Travel?

[The_Rookie]

Need some help clarifying this ruling (Logic behind it)..Thanks


Player A-4, on the wing, catches a pass from teammate A-5 and is about to continue moving the ball back up top to teammate A-1. Just as he's about to throw the pass, he spots a defender jumping into his passing lane and rather weakly lets the pass go...... A-4 then runs forward several paces and catches his own pass. The coach of Team B jumps up, shouting "He can't receive his own pass!!" Was the coach right? Should the official have called a violation??



ANSWER - No. On this play, the coach was wrong and the official should have held his whistle. Even though we can all agree it looked like a pass, that is not the issue here. The only thing A-4 really did was to start a dribble. Once the ball hit the floor, it's no different than the start of any other dribble and A-4 is allowed to catch the ball to end his dribble. But, let's take it one step further......suppose A-4 first jumped into the air and then released the pass, rather weakly as above, and then ran it down (caught it, as above). In this case, the coach would be correct. The official would call a violation (traveling) because once a player's pivot foot leaves the floor while he is in control of the ball, the ONLY thing he can do is to shoot or pass. He cannot start a dribble after that pivot foot leaves the floor