thumbs as we close on the play -- it lets us each verify that none of us has a foul or violation first. If one of us has a foul/violation, he comes in immediately with it. If none of us do...that means we have a held ball and all of us can give the thumbs.

Since we moved to this, we haven't had a single instance of thumbs + something else.

I was originally taught to just use the thumbs as the stop-clock signal, then I've been seeing a movement towards what aremred uses. When I think about how I actually do it on the court, I realize I'm actually doing what Rich is doing. Whistle, pause and look, then thumbs.