I call it, and quite frequently. 1/2 the time the guilty party gives me the "you got me" smile. The other 1/2 their coach yells to the player "he caught you". It's contact during the shot and in my judgement it affects the shot.

First, intentional contact CAN be incidental. Think about a defender reaching out to "find" the player he's guarding. You're not going to let him leave the hand there for a prolonged period of time and you're not going to let him hold the offensive player. But the initial contact to "find" the offensive player is intentional and incidental. I would humbly suggest that this tap on the leg is intentional and incidental.

Second, I have a really hard time imagining how a tap on the leg can affect a jump shot. There's no way that it hindered the shooter's offensive movements, and I think there's very little chance that it affected his balance enough to alter his landing.

If you truly believe that it affected the shot, then I guess you have to call a foul. But I can't honestly believe that it did -- unless, as I said earlier -- I'm simply not picturing it correctly.

If it DOES cause him to land awkwardly, I have a foul. ;)

Even if the tap slightly displaces the shooter? Doesn't take much when he's in the air and that's all that's needed to alter a shot. It's like that l'il wee tap on the elbow .....it doesn't look like much but that'll put the shot in the third row every time.

[QUOTE=NewNCref]Under 10-6.2, I've got illegal contact. Therefore, since in the judgment of the official it hindered the opponent from performing a normal offensive movement, I've got a personal foul. We're shooting 3 FTs and B1 is DQ'ed.[/QUOTE]

Wow, pretty harsh. Then what take him/her out back and put him in front of a firing squad??

[QUOTE=JoeTheRef]I give up -- why is this harsh? The penalty for fouling a shooter on an unsuccessful 3-point try is three FTs. The penalty for committing a fifth foul is DQ. B1 did both.

[QUOTE=bob jenkins]I apologize. Reading is fundamental. :D I didn't see the part where this was B1's 5th. I assumed something totally different. Thanks.

I guess I'm in the minority with you as well. I'm not making this call. If a tap on a leg affects the shooter, then in all honesty, that's the shooter's problem. If it's the same tap on arm/elbow then I have a foul.
And this is just my opinion.

Are you serious?

You have contact that <b>AFFECTS</b> a shot and that's just peachy keen in your opinion?

Are you really serious, Joe?

Lah me.......

If an official thought that a tap <b>didn't</b> affect the shooter, then it certainly is OK to let it go. It's a judgment call. But to judge that a tap <b>did</b> affect the shooter and then let it go is absolutely ridiculous imo.

Hold the presses a sec. So, that I understand correctly. A tap is nothing on an airborne shooter. (incidental contact).

So, I take it from YOUR perspective if a defender makes contact on an airborne shooter while the airborne shooter is in the air, in an attempt to box out the shooter prior to the airborne shooter returning to the floor and the box out doesn't affect the shoot. You are going to pass because it doesn't affect the shot?

Joe The Ref disagrees with you.:)

The defender isn't playing the ball. Seems like an intentional foul to me.

Unless it truly affects the shooter and I am the only one in the gym that sees it, I got nothing. I say something to the player, and if he does it again, then I whistle it.

There's no way a "tap" displaces the shooter. It's not a push, not a slap, not a hold. He tapped him. I'm picturing a tap like tapping somebody on the shoulder to get their attention. That tap might displace a 3 pound basketball, but it absolutely does not displace a 100+ pound teenager. It just doesn't.

It's not like the tap on the elbow. The tap on the elbow actually changes the shooting motion. A tap on the leg doesn't change anything, and doesn't inhibit the normal offensive movement of the player.

I got #2. Thats just like a jab in the stomach during a shot. He wont do it next year!!!!