Block/Player Control/No Call

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by Scrapper1

If you can provide ANY rule support for that distinction, I will immediately drop the argument. As far as I can tell there is none. The only rule that I know of, that discusses legal position on an airborne player, is the one I've already quoted twice; and that rule says that the defender must be at the point of contact before the opponent became airborne. It makes NO distinction between laterally or backwards; or between "in the path" and "to the side".

You have, as far as I can tell, NO rule support for your position stated above; whereas I have very clear rule support for mine. I love it when that happens.

Here is what the rule says (4-23):

Guarding is the act of legally placing the body in the path of an offensive opponent.

Is there any time in this situation that the player is not in the path?

It also says (about OBTAINING position)....

If the opponent is airborne, the guard must have obtained legal position before the opponent left the floor.

Note that it doesn't say anything about a spot or at the point of contact....just about when LGP must be obtained. This is in the section about OBTAINING position. Do you agree that the player in this situation has LGP before stepping back? Did the player obtain initial LGP? Yes.

It also says (about MAINTAINING position):

After the initial legal guarding position has been obtained: The guard may move laterally or obliquely to maintain position....

I can find no place that says this rule no longer applies once a player is airborne. The only rule regarding airborne players is in regards to OBTAINING initial position.

For a player that has LGP, this rule allows a defender the freedom of movement. In particular, it allows rearward movement even when guarding an airborne player. Any other movement would imply the defender was no longer in the path of the airborne player and, as a result, the defender no longer had LGP to maintain....movement would be in order to re-obtain a LGP...which is not allowed after the opponent is airborne. (Some lateral movement could be legal as long as B1 was already in A1's path where such movement would either be insignificant or would take B1 out of A1's path).