Everyone should go back and read definitions 4-16 (Dunking) and 4-41 (Shooting, Try, Tap) as they relate to the airborne shooter rule (Rule 4-1).
An airborne shooter is "a player who has released the ball on a
try for a goal or has tapped the ball and has not returned to the floor." (emphasis added)
In order for a player to be an airborne shooter they have to have released the ball on a TRY. So what is a "try" and what is the "act of shooting"?
Rule 4-41...
ART. 1 . . . The act of shooting begins simultaneously with the start of the try or tap and ends when the ball is
clearly in flight, and includes the airborne shooter.
ART. 2 . . . A
try for field goal is an attempt by a player to score two or three points by
throwing the ball into a team’s own basket. A player is trying for goal when the player has the ball and in the official’s judgment is
throwing or attempting to throw for goal. It is not essential that the ball leave the player’s hand as a foul could prevent release of the ball.
ART. 3 . . . The try starts when the player begins the motion which habitually precedes the
release of the ball.
(emphasis added)
A dunk is not a try -- it is a dunk.
Have at it
