Sub after made basket late in game

[CMHCoachNRef]

Originally Posted by Coach Bill

The ball being "reasonably accessible" I assume is a judgement call. There was no wall and stands behind basket so somehow the ball got knocked about 15-20 feet away behind the basket. Is that "reasonably accessible"? Probably depends on who you ask.

If it was a middle of the game scenario, unless team B ran after the ball and ran back with it, I think the ref would have stopped the clock. So, I think it's a good call at this point in the game, too.

I know if I was team B and I was actually attempting to inbound it, I don't think it would be fair for the count to already be on three, by the time I got the ball and returned to the baseline to inbound.

This is a HTBT type of situation. If the ball had bounded far away from the court, the official can and should stop the clock. Once he does that, he is obligated to allow the substitution. If the ball has not bounded away by a good distance, the official should start the count when the inbounder gets to the ball. If the inbounder is taking a drunken-sailor path to the ball, I will likely stop the clock in this situation since I cannot reasonably start a count since the ball is not at his disposal (let's say the ball is 10 feet from him and he takes a 30 foot path to the ball).

I will allow the offense some leeway here in getting to the ball. On the other hand, taking an extra five to seven seconds to get to the ball is not something that is fair to the opponent or to the game.

Of course, this is yet one more reason why it is sooooooo important to keep your time outs near the end of the game. If team B has a time out left, they will undoubtedly use it here leaving themselves with a full eight seconds to make something good happen.