confused by the traveling rule

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by ysong

so it makes me think it is illegal for the will-be pivot foot to be lifted before it is established as the pivot foot.

If a foot isn't allowed to be lifted before it's established as the pivot foot, no one can move anywhere when they have the ball! As long as the player is dribbling, either foot can move anywhere. Neither foot is the pivot foot, but that doesn't matter because a pivot foot isn't necessary. If a player steps OR jumps (doesn't matter which) and then ends the dribble, the next foot to hit is the pivot foot. What either foot did before that is irrelevant. Now that a pivot foot is established, there are rules about what can happen. But before that pivot foot touches down, it doesn't matter what it does, because pivot foot rules don't matter until the dribble is ended.