Tio The penalty by the league should not factor into your decision. A technical foul is a technical foul and should be penalized as such. Slamming the ball down because he is mad at a teammate is unfortunate, but when the ball flies 20 feet, that player is only drawing attention to himself and didn't leave you much of a choice it sounds like.
Adam By the way, the very issue that started this, slamming the ball, isn't consistently called a T either. Some officials will get it every time, others will talk to the player; particularly if it's obvious his frustration is self-directed.
bob jenkins utahkarakita wroteAt any rate, in any game we officiate there is subjectivity. I don't know why some won't admit that there are times they will/won't whack somebody based on the situation and all the surrounding factors. Of course it's vitally important to know and officiate the rules as they are written, but we're decieving ourselves if we say there is no element of subjective human judgement. How is my situation any different from passing on a soft "and-one" in the interest of continuing game flow? Or erring on the side of the team that's trailing 30 points on a 50-50 or 60-40 call? We do it every night gentlemen... There's a difference between managing a game and calling (or not) something based on league administration issues. Give the T if it's earned, and if it's not worthy of a suspension, then let the player / coach appeal it to the league.