The intent of my comment was not to imply that an inanimate object (i.e. the ball) could cause a foul. Rather, if the player is using the inanimate object as an instrument to cause a foul, you must call it. In the original question, the way the play was described A1 used to ball to displace B1. If he used his hip, elbow, or rump we call it, but because the orange is in between we don't? He still purposefully caused a disadvantage situation, you must blow your whistle. Like I said before, if I called a game, with a player using just the ball to move his defender out of the way, getting easy buckets, and I never called it because the ball cant cause a foul; I bet my state association would have a very long talk with me if and when they saw the tape.
On the other note, if the ball whizzed by my head I would need to rely on my partner to determine if it was accidental or intentional and flagrant. I had a game four or five years ago where my partner called a charge on A1. As he was going to report the foul, A1 went to retrieve the ball, took a few steps to move behind my partner (as I was asking for the ball) and fired the ball right at his head. It barely missed my partner but took out the book, three drinks, and displaced the plug from the clock. Now, there was no question the player did it on purpose, and intended to hit my partner with the ball. He had no clue what went on behind him, but you can guess where I had the player watch the rest of the game.
I would make the same call if it were another player instead of my partner. We are looked upon to ensure the safety of players, coaches, and officials. We are supposed to toss a player just for throwing a punch (hit or miss) or seemingly throwing a punch, how is this different? It is an intentional, flagrant act, and could cause injury. And no, I would not call anything if someone was trying to be like Magic and no-looks a pass into someones face. That is not an intentional act, even though you have to wait for host mgt. to mop up the gallon of blood from the recipients nose.
I normally enjoy and respect the opinions of most, if not all of the officials that post. But, if a player used my head for target practice I would hope one of you guys would have the fortitude to make the call rather than joke about it. That can be left for after season banquets, when most odd plays become funny.
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