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I have real issues with this being a violation. Forget the tap - what if A1 grabs the ball, begins to go OOB to inbound and drops it just after stepping OOB with back to court, ball rolls on to court. Are you really going to whistle a violation? I see this as the same as if they are trying to secure the ball and it rolls away - blow the whistle, get the ball back to the inbounder and start your 5 second count.
As for starting the count in general, I think the count should start when the player steps out and faces the court with the ball, unless there is undue delay (and the ball is available to the inbounding team). We do not delay taking the ball out, but have some refs who start as soon as one of our players touches the ball. I think that the intent of the rule is to give 5 seconds to inbound. When you start as soon as a player touches the ball and before they step out, a team only gets 3-4 seconds to inbound.
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