Foul/Contact on a post up
 

Okay, here's the situation: Player A has the ball in the post and is being guarded by Player B. Player A has his back to the basket and Player B. Now, Player B is toe to heel with Player A with his body bent at the waist with is back hovering over Player A's back. First off, is this legal defense in NBA? Secondly, if Player A jumps up for a shot and hits Player B on the way up because Player B is hovering over their back, what is the call? Thanks for any help and let me know if you need some more clarification. :cool:

This is just about verticality...do you remember what the rules say about legal guarding position?

The NBA has their own philosophy for calling fouls. Since none of us here are NBA officials, and since we aren't seeing this play, we can't tell you with any certainty whether this is a foul or not.

B1 is entitled to his spot on the floor, provided he attains his position legally. He is allowed to maintain his vertical plane. He is not allowed to displace A1 or illegally use his hands. Just because there is contact, it doesn't mean there's a foul.

No, sorry, I'm not yet familiar with either verticality or legal guarding position. I've looked over the rules, but it's a bit wordy and hard to visualize. If you could, I'd appreciate the definitions.

Guarding is the act of legally placing the body in the path of an offensive opponent. There is no minimum distance required between the guard and opponent, but the maximum is 6 feet when closely guarded. Every player is entitled to a spot on the playing court provided such player gets there first without illegally contacting an opponent. A player who extends an arm, shoulder, hip or leg into the path of an opponent is not considered to have a legal position if contact occurs.

To obtain an initial legal guarding position, the guard must have both feet touching the playing court and the front of the guard's torso must be facing the opponent.

Once the guard legally obtains his spot on the floor, he may rise or jump vertically and occupy the space within his vertical plane. The hands and arms of the defender may be raised within his vertical plane while on the floor or in the air. He should not be penalized for leaving the floor vertically or having his/her hands and arms extended within his vertical plane. He may not “belly up” or use the lower part of the body or arms to cause contact outside his vertical plane which is a foul.

The player with the ball is to be given no more protection or consideration than the defender in judging which player has violated the rules.

Okay, I belive I understand the concept of legal guarding position now, thanks. One thing I'm still hazy on is the leaning over of the defender that I described in my first post. If the defender does this does that mean that he is outside of his vertical plane and therefore impeding the motion of the offensive player if he tries to jump up for a shot? I recall that one of the rules is that a defender cannot obstruct an offensive players motion unless they have given enough space for the offensive player to alter their motion.

I really don't understand what you mean by "leaning over of the defender." There's no rule that forbids a taller opponent from reaching over or leaning over a shorter opponent. Unless he displaces the opponent or limits his movement with contact, there can't be a foul.

"a defender cannot obstruct an offensive players motion unless they have given enough space for the offensive player to alter their motion."

I think this is what you're talking about.

A defender can obtain any spot he desires on the floor, as long as he attains the spot legally. If you're gaurding a player with the ball, no time and/or distance is required. If guarding a defender without the ball, some time and distance is required.

For example, if you're driving with the ball and I step in front of you, face you, and have both feet on the floor, and you plow into to me, that's a charging foul on you. There is no time and distance required.

If you don't have the ball, then I must give you time and distance to avoid making contact with me. But the distance need not be more than two strides, depending on how fast you're moving. But once I have my spot, I can move to maintain it.

Any player on the floor can always legally jump <b>straight</b> up. Any contact by an opponent in the jumper's vertical space would be either incidental contact or illegal contact by that opponent.

Is that what you were looking for?

I think that is what I was looking for, the right to the space vertically above you and the consequences of impeding that space. Thanks.