You write that the player is cluelessly wandering around and not gaining any advantage, so why would you warn or call this? I wouldn’t.

Clueless ...
 

Good point.

Advantage/disadvantage can be subjective and is not very clear in the minds of many coaches, specifically regarding three seconds. I usually won't warn a clueless and aimless player until four-plus seconds and if he doesn't heed my warning he's probably in there six-plus seconds, accounting for some possible lag time it took me to become aware of his position inside the lane, and the time it took me to mentally process all the possibilities, and then decide to sound my whistle.

If I don't get him out after six-plus seconds (possibly including a warning) the coach (if he's paying attention to the game) will certainly let me know about the situation. In almost all situations, six-plus seconds is too long to legally be in the lane without a whistle, and by that time he's probably already achieved some level of illegal advantage in possibly being in the right place at the right time to get an offensive rebound.

Even the most clueless and aimless player on the court can't legally stay in the lane for eight continuous minutes.

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