When does travel occur?
 

This may have been discussed before but I couldn't find it by searching. A player jumps up to shoot and realizes that his shot will be blocked. He drops the ball to the floor. Has he traveled? Or does he have to touch the ball again to travel?

From Your Friendly Neighborhood Mythbusters ...
 

These situations should cover your question, and similar questions:

When an airborne player keeps control of an attempted shot that is blocked and is unable to release the ball and returns to the floor with it, that player has not traveled; it is a held ball.

If, in this situation, the shooter loses control of the ball because of the block, then this is simply a blocked shot and play continues.

If, in this situation, the defender simply touches the ball, and the airborne shooter returns to the floor holding the ball, it’s a traveling violation.

When an airborne player tries for goal, sees that the try will be blocked, purposely drops the ball, and picks up the ball after it hits the floor, that player has traveled by starting a dribble with the pivot foot off the floor.

We have an old thread on this. I'm 100% certain of that.

Others disagree, but he doesn't have to pick it up/touch it again to meet the definition of a dribble.

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly ...
 

I believe he does. Otherwise it could be interpreted as a pass, and you can legally lift your pivot foot first, and then make a pass. Maybe it's an ugly pass, but it's still a pass.

The NFHS case play is worded as Billy has written.

This is the way it's always been explained to me: once you jump, you have two choices, provided a defender does not touch the ball - pass or shoot - before you can touch/hold the ball again.

Request time-out? ;)

He did neither. He simply dropped the ball at his feet with no teammate in the vicinity.

Smart a$$ :D We use FIBA, so no lame bailouts by calling time out.

Let's change the scenario a tiny bit.

Your guy does the same thing, but instead of "dropping" the ball and re-gaining possession, he forces the ball down, aka starts a dribble.

Violation? Yup - for moving pivot foot before dribbling.

The two plays are the same.

So you're going with the travel right away. That's how I called it today in a game but then I wasn't sure if it was right.

Really, so when the ball is just bouncing around on the floor after he drops it you are saying its a travel?

I've NEVER read or heard that.

Could Be A Long Wait ???
 

Or wait for the horn to sound that ends the period?

Agreed, I'll wait for the player to touch it first before calling this travel; there's no debate then about what happened. Dropping the ball becomes a pass if another player touches it.

Bounce passes often look identical to a dribble, and sometimes the only way to tell is to wait and see what happens next. "See the whole play" applies here.