Two Play Situations, Same Concept?

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by Raymond

Can a player stay in one spot and bat the ball from one hand to the other? Can a player stay in one spot and throw the ball up in the air and catch it?

Of course he can, so there is no "dribble" started.

This helps answers some of Billy's questions. There is more to the story though. This is an instance in which it is helpful to know the history of NFHS basketball rules. Consult the NFHS basketball handbook if you can obtain one. It has a listing of all of the rules changes by year. One of them is the elimination of the air-dribble. Yes, there was something called an air-dribble many years ago.
A player could progress down the court by continually tapping the ball into the air while moving, like a seal hitting a beach ball with its nose. Now the definition of a dribble says that the ball must strike the floor and another part of that definition states that a player may not touch the ball twice between bounces on the floor. So for the action of a dribble to be legal the ball must strike the floor and this makes the old air-dribble an illegal dribble.
The NFHS also created rules to define a dribble for a motionless player. A player who stands still and bounces the ball is considered to be dribbling. A player who stands still and tosses the ball from one hand to the other or up into the air and catches it is not. A player who holds the ball and touches it to the floor is not. Why is that the case? Because the NFHS chose to make it so. Those are axiomatic cases.
Now to the remaining case, which is most important, and what Billy inquires about. Player who tosses the ball into the air and moves his pivot foot. We know from the traveling rule that the ball must be released prior to the pivot foot being lifted or a traveling violation has occurred, so we can ignore that part and focus on the sequence of toss and then move.
In this case if the player touches the ball before it strikes the floor, then that is the old air-dribble which is illegal. Therefore, an illegal dribble is the correct call. (This is precisely why Mary S was incorrect to alter the type of violation from illegal dribble to traveling in the NFHS Case Book several years ago. The player isn't holding the ball and excessively moving his pivot foot. He is dribbling in an illegal manner while attempting to move on the court.)
So a player who throws the ball in order to start a dribble, must allow it to strike the floor before touching it again. Doing otherwise has been deemed an illegal action and doesn't meet the definition of a proper dribble.

Obviously, all of the above is only for a player in control of the ball who deliberately releases it. If a player doesn't have control and is batting the ball into the air in an attempt to get it or accidentally has the ball slip from his grasp, none of the above dribbling or traveling rules apply. The official must make a judgment call on the factors of control and the release.