<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Geneva">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by DrC. on 03-03-2000 12:52 PM
2) A player can be in the paint for 2 seconds, get the ball, make a move to the basket and shoot. That second portion can be up to 3 seconds.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Actually, that second portion can be as long as the player likes... As long as the player is making a move towards the basket he can take 4, 5, or 10 seconds to do it. The count is "suspended" while the player is making a move towards the basket. If the player passes the ball out, or does several head fakes, etc. then you should call a violation.

I like that, Brad. Too many guys don't realize that if the player has the ball and is pivoting to get off a shot, you don't have 3-seconds. More often than not, in that situation, you'll see the ref call a violation. It seldom happens that a player takes more than a few seconds to work for that shot, but we gotta let him "do his thing" without hitting the whistle too quickly. If he kicks it out, like you said, because everyone has collapsed on him and left an open jumper outside, then you get the violation. But not before that.