Could they have obfuscated this any more?
It would be very helpful if the Fed issued a step-by-step process for determining how many free throws.
I've been contemplating the whole issue of if and/or how penalties offset across categories/types of offenders. What follows is the best I can deduce.
The case addresses the fighting players separate from the bench leavers. While it is true that the case deals with flagrant personal fouls, I can find no indication that flagrant technicals for fighting would be handled differently. Because there are a corresponding number of fighting players from each team, there are no free throws. If there were an unequal number, we'd offset the throws, awarding the offended team the difference.
As for whether to offset penalties between fighting players and bench leavers, both the case and the summary of penalties deal with them separately. The case play further indicates the fighting players results in a double foul, while the bench leavers are a simultaneous foul. The summary also prescribes double fouls for corresponding numbers of fighting players. That sure smells like a false something-or-other type foul to me, each being penalized separately and in the order it occurred.
As for offsetting within the non-fighting and fighting bench leaver groups, a similar, but more complex formula is indicated.
- Sum each team's "bench leavers", regardless of whether they fought. (NOTE: The summary of penalties may appear to separate fighters and non-fighters into separate penalty groups. But the case play clearly reaches its ruling of no throws and POI based on the equal numbers of bench leavers, irrespective of whether they fought, as illustrated by scenario c.)
- If there are corresponding numbers from each team, shoot no free throws, resume at POI.
- Otherwise it gets ugly and murky. The best I can infer and/or deduce from the inscrutable chicken scratches is this:
- Sum the free throws each team "owes" the other: Two throws max for any number of bench leavers (other than HC) who did not fight, two throws if the HC leaves the bench unbeckoned, two throws for each bench leaver who fights.
- If the numbers are equal, shoot no free throws, resume at POI.
- If the numbers are unequal, the team "owed" the most throws is the offended team. They shoot the difference (or offset) between the two numbers then receive a throw-in at midcourt. (NOTE: That these throws offset at all is not crystal clear, but must be inferred from phrases like "offended team" and "for each additional person leaving the bench" in the summary.)
Additionally, all bench leavers receive a flagrant foul which is also added to the team foul count. The HC receives a maximum of one indirect technical for all non-fighting bench leavers, and one indirect for each fighting bench leaver. A HC who leaves the bench unbeckoned would additionally be charged with a flagrant technical and be ejected, and the team is charged with a team foul. These flagrant fouls, team fouls, and indirect technical fouls do not offset and each is charged.
What a mess!
If you disagree with my conclusion, please share your conclusion and how you arrived at it. Like I said, this is only the best I've been able to deduce.