Questions?

[Hawks Coach]

mick
You seem hesitant to exercise judgment in this case. You do it with fouls - was it an attempt to play the ball or did he intentionally foul the player? That's your judgment of intent. Same with this play.

If you wish to abdicate your right to make this judgment, you can call it the same every time - no violation. But you are free to judge intent, and I would argue that if you are watching the dribbler, most times you will know what happened. If you aren't sure, you should go with no violation. But if you see the dribbler clearly change his actions only after stepping on the line, then he was dribbling when he stepped on the line, IMO.