When is a dribble a dribble?

[jkjenning]

Originally posted by BktBallRef:
Two different situations. If he continues to dribble, then he establishes control. If he bats the ball and then catches it, he now establishes control and can dribble.

But you would agree that the longer the player has to tap the ball in order to gain control the more likely you are to consider it the start of a dribble? I do understand that a travel violation cannot be called until a player has control of the ball and that the start of a dribble also requires player control, but sometimes that is more of a judgment call than at other times, correct?

I called a double-dribble violation on a player who tapped the ball twice before grabbing the ball and then he started a dribble. The reason why it jumped out as me as a double dribble is that the initial taps were controlled enough to prevent opponents from getting the loose ball. Categorizing these kinds of taps as dribbles or not dribbles becomes harder for new officials, like myself, when the rules cover the throw by a player jumping OOBs as the start of a dribble - without an explicit reference in the rules to this type of toss being the start of a dribble, I would never have considered calling a violation on any player who came back on the court, grabbed the ball they had just so athletically saved, and then proceeded to dribble down the court.

By way of extending the OOBs save-scenario, I don't think you can categorically claim that one bat could never be considered a dribble. I do think that in the original post, the type of tap described would not be considered the start of a dribble, but maybe it could look different if we had actually been there? (yea, doubtful, but...)