Free Throw Pause

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by crosscountry55

I agree with this. Much like the onus is on a defensive lineman is to watch the ball rather than listening to a quarterback's snap count, so to is it the responsibility of the player in the lane space to confirm release by the free throw shooter rather than to assume it.

What does this mean to me? It means if I ever call a violation on the shooter for a fake, it better be so obvious that even my wife, who watches about two basketball games per year, could make the call.

Your analogy is not relevant. Neither the shooter (nor his team) is calling out a count that precedes the shot. It is the ball motion itself that they are watching....the same as in football. And in football, it is illegal for the center to start the motion of a snap and then stop it.

So, for basketball, where the indicator to enter the lane is the release of the ball, it should be illegal to make something look like the ball is about to be released. If the shooter has a bizarre motion that resembles the release before they actually release it, they do so at the risk it drawing a player in and being called for a violation.