put ball in play across the lane?

[HokiePaul]

Had this thought come up this past week while working 3-man summer league game (as part of our summer evaluation program so we were strict by the book mechanics).

It was after a made FT followed by a TO. After the TO, the player goes to the opposite side of the endline from where I was standing. My partners had already set up as they were following the free throw so I wasn't going to switch sides. I thought about bouncing the ball accross to him (given that he was able to run the endline), but instead called him over to my side, reminded him "anywhere on the endline" for the throw-in. He proceeded to take the ball and run to the other side where the team had a press-break play set up.

It did have me thinking about how this could be a disadvantage in a situation where a team wanted to throw the ball from one particular side. Having to run there first seems like a disadvantage given that had no TO been called, they are entitled to a throw in anywhere on the endline and could have gone there directly.