[JRutledge]

Unless I am missing something at the other codes, this would be legal in all of basketball not just the NBA. Rondo was not holding the ball independently of it touching the floor. Maybe it is a loophole in the rule, but I do not see anything that says this is illegal for a player to do this at all.

And let say this is illegal at our levels and the NBA says this is legal? So what? It is the pros; there are a lot of pro things legal that are not legal in the college and high school ranks. Baseball has many rules like that as an example. You might not like their rules, but that does not make them a joke when the rules promote offense. In the NFL a passer can throw the ball away to save a loss of yardage as long as the ball crosses the line of scrimmage (even out of bounds). You cannot do that in NF Football rules and this rule is to benefit the offense. Why would anyone be surprised that the NBA might have a rule that does the same?

Peace