hand is part of the ball - clarification

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by jdavisbyshore
This guy may only take Larry Bird's word or maybe the supervisor of NBA officials.

Neither Larry Bird, nor the supervisor of NBA officials posts here. But even if they did, what they said might not be true for anything besides NBA. Since there are about five major rulesets, and who knows how many small rec-league type modifications, there's no way anyone can definitively answer the question for all situations. But generally speaking you, not your co-worker, are correct. For high school rules.