Player Position

[BktBallRef]

Originally posted by Richard Ogg
Are you guys saying that a player who is dribbling the ball, then steps OOB while the ball bounces twice, then steps back in bounds had lost control of the ball? How do you define "ball gets away from him"?

Yep!

The original post states "loses control of the ball" and that makes it easy - no violation.

The tough call is when there is nothing apparent to indicate loss of control (except the ball bounced twice). What about the player who sees the defenser coming and pushes the ball ahead on purpose, goes OOB to get around the defense, and then once inbounds continues the dribble? Did he lose control by purposely pushing it ahead and letting it bounce 2 or 3 times?

First, let me ask, how many times have you seen a player do this?

Now, in the play that you described above, there is no OOB violation. You can't make it into one, no matter how badly you may want to. It doesn't matter if he intentionally lost control or not. It's simply not a violation. However, you could have a technical foul on this play if you feel the dribbler intentionally went OOB to gain an advantage.

Player control, in my opinion would end if the ball bounced up and returned to the floor without the dribbler touching it. Even if he only misses one dribble, it's an interrupted dribble. It may be the world's shortest ID, but I don't believe you can say that the ball must bounce 2 or 3 or 4 times before it's an ID.