[cowbyfan1]

First off, sorry for the long post.
In the 20 years since I played basketball in HS and the time I am now picking it up in officiating, there has been a number of big time rule changes. 3 point shot, block charge on players with a foot on the OOB (was a big teaching point by my coaches to do that in HS), the limited number of players allowed along the free throw lane during a foul shot), here is one I am confused about, closely guarded violation. I have seen official counting it in collage games but never got into what exactly and why they were doing it.

I am reading this that if a defender is within 6 feet of the Offensive player with the ball, the offensive player has 5 seconds to get rid of the ball.
But I also read it that if the offensive player is dribbling the ball and stops dribbling, the 5 second count stops and a new one starts, meaning he now has 5 more seconds to pass the ball (or shoot). Am I interpeting this correctly?
Also if a defender is 6 feet from the player do you not overly concern yourselves with the count? In other words, does the defender have to make a more serious attempt to play defense say from 2, 3, or 4 feet away as opposed to 6?
For example defense is in a 2-3 zone with the guards on the foul line and the point guard dribbles to just off the top of the key. The defensive guards make no attempt to move towards the ball handler. They are obviously within 6 feet of one another, do you start your count?
What if the ball handler backs away and is now 7 or 8 feet away, do you stop the count if the defense does on follow?

thanks.