[BryanV21]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

Perhaps these two Case plays will help your understanding. They both clearly demonstrate that a defender does not have to have both feet on the court at the time of contact (in fact, a defender could even jump vertically and still draw a charge while not touching the court at all).

10.6.9 SITUATION:

Dribbler A1 has established a straight-line path toward a certain area of the court. Can A1 maintain this specific path?

RULING: Only to the extent that no opponent who is behind or to the side can crowd A1 out of this path. Opponents may attempt to obtain a legal guarding position in A1's path at any time. To obtain an initial legal guarding position, both feet of the guard must be on the court and the guard must be facing the dribbler prior to contact. Time and distance are not factors in obtaining an initial guarding position on an opponent with the ball. Once legal position is obtained, the guard can move to maintain position in the dribbler's path. The requirement of having two feet on the court does not apply in maintaining a legal guarding position, provided the guard maintains in-bound status. (4-23)

4.23.3 SITUATION B:

A1 is dribbling near the sideline when B1 obtains legal guarding position. B1 stays in the path of A1 but in doing so has (a) one foot touching the sideline or (b) one foot in the air over the out-of-bounds area when A1 contacts B1 in the torso.

RULING: In (a), B1 is called for a blocking foul because a player may not be out of bounds and obtain or maintain legal guarding position. In (b), A1 is called for a player-control foul because B2 had obtained and maintained legal guarding position. (4-23-2; 4-23-3a)

It does help... thanks. I was simply hung-up on the part about a player needing to get to the spot first.