Make the call

[Adam]

Originally Posted by bainsey

That would be the wise choice, of course.

However, as Cam has articulately pointed out, we don't have a rule or case that explicitly says to blow the whistle immediately upon contact, be it common or intentional (unless there's something I'm missing. Feel free to cite accordingly, if so.) Conversely, we are explicitly told to hold the whistle in certain technical foul or defensive violations.

So, in a nutshell, we're not told that we can, but we're not told that we can't, either. That's typically where these "I believe it should be" viewpoints come into play, when something isn't explicit. Perhaps the answer is to get something in writing (again, if it already isn't) one way or the other.

Seriously? The case plays and rules don't care when the whistle blows. The ball becomes dead on contact fouls when the foul occurs. Not when the whistle blows. Without a case play directly telling you to allow the ball to remain live following a personal foul, you're on very thin ice trying to pull that off.

The rule is explicit.

And two seconds without a whistle is a long time for the player who got shoved to think you missed it and decide he needs to take care of it himself.