View Single Post
  #5 (permalink)  
Old Sun Dec 10, 2006, 07:15am
TimTaylor TimTaylor is offline
Official Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 1,273
Nevadaref,

Think of it this way - there are two kinds of rules.

The first are simple black & white - lets call them "shall" rules. Some entity (player, team, coach, official) shall or shall not do some specific thing, ie: if a player lifts their pivot foot before the ball leaves their hand to start a dribble, then it's a travel by definition and we're supposed to call it. The majority of the rules fall into this category.

The second type are guidelines - let's call them "may" rules. While some can apply to others, most apply to officials. The intent is to provide some structure or outline in the way we handle judgement, or what we often see referred to on this board as "had to be there" situations.

Basketball is a complex sport, and it's simply not possible to provide a ruling or casebook example for every possible occurance. The purpose of the "may" rules is to provide some type of general overall uniformity, while giving the official the flexability to act as is appropriate for a specific situation.

Last edited by TimTaylor; Sun Dec 10, 2006 at 07:20am.
Reply With Quote