They'd be players at that point. For a indirect T to a Coach the player would have to be bench personnel.

At what point do team members become players prior to the ball becoming live for the opening tip. No access to any rule books at the moment, but I don't ever remember reading what the line of demarcation is.

It's not during intermission for the purposes of penalizing behavior. So the people on the court have to be players, excepting illegal substitutes.

Once the team members enter the court for the ensuing jumpball.

Clearly, all team members are bench personnel during pregame warm-ups, but we have some indicators that warmups have ended: the clock winds down, a horn sounds, the team members remove warmup garb such as shooting shirts, pants, etc., the teams usually go to their respective benches and huddle, the individuals marked as starters take the court. At this point we have ten players on the court, even though the ball has yet to become live to start the game.


PS This must be on some review exam because I’ve had two other people contact me about this same situation this Fall. I’m curious where Freddy saw the question.

Another thing is we can have violations occur prior to the actual toss as well.

Jump For My Love (The Pointer Sisters, 1984) ...
 

6-3-2: When the official is ready and until the ball is tossed, nonjumpers shall not:
a. Move onto the center restraining circle.
b. Change position around the center restraining circle.

6.3.2 SITUATION: The referee is ready to toss the ball to start the game. (a) A1 who was on the center restraining circle backs off; (b) B1 moves onto the restraining circle into an unoccupied spot; (c) B2 moves off the circle and goes behind A2 and is within 3 feet of the circle; or (d) B3 moves off the circle about 5 feet and moves around behind A3 and A4 who are occupying spaces on the circle. RULING: Legal in (a) and (d), but a violation in both (b) and (c). Moving off the restraining circle in (a), and around the circle when more than 3 feet away as in (d), is permissible. It is a violation to move onto the circle as in (b), until the ball leaves the official’s hand, or into an occupied space as in (c), until the ball is touched. The violation by B results in a throw-in for Team A. (4-3)

How does one know that the tossing official is ready?

When he sounds his or her whistle?

Might As Well Jump (Van Halen, 1983) ...
 

My specific question was a further application of a rules question that was asked on a state rules exam. This question came up in further discussion on the original question.
It's just a situation I had never confronted before and never investigated. I thought maybe it would be included in the past NFHS interpretations somewhere but it was not.

Timeout Or Intermission ???
 

Timeouts? Aren't the five team members players during a timeout while everybody is bench personnel during an intermission?

Got ahead of myself.