Dribbling situations

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by jdmara

I have been struggling with a few situations lately and need some input. I have my opinion of the correct ruling but I'm interested what you all think.

Sit 1: A1 is dribbling down the court pushing the tempo of the game, he looks up to view the layout of the players up-court and looses track of the ball. The ball bounces over his head, returns to the floor untouched, bounces again, and A1 then continues his dribble.

Sit 2: A1 passes to A2 on the wing. A2 dribbles towards the top of the key and attempted to grab the ball to end his dribble. A2, however, does not get a good grip and drops the ball. The ball hits the ground and A2 slaps the ball to the ground to gather the ball and catches it after it hits the floor.

Thanks

-Josh

Josh:

Sit. 1: Legal.


Sit. 2:

First, base upon your description of the play, I a, going to assume that Aw ended his dribble by touching the ball with both ends and then fumbled or muffed the ball. At this point, there is team control by Team A but not player control by any player on Team A. A2 can recover the ball, but cannot dribble the ball if no other player touches the ball before A2 regains player control of the ball.

Second, based upon your description of the play I would not rule an illegal dribble by A2. Why? A player must have established player control before said player can start to dribble the ball. One way, for a player who does not have control of the ball, to establish player control of the ball is to catch the ball. Your own description states the A2 slapped the ball in an effort to catch the ball; that should tell you that A2 did not have control of the ball and his slapping of the ball was not the start of a new dribble but an effort to recover the ball.

MTD, Sr.

[Nevadaref]

I agree with MTD.

[jdmara]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

Josh:

Sit. 1: Legal.


Sit. 2:

First, base upon your description of the play, I a, going to assume that Aw ended his dribble by touching the ball with both ends and then fumbled or muffed the ball. At this point, there is team control by Team A but not player control by any player on Team A. A2 can recover the ball, but cannot dribble the ball if no other player touches the ball before A2 regains player control of the ball.

Second, based upon your description of the play I would not rule an illegal dribble by A2. Why? A player must have established player control before said player can start to dribble the ball. One way, for a player who does not have control of the ball, to establish player control of the ball is to catch the ball. Your own description states the A2 slapped the ball in an effort to catch the ball; that should tell you that A2 did not have control of the ball and his slapping of the ball was not the start of a new dribble but an effort to recover the ball.

MTD, Sr.

Exactly my opinion of the rulings. You couldn't have said it better.

Sit 1 I've called (or have not called) this several times this season and the coaches are always going ballistic at my explanation.

Sit 2 is something that has happened multiple times this past week. I haven't called this an illegal dribble but my partner(s) believe it is.

-Josh

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

Second, based upon your description of the play I would not rule an illegal dribble by A2. Why? A player must have established player control before said player can start to dribble the ball.

Mark, I agree with your conclusion, but I disagree with this portion. A player does not need to hold the ball before he can start dribbling. Imagine this scenario where, instead of grabbing it after he slaps it, he keeps slapping it towards the floor. That's a dribble, but he never held it (this happens all the time.)

So, the question is, at what point do you consider a player to have established control by dribbling even though he never held the ball?

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

So, the question is, at what point do you consider a player to have established control by dribbling even though he never held the ball?

Judgment.

[Adam]

I knew I should have trademarked that.

[BktBallRef]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

Mark, I agree with your conclusion, but I disagree with this portion. A player does not need to hold the ball before he can start dribbling. Imagine this scenario where, instead of grabbing it after he slaps it, he keeps slapping it towards the floor. That's a dribble, but he never held it (this happens all the time.)

So, the question is, at what point do you consider a player to have established control by dribbling even though he never held the ball?

That's where you have to decide when control is gained. Usually, I'm not going to call one bat a dribble.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

Mark, I agree with your conclusion, but I disagree with this portion. A player does not need to hold the ball before he can start dribbling. Imagine this scenario where, instead of grabbing it after he slaps it, he keeps slapping it towards the floor. That's a dribble, but he never held it (this happens all the time.)

So, the question is, at what point do you consider a player to have established control by dribbling even though he never held the ball?

Snaqs:

One obvious situation is when the player's hands are so big the basketball looks like a tennis ball in his hands, . But I understand, what you are saying. I am speaking in general terms. The situations about which you are attempting to describe are the HTBT type and that is why we are paid the big bucks ($'s) to make those decisions.

MTD, Sr.


P.S. What Tony just said before me.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

Snaqs:

One obvious situation is when the player's hands are so big the basketball looks like a tennis ball in his hands, . But I understand, what you are saying. I am speaking in general terms. The situations about which you are attempting to describe are the HTBT type and that is why we are paid the big bucks ($'s) to make those decisions.

MTD, Sr.


P.S. What Tony just said before me.

Yeah, I agree with Bob.