Technical Free

[Nevadaref]

Originally posted by Jurassic Referee

B1 is NOT erased from the book as being a designated starter in this situation, is he?

Yes, I believe that he is erased as a starter in the book and another team member is designated. Afterall, you can only have five designated starters, right? Otherwise a coach could change his starting line-up enough times before the 10 minute mark so that everyone on his team is a designated starter. Then no one would have any clue who is starting, and that wouldn't make any sense.

Originally posted by Hawks Coach

The game starts when the ball is live, which only happens when it is at the disposal of the new starter, B6, who is not, by rule, a sub. Once B6 has shot, B1, who was never a player, can legally sub for B6 unless you have a rule that indicates otherwise.

Exactly, I find it tough to penalize for RE-entry when there hasn't even been an initial ENTRY!

As you keenly pointed out, Hawks Coach, the original designated starter has never met the definition of a player, so he cannot by definition be REPLACED, and therefore, since rule 3-3-4 specifically applies to players who are replaced, it does not pertain to him.

In short, since the game hasn't started yet, there is no possible way that he has played.

JR,
What do you think about a coach submitting his roster and designating the five starters 15 minutes prior to the game, but then coming back to the table after seeing his opponents designated starters at the 12 minute mark and making four changes in his starting line-up?

Legal, with no penalities, right? You wouldn't consider the four team members who are no longer starting to have participated in the game yet, right? (Say one of them is wearing a wrong number, you wouldn't T him since he hasn't played.)
This pre-game dunk senario is the same thing. The change in the line-up is simply happening a bit later (closer to the starting time of the game).