Quote:
Originally Posted by Camron Rust
While in some cases, I can see calling a foul on the offense when they deliberately jump towards an airborne shooter, it is still the defender who must be in the path of the opponent facing with feet down in order to have LGP. In this case, the step to make that shot attempt was roughly towards the basket....the offensive player took a path which the defender didn't yet have a legal right to occupy. I have a block in this example.
This would be no different than a defender rotating from the corner to cut off a drive from the top of the key and jumping across the shooter's path before the shooter went up. The defender doesn't get the right to a spot by getting airborne first.
If the defender was sailing by from front to back and was clearly going to pass behind the shooter but the shooter jumped back in a direction a shooter wouldn't normally take, I could see a PC foul.
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Going to have to question the thought process for a couple of things in here.
When does an airborne player have the right to a landing space? I was always taught that if a space was unoccupied then anyone had a right to it as long as he got there first and without causing illegal contact. So of a defender goes airborne and will land in a certain location, can an offensive player run over to that spot or a spot in between and cause the defender to foul?
You state that this defender didn't have a right to that path. Why not? Was it occupied when he jumped? You write that he doesn't get the right to his path by going airborne first. I don't believe that is correct, but if it is, then how does he obtain this right?
You give an example of a player driving to the basket along the endline and a defender jumping into that path. You have a defensive foul. Now reverse which player has the ball. Would you allow a defender to run along the endline and take away his landing space after he has already jumped?