Question on Box-out

[rainmaker]

You have already mastered the most important part of the rules which is that there are legal and illegal ways of doing everything. Making the distinction is crucial Great job!

As to the details, when boxing out means taking a legal position on the floor such that an opponent cant get to where s/he wants to get to, that's legal.

When boxing out means moving someone from one spot on the floor to some other spot on the floor, that's illegal. The magic word is "displacement". If the opponent is displaced, you've committed a foul.

Isn't that simple?

The complicated part is that the ref may not always call it everytime it happens, because sometimes there are other considerations that must be made. But if you get away with a couple, it's about time to stop, because your "luck" is running out fast. If your opponent is displacing you and the ref isn't calling it, you should ask politely (and ask once only), "Could you please watch the displacement on the box out?" If that doesn't work, find a different rebounding strategy, and hope you get a better ref next game.