Rndballref
20 Years Experience
Chicago, IL
Male, 60
For twenty years I officiated high school, AAU and park district basketball games, retiring recently. For a few officiating is the focus of their occupation, while for most working as an umpire or basketball referee is an avocation. I started ref'ing to earn beer money during college, but it became a great way to stay connected to the best sports game in the universe. As a spinoff, I wrote a sports-thriller novel loosely based on my referee experiences titled, Advantage Disadvantage
There are 5 correctible errors in the rule book and failing to remove a player with 5 fouls is NOT one of them. The free throw stands and the ref has egg on his face for rushing and not making sure his partner was ready. But it is not correctible.
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Yes. A sub can be brought in on any dead ball when the clock is stopped. The only exception is if there is to be another free throw after this one subs are to wait until the next to last free throw before being waved in.
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Technically, you cannot ever slap an opponent's wrist or hand unless it is on the ball. But in practice, good referees would be focusing on the palyers' torsos because that is where a meaningful foul is most likely to happen.
Let's suppose that I saw the play with exact clarity. The player who slapped your hand "caused" the ball to go out of bounds, and unless the slap was forceful or flagarant, I would call the ball out (violation not foul) - last touched by your opponent and give your team the throw in.
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This is an unusual play with the foul on defensive player A being called. Normally, a second foul could is ignored as long as it is unintentional because the first foul made the ball dead. If the offensive player is on the ground and fouled, then steps into a charge the charge would be ignored.
But here is an interesting twist. What if Offensive player B is an airborne shooter fouled in the act of shooting by defender A but plows into defender B before touching the floor. The ball is not dead when an airborne shooter is fouled until they hit the floor so technically this could be called a simultaneous foul and go to the possession arrow. In practice, most officials will call the foul on defender A and ignore the subsequent player control foul (charge).
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Help Desk Technician
Do the stats actually back up the "Mac's never get viruses and crash way less than PCs" thing?
Chick-fil-A General Manager
What's the back-story behind the cow mascot and eat-mor-chikin campaign?
Birthday Party Clown
OK seriously, how DOES the clown car thing work?
A player who establishes valid court position has the air rights vertically. In practice, if an offensive player clips his knee on the defenders chest, it normally will not be called.
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No this move is not legal because even though the offensive player has the right to the vertical space once he has attained a legal position on the floor, he cannot initiate contact by slapping the opponents arm.
The defensive player can penetrate that vertical space but cannot make contact in that space. So, a defender can reach into the vertical space of the offensive player to try to steal the ball as long as there is no contact. But if the defender reaches into the vertical space and initiates contact it is a defensive foul.
But what if the offensive player initiates contact inside his legally obtained space? If for example, the offensive player jumps vertically and crashes into the defender - foul on the defender.
But what if the offensive player slaps the defender's hand? The offensive player caused the contact, and most likely it occurred outside the offensiive player's vertical space, so it is a foul on the offensive player for initiating contact.
I know that many coaches teach the dribbler to put up a bent arm as a barrier to the defender but when the dribbler initiates contact by pushing or slapping the defender it is a player control foul on the dribbler. Most often, the dribbler is NOT entitled to the space where the defender is reaching in. In my opinion, this is not called enough.
By the way, there is no defintion in the rule book of "reaching in". If reaching in was illegal, you could never steal the ball from a dribbler.
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Assuming that you have an excellent understanding of the rules and good judgement as to when to apply them, then if a coach has a disagreement and you feel it needs to be addressed:1) approach the coach. "Coach you disagree with that call. Tell me, what did you see?"2) after the coach tells you, you say "Coach, I saw that the play happened a different way. Here is what I saw … . but if the play happened the way you saw it, then I missed it."3) don't be afraid to admit that you booted a call occasionally. "Coach, in replaying the action in mind, you might be right and I may have called the wrong thing." But don't become a perpetual apologist. 4) if the coach perpetually is riding you and is never satisfied with your explanations, then you need to tell him/her that you have heard enough. their complaints are getting in the way of you doing your job. Some officials tell you to hold an open hand up after you have warned him - they call this officiating to the tape because if you end up throwing a coach out of a game, the assigner can look at the tape and corroborate your review which included a verbal and hand warning.5) have thick skin. the tough guys who are too sensitive about valid criticism never advance very far in officiating. In 20 years of high school officiating I have thrown out of games only 4 or 5 coaches.
As for parents, my best advice is to ignore them. If they shout inappropriate things (threats or derogatory remarks) have home management eject them. No good will come from trying to educate a biased fan who has little grasp of the rulebook. However, I have answered questions after a game from parents who approach respectfully.
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