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Unfortunately (or not), no matter the wording (“caught/thrown”, “prolonged contact”), it will never be precise nor objective. Only measurable things are. Even a clean rebounding ball has to come to a stop before bouncing back. It’s just physics. How long is too long then? Setters “hold” to the ball at various degrees. Where to draw the line?
A lot of calls are made on the technique, rather than the outcome of it. Because of this people (coaches/players) get conditioned to expect a call in these situations even if they really don’t fit the definition. I’m not going to argue this one way or another.
For power tips specifically, one school of thought was that if the ball is well in front of the player and it is not clearly caught and held in the hand (more of an issue with a two handed “dunks”, pretty hard to do with one hand on top of the ball) - it is likely ok. The net usually limits what could turn into a grotesque smack down.
But ultimately - I think this only comes with experience. Helps tremendously if you work with (or can observe) someone good.
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