Under the Front

[Hawks Coach]

Originally posted by mick
Coach,
Rule 4-23-2 To obtain an initial legal guarding position:
The front of the guard's torso must be facing the opponent.

In the initial case, that is not the case.

Or, are you changing the case?

mick

Yes, I changed the case to make a point about how you can construct this in such a way that B clearly should not be able to jump with impunity over the vertical area that belongs to F merely by having F begin by facing B. I then look at the rules on incidental contact and rebounding and conclude that B has both put himself in an unfavorable position and violated the principle of verticality. When you consider that on rebounds many players change positions, I think that the concept of verticality would have nothing to do with the direction one player faced relative to another at the time they established their position. The fact that they applied verticality to rebounds indicates that players own the space over them on rebounds, and if contact occurs, the fault is with the player who violates that vertical plane.

Suppose you believe the opposite, that B must face the player in question prior to establishing rebounding position and verticality. Then you could have this scenario. B is in a legal position with respect to A1 with his back to A2. B turns his back to A1 and maintains that position (and verticality)while never facing A2 who is now in motion. A2 physicially moves into the exact spot that A1 occupied after B turned his back to that spot. B now loses his right to verticality with respect to A2 because verticality is always established relative to a single player that B faces. This just doesn't make sense, nor does any rule suggest this should be the case.

I find no rule that suggests that player A can ever jump over player B and deny to B the vertical area above B merely because B established rebounding position with his back facing player A rather than his front. However, I find plenty to suggest that the intent of all of these rules is precisely the opposite, i.e., with two feet planted on the floor in preparation to rebound, B owns the vertical plane above him. A violates that vertical plane and any resulting contact is the fault of A.