Illegal Dribble?
 

A1 is dribbling the ball in his BC without any pressure from B. He fumbles the ball , and it is not rolling (not bouncing at all) along the floor. A1 does this thing where he slaps the ball with one hand and forces it to start bouncing again. He continues to dribble.

Do you have an illegal dribble here?

I am very new @ this, and I don't have by books with me either. I will take a shot @ it anyway and wait to be corrected. LOL.

I belive the we do have a illegal dribble here. IIRC the dribble ends when the ball stops bouncing. A dribbler may fumble, and resume the dribble on a bouncing ball, but I think that if the ball has stopped bouncing, then his dribble has ended. Please be gentle!!!

You write that A1 is dribbling, then fumbles. Did he attempt to gather the ball and fumble, or did his dribble just get away from him?

If he attempts to gather the ball and touches it with both hands, he has ended his dribble. If not, and the ball just gets away from him, he can continue dribbling. I have no problem with a player tapping a rolling ball as a way to continue dribbling.

The ball bouncing really has little to do with a dribble. The dribble ends when a player catches or causes the ball to come to rest in his hand(s), the dribbler palms/carries the ball, the dribbler simultaneously touches the ball with both hands, the ball touches or is touched by an opponent and the dribbler loses control of the ball, or the ball becomes dead.

The question here is whether during the "fumble" did the dribbler touch the ball simultaneously with both hands or allow the ball to come to rest in a hand.

His dribble got away from him. This didn't actually happen to me, it's just a situation I thought of after something close to it happened in the Bulls game last night.

In my hypothetical situation, the ball is rolling, not stopped

I knew I should have waited....
 

Thanks, JDW.
I really wished I could have read the defination before answering. Now that you have provided it, I agree that the dribble has not ended.

The nice thing about the forum is that if you do jump in with your thoughts, if they turn out to be wrong (or even just missing small pieces) someone will generally fix it for you.

Definitely get in and participate. It's a great way to learn. I'm a better official for having participated in many discussions, even before I had a good knowledge of the rules. I'm still learning pretty much every time I get on here. Sometimes it's a detail that I knew before but lost or got confused with something else, and every once in a while I learn to look at a situation in a totally new way.

Beyond the cut-and-dried rules discussions, the philosophies on game management, good positioning, crew communication, etc, are invaluable.

Thanks,
I agree that this forum is very helpful. I have had my rules book and case book for just a coulple of weeks, so I am still learning a lot here and in there. There is a lot more to think about after reading those than there is sitting in the bleachers. :)

PS. This is a fast forum as well. Very quick answers.

The important question to ask is if A1 has done anything that legally ends the dribble. An interrupted dribble may be continued so long as the player doesn't do anything that ends it (having it come to rest in his hand, or touching it with both hands at once.) Your situation is simply an interrupted dribble.

While I agree it's great to participate, participants should reference the rules and/or case books prior to doing so, imo. Not only will they learn the answer, but (a) they will likely learn something else as well, (b) it will reduce the mis-information that is presented, and (c) it will help them reference the booklater when they are looking somehting up for a partner after or before a game.

Don't disagree with anything you said. "Jump in and participate" in my mind includes getting into the books. But I wouldn't want anyone who has a legit question or opinion when they are away from their books to not jump into a discussion - as long as they present it in that way.

If I'm not 100% certain and don't have my books when on here, I always preface my comments as such.