Please help clarify - 'half step' rule
 

Hi, this seemed like a knowledgable forum as far as basketball goes, so hopefully someone can clarify what is the 'legal' European half-step rule. I have been unable to find a clear rule, but have seen it several times on TV and it always looks like a borderlie legal move/travel.

Thanks!

What rule set are we talking about? Where have you seen this move?

Sorry, I've never heard about a "European half-step". The traveling rule for FIBA is just the same as in NFHS and NCAA, AFAIK.

Ciao

Hi scw. Welcome to the forum.

The reason that you haven't been able to find a clear rule on a "half-step" is that there is no such rule. Traveling violations are not based on "two steps" or "a step and a half", as so many fans believe.

Traveling occurs (with a couple exceptions) when a player's pivot foot is raised from the floor and then returned to the floor without releasing the ball.

That's it. There's no magic number of steps or anything like that. If I'm holding the ball and I lift my pivot foot, then I must shoot or pass the ball (or be granted time-out) before that pivot foot returns to the floor.

So when you're watching those "half-step" moves, ignore the steps and find the pivot foot. Once you find the pivot foot, it's very easy to determine if a move is legal or not.

If you need to know how to identify the pivot foot, just ask.

Scrapper1, why then when the pivot is picked up and put down again do you think we don't call it?
I do, however, I only call HS level. College and NBA allow this. Why do you think this is allowed?

NCAA answer: Sometimes it gets missed. There is a philosophy that you only call it if your're sure (that is, it's better to miss a travel then it is to call one that isn't).

It (calling the travel) has been emphasized in the pre-season and in-seson videos over the past several years.

I'm going to echo Bob Jenkins. It gets missed. As I just said in another thread, traveling can be a very difficult call because of the speed of the play. Sometimes, it's nearly impossible to tell when the dribble ended AND which foot (if any) was on the ground when that happened.

I'm glad you call it and have some confidence about it. We're all striving to get it right as often as humanly possible, regardless of which game we're working. (That's probably overly optimistic. MOST of us are striving. . .)

It's not allowed. It's just not the top priority. That's especially true in the NBA. But as Bob mentioned, even in college, they don't want you to be travel-happy. If it's there and you know it, grab it. But don't call the borderline travel on a fast play where the feet hit so closely that it's not 100% clear which was the pivot.

High school officials miss travels too. Actually I see more travels by high school officials that are not there than any other level. That is because high school officials tend to call what looks funny rather than what is actually a violation. I see all the time legal jump stops called as travels. Or I have seen ball handlers fall to the floor without control of the ball be called for a travel as well. Those are probably the most common types of calls I see missed by high school officials.

Peace

Thanks guys. Between your responses and what I got from other sites regarding the rules, I think I got it. Basically it comes down to when you're executing a jump stop and when you're picking up your dribble if I understand it correctly. Thanks a lot :)

An NBA jump stop may contain several "half steps" without a whistle. The same applies to an NBA jump start.

When In Rome, Or In Spain ...
 

In 2001, my daughter's U15 AAU team participated in the Eurobaskeight International Basketball Tournament, in Lloret De Mar, Spain, involving teams from fourteen countries. I went along as a parent chaperon.

As I watched her six games, I was wearing three hats, that of a high school varsity official, that of a middle school basketball coach, and that of a team supporter, in other words, I wasn't observing the game entirely as an official, as I would today.

I don't know a thing about FIBA rules, but I did notice one thing right away in the first game, that carried over into the last five games, with many different officials: Traveling was called differently depending on where the offensive player was, and where she was going with the ball. If an offensive player was simply dribbling around the perimeter, perhaps using screens, traveling was called early and often, very strictly, no gray areas, and in many cases I disagreed with the call. On the other hand, when the offensive player was making a move to the basket that ended in a shot, it seemed like there was a lot of leeway given to the ball handler, it almost seemed that they were allowed a little extra before traveling was called, and again, I disagreed with some of the calls.

I know that a lot of Forum members will tell me that the travel rule is the same for FIBA as it is for NFHS, but I swear, the above mentioned situations occurred over and over again. Maybe it's not a matter of the written rule, maybe it a matter of local interpretations.

They called traveling on a player who was dribbling? :confused:

I have to disagree that it "just gets missed." "Missing" 3 or 4 in a game is one thing. But I can count at least 20 in any NCAA game I watch. Drives to the paint and low post moves are the worst. And while it maybe emphasized on videos, it's NOT being called in games.

So it's not getting called when it should be; and it's not just accidentally missing them. So what are you saying? :confused:

Can't Travel When Dribbling ...
 

Good pickup. Thanks.

I meant the player was called for traveling when she started her dribble, finished her dribble, or was pivoting. If she were out on the perimeter, she was more than likely to be called for traveling, even on a close play. If she were driving to the basket, starting her drive with a dribble, or finishing her drive by picking up the ball to shoot, she often wasn't called for a travel, like she was allowed a little extra. I even asked my daughter's' coach if he was aware of a rule difference in traveling from NFHS to FIBA. Like most coaches, he didn't even have a clue about written rules.

Even though I was there as a team supporter, I don't believe that I was biased, because I noticed it when either my daughter's team was on offense, or one of the other teams was on offense.

I know that I sound like a fanboy here, but please believe me. The European view of the travel rule appeared to be very different from my NFHS view of the travel rule.