Eli, after that last post, I realized I was just being lazy, so I went and dug the books out of my bag. And I found something interesting. The play in question is discussed in play #80 in the Q&A:
Quote:
Player A1 secures possession of the ball and:
(1) throws the ball over his opponent's head, or
(2) throws the ball a long distance out in front of him.
In both (1) and (2) he bats the ball to the floor and starts his dribble. Is this legal?
Yes in both (1) and (2). Player A1 cannot catch the ball in either case then start his dribble. Should he catch the ball, he would be guilty of a traveling violation for passing the ball to himself.
RULE 4 - SECTION III
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The interesting part is that there's nothing in Rule 10, Section XIV (re: traveling) that would indicate that the play we're discussing is a violation. If you read through the traveling rule, there's nothing about catching a ball after that same player has passed it -- unless you consider that throwing to be a shot attempt (which it obviously is not).
Additionally, if you read the dribbling definition (Rule 4, Section III), then the play we're discussing perfectly fits the definition of a legal dribble. "A dribble is movement of the ball, caused by a player in control, who throws or taps the ball into the air or to the floor". So far, that's exactly what you described in the initial post.
"The dribble ends when the dribbler:
(1) Touches the ball simultaneiously with both hands."
And that describes how the play ended. So by the definitions of dribbling and traveling, there's no violation that I can see. Yet the Q&A clearly says that it's traveling.
Am I missing something obvious, or is the Q&A ruling simply an
ad hoc rule change?
Chuck