Legally leaving the court....

[M&M Guy]

The rule isn't difficult; intent is a major part of your interpretation. The specific example given of unauthorized leaving is the player coming up to a screen along a sideline or baseline, then choosing the "easy" way around the screen by running OOB intead of taking the longer way around the screen in-bounds. The committee's comment when this came out was the issue of keeping the play "on the court" and not "expanding" the playing area. I believe they also made the comment that momentum carrying a player OOB trying to make a play such as saving a ball from going OOB is not considered unauthorized. So, in ronny's case of the player saving the ball, this would be legal.

As far as returning to the court "immediately", again think interms of intent. I've seen this example before: player A1 has a spot throw-in along the baseline in the frontcourt. A1 throws it to A2, then A1 runs along the endline OOB and comes in on the other side of the lane while his teammates screen off his defender. A1 then steps inbounds on the other side of the lane, receives the pass back from A2 and has a relatively easy layup. See the intent? However, let's say A1 falls OOB while saving the ball, and plops right down on top of a small kid sitting in the front row. A1 gets up, checks with the kid to make sure he's alright, and says sorry to the parent sitting next to the kid. Are you going to give A1 the T for not returning to the floor "immediately"? I sure hope not. There's obviously no intent to deceive. So, back to ronny's question: if A1 saved the ball, and in the opinion of the official came back on the court after normal movement as a result of the momentum that carried him out in the first place, then no penalty. If A1 saves the ball, runs along the bench OOB and high-fives a couple of his teammates, and then comes in on the other side of a screen to get the ball, then that's an easy T. Your judgement - was it normal momentum for that play, or did the player use some extra OOB time to gain an advantage?