Player Game Entry

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by just another ref

Player A1-A5 are in the game prior to a timeout. During the timeout A10 is told to enter the game but does not report. After the timeout A10 enters the game and play is allowed to resume, but both A4 and A5 mistakenly remain seated on the bench. Question: Which one is a player at this point? Answer: Neither

4-34-3: A substitute becomes a player when he/she legally enters the court.
If entry is not legal, the substitute becomes a player when the ball becomes live.
A player becomes bench personnel after his/her substitute becomes a player or
after notification of the coach following his/her disqualification.

A10 is a player. I don't know if A4, or A5, is a player. I do know that, by definition, one of them is a player, and, by definition, one of them is bench personnel. I do know that if either A4, or A5, come off the bench to score an uncontested layup, I'm blowing the play dead as was described in the original post.

In the case where either A4, or A5, curse at me from the bench, short of any input from the coach regarding the substitution, I'm probably calling both of them players and hand out the lesser penalty (no indirect to the coach).

I don't see how a coach, athletic director, or assigner, could find fault with my handling of these situations. It would be difficult for any of them to find any written fault with how I handled this.