Offensive Player Initiates Contact on Jump Shot

[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by tlynch

Thanks, this is what I was trying to get at.

I think that lately there have been many calls in which the shooter has been getting an unfair advantage (Kobe Bryant) and it is spilling over into rec. league games where shooters shot fake and then jumps under the defender while he is in the air, and are getting the call.

I assume you're the defender in these cases?

There could be two possibilities - first, is the defender jumping toward the offensive player? Or, are they jumping straight up or obliquely with the shooter? If the answer to the first question is yes, then the defender is more responsible for the contact, even if they jumped first.

The other possibility is you are seeing it in rec leagues, where there are probably less-experienced officials. They could be so focused on the shooter that they do not see where the defender started, or what direction they were jumping, and only see the end result of the contact with the shooter. This type of vision does often improve with experience.