Quote:
Originally Posted by bainsey
A-1 shoots, B-2 makes marginal contact on A-1's arm, no whistle yet, ball bounces off the rim, tweet.
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It is, was and always will be a judgment call as to whether that "marginal" contact was illegal or incidental in nature. Having said that, in my experience a very slight contact on a player's shooting arm can greatly influence the accuracy of the shot, and especially so on a jump shot. The oldest trick in the book is a defender making a quick tap on the shooting elbow on a jump shot. That quick, wee touch can put the shot into the sixth row. Sooooo.....basically you have to make up your mind as to whether your "marginal" contact affected the shot or not. If you decide it did, the marginal contact should be ruled illegal contact. If you decide it didn't, the marginal contact should be called incidental contact. But....as I said above, it doesn't take much contact on a players shooting arm to affect a shot. If I see contact on the shooting arm on a jump shot, I'll usually call the foul. You also have to make the same decision for contact on a shooter's arm when the shooter is taking it to the hole. In that case, it might not be a bad idea to wait a beat to see whether the ball goes or not. The same holds true for contact on the shooter's body. No matter what though, it still remains as being a straight judgment call. The biggest recommendation I can give anyone is to just try to be as consistent as possible at both ends of the court from beginning to end.
There ya go, bainsey. I tried to answer
both of your questions.
