3 Times a Referee should blow their whistle

I was reffing with an excellent referee named Cam Scott the other day and I was trying to find a way to internalize the lesson he was giving me and this is what I came up with. I generally think in terms of three so I broke it into three to help me remember it

1. Unsafe – A referee should blow the whistle when they see something unsafe happening on the court. This can take many forms such as liquid spilled on the court or a player doing something that endangers himself/herself or others
2. Unfair – This is the most common reason to blow your whistle. If a player does something that gives them an unfair advantage a referee should blow their whistle.
3. Unsportsmanlike – Ideally these are the least common reasons to blow your whistle. Someone involved in the game does something that is not in line with the spirit of competition in basketball then a whistle should be blown

I know that a referee blows their whistle for substitutes, etc but during play these are the areas I want to keep in mind when I’m blowing my whistle