Hi...Need some help figuring this out please.

It seems to me that NBA Rules as they are currently posted on NBA.COM are totally unclear as regards to dribbling.

Mainly...nowhere does it define the meaning of player "control" of the ball and yet it uses this term significantly in defining the rules for legal dribbling.


My main concerns are that, by the rules as stated,

1) It would be legal for a dribbler to for instance while dribbling up the court and if heavily defended, throw (or tap or push or whatever) the ball around the defender and then resume dribbling no matter how many times the ball had subsequently bounced without the dribbler. This seems like it would be legal because it could be argued that since it was a planned move by the dribbler (especially if it was accomplished oh so convincingly), the dribbler did not lose "control" (whatever "control" means).

Is an example like this legal and i am just not aware of it?

2) As i remember (could be wrong) there used to be a statement in the Rules and Regulations something like, "the dribbler cannot dribble the ball at a height above the dribbler's head". But this is nowhere to be found now. Has it become legal all of a sudden for a dribbler to dribble the ball at a height above his head? So that for instance, the dribbler could dribble over the head of the defender? Surely not! And surely this type of move would not be considered lose of control! What's going on here????


3) This is a sort of combination of 1) and 2) I guess.
The hypothetical move is that the dribbler bounces the ball over the defenders head in the motion of dribbling and resumes the dribble on the other side. A Sort of big hop dribble. I'm sorry, but it seems the Rules as posted on NBA.com have been gutted or something and there is no longer any declaration ensuring these sort of hypothetical moves are illegal!!!!!!!!

Mainly i guess because there is absolutely no definition to be found of player "control" while dribbling!

What's going on?????????

Thanks,
Andrew

[Edited by ShoeBall on Jun 18th, 2004 at 04:43 AM]

ALso
 

Sorry...I know the NBA is whacky but would appreciate insight on this and also links to NCAA and HS rules that might define player control while dribbling unlike the NBA seems (not) to do.

Thanks
Andrew

1)This is legal and always has been. The only things that would make any part of this move illegal would be (a) if the ball came to rest in the dribbler's hand when he tapped it over the defender's head-or(b)if the dribbler touched the tapped ball twice in the air before it bounced again. Same rule in NCAA and high school.
2) There never has been a rule in the NBA, NCAA or high school that restricted the height to which you could dribble to head-high.
3) This isn't illegal either and never has been.

ShoeBall, the only things generally that make any dribble illegal during that dribble are the dribbler letting the ball come to rest in his hand and then dribbling again, touching the ball with both hands simultaneously and then dribbling again, or touching the ball twice while it's in the air on the same dribble.

Welcome to the forum.

Nothing's going on. The issues you describe are legal. Thay are simply myths that fans, such as yourself, believe.

And there are others. Stick around and you'll learn the truth on those as well. :)

While it's true that I couldn't find a defintion of "player control" in the NBA online rules, there is a definition for "team control":

So it seems reasonable to infer that a player is in control if he is holding or dribbling the ball.

Of course, you're then left with the definition of a dribble as "a movement by a player who is holding or dribbling the ball. . ." Go figure.

My two cents... you will not find the definiton of player control because they dont use the term in the NBA

There is no need to have definition of player control since there are no player control fouls etc.

The NBA dribble rules states "A dribble is movement of the ball, caused by a player in control, who throws or taps the ball into the air or to the floor"

The differentiation here is on a rebound a player may tap the ball and have absolutley no control of the play. or on a loose ball play player knocks the ball away from a player by tapping it out of a pile then runs after it..

While it's true that there are no PC fouls, player control is required at times.