what is the official ruling

[Adam]

Originally Posted by just another ref

10-6-2: "A player shall not contact an opponent with his/her hand....."

Unlike other articles in 10-6, there is no mention of hindering the opponent's freedom of movement. Therefore, we may infer that this is not necessary for the contact to be a foul. One interpretation I have heard, (not sure where) is that the defender not be allowed the contact with the hand, no matter how slight, because this contact allows the defender to "measure" his opponent. In other words, the defender uses his sense of touch to aid his sense of sight in anticipating the movement of the offensive player.

Bottom line: You have your hand on the dribbler, you get called for a foul, you want to argue the call. You don't have a leg to stand on.

Really, you're going to call a foul every time a player contacts an opponent with his hand? That'll make for a nice short career. I know you don't do that, so....

Look at rule 4-19-1, definition of foul:

Originally Posted by Rule 4-19-1

A personal foul is a player foul which involves illegal contact with an opponent while the ball is live, which hinders an opponent from performing normal defensive and offensive movements. A personal foul also includes contact by or on an airborne shooter when the ball is dead.

Now look at rule 4-27-3

Originally Posted by rule 4-27-3

Similarly, contact which does not hinder the opponent from participating in normal defensive or offensive movements should be considered incidental.

Bottom line: without that hindrance, there is no foul, by rule. Of course, the POE in question gives one exception.