Ball Foul?

[wanja]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

Ok, let's apply the standard play:
A1 with the ball gets fed up with B1 being "too close" and uses the ball to shove him away. Call? I'm not arguing here. Although I lean towards allowing for a personal foul here, I'm not married to the idea.

Your example is a good one. More likely to occur and easier to determine if the action extended beyond a legitimate basketball play. My problem is getting past the definition of a personal foul that includes "illegal contact with a player".

It seems much cleaner to read contact plainly as direct player to player contact. Consider the case where a player pushes a teammate into an opponent. In that case and the case you posed, I would go with an unsporting technical. I could be convinced otherwise if there was a case or rules clarification that supported a broader definition.