[gfrederking]

I am a first year official and had an unusual situation happen in a game Friday. Both teams were coming out of a timeout. As we come out of the timeout, we count 10 players (5 from each team) on the court and deem the ball ready for play. At that time, a player from the blue team sits down on the bench.

The ball was handed to the white team (W1) and inbounded to his teammate (W2). As this point, the blue coach realizes he only has four players on the court and screams for a timeout. The timeout is not rewarded and the game continues. The white team attempts a shot and misses, but they get the rebound and start their offense over again. At this point, the blue coach grabs a player (B5) and sends B5 into the game on defense without checking in at the table.

The game was stopped, and the other official I was working with deemed it an "illegal substitution" and assessed the blue team a technical foul. Is this the correct call?

If all five players don't come onto the court after a timeout, you can inbound the ball to the white team and five guys can rush onto the court for defense without anything being called. Shouldn't the illegal substitution only be called had B5 gone in during the offensive possession?

White team was given two technical foul free throws and also given possession of the ball while the blue coach still maintained he had done no wrong.

Any clarification?