I happened to be looking at the travel and dribble rules recently, so let me try to help...
For the Cliff Notes version, traveling has never had anything to do with the number of steps taken, but rather has to do with restrictions once a pivot foot is established. For example, when both feet are on the floor, and one is lifted, the other foot becomes the pivot foot. Once a pivot foot is established, a player must start a dribble before the pivot foot is lifted, or once a pivot foot is lifted, a player can only pass or shoot before it is returned to the floor.
The way you described it, the pivot foot was established, lifted, returned to the floor, then jumped off it again. Sounds like a violation.
There is such a thing in the rules as a jump-stop, however, and it is possible you're trying to describe that. For example, if a player catches the ball while in the air, lands on one foot, jumps off that same foot, then lands on both feet simultaneously, that is legal. However, neither foot can then become a pivot foot. Without a little more information, it's hard to see if that's what your trying to describe.
Is your friend incarcerated because they traveled too many times?
