Read other letters about this article
I am in total agreement on the preposterous airborne timeout thing we are seeing these days. In order to call timeout, the player should be required to have possession of the ball and have at least one foot on the ground. Too many guys are getting timeout calls while diving out of bounds like wide receivers catching a sideline pass. The refs shouldn't be able to save a player who is in trouble, especially in TV games where there are so many timeouts that the loss of one in these circumstances is rarely a real penalty.
The other rule that needs to change is the full minute that coaches get to make a substitution after a fifth foul. Why should tbe offending team get the equivalent of a free timeout just because one of its players is disqualified? The coach should have ten seconds max to make the change and the other players should remain on the floor.