|
By rule, yes, the timeout should be granted.
Either team can request a timeout when the ball is dead. The ball is dead until the throwin begins. If the player is still inbounds, the throwin has not begun unless you consider them to be delaying and you've started the 5 second count.
A lot of people get hung up on the "available to a player". That is intended to mean that the player and and ball are in or have had sufficient time to be in a position to make a legal throwin.
The "available" part is there cover the situation where the player has the ball bouncing at his feet and could easily pick it up for a throwin but is attempting to buy extra time for his team to setup or is attempting to consume extra time off the clock. The intent of this sub-part of the rule is to force/allow the starting of the 5 count to prevent the team from gaining an unintended advantage.
|