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Mark
I understand your easoning, for the first time I might add, with the addition of the soccer shoulder charge (which is clearly illegal in basketball). So clearly, basketball is different than the traditional contact sports in that contact which displaces a player may not be utilized to gain an advantage. However, a player in basketball with an advantageous position can use legal contact to maintain that position.
I guess the only problem that most of us have with calling the sport non-contact as a result of your reasonable distinction is that contact remains an integral part of the game. Non-contact makes you think of the old girls game, which had many more restrictions on contact. Now, basketball has contact on every trip down the court, so it seems odd to call it non-contact.
All contact sports have restrictions on what contact is allowed, and what contact is not. Basketball is more restrictive than soccer, and soccer more so than American or Australian football and rugby. But they all remain contact sports, because contact is allowed an expected in all contests, with specific rules governing what type of cantact shall be permitted.
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