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
Of course. Common sense dictates that a referee should not distract any players. But there is a large grey area. How about a referee who "talks" players out of three seconds violations, or a referee who verbally counts to 5 seconds on a throw in (proper mechanics call for a hand count, not verbal) or a referee who yells "hands off" to avoid calling a hand check. Some people say each of these acts represents inappropriate coaching - others say each one is good "preventive officiating".
In my opinion, verbally saying "foot on the line" is beyond mechanics and unnecessary.
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I played in men's leagues until about 10 years ago. Being a ref gives you a unique perspective and helps your game. But like all good things they come to an end. I am recently retired from officiaiting (and quit ballin about 10 years ago).
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If there is a violation on the first of two free throws, the first free throw is whistled dead and unsuccessful and the the second free throw will be administered. So, no the violation on the first free throw does not cancel the second.
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Yes, in the definition section of the rule book it states that "during an interrupted dribble the out bounds provision does not apply". So a player can step out of bounds and come back in and resume a dribble or pick the ball up, as long as stepping out of bounds was unintentional. In high school going out of bounds purposely is a violation, in college it is a technical, and in the NBA there is no prohibition.
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1) For most officials, the block/charge is the toughest because the action happens so quickly and to really get the call right, the official should not be looking at the dribbler (ref's would say, officiate the defense). It's natural to watch the offense, but a clear, solid call happens when the official focuses on the defense. 2) for young refs it is striking the balance between being an over the top tough guy vs getting walked on for being weak. 3) especially at the lower levels, deciding what not to call is hard to learn - my generalization is that new refs overcall violations and are reluctant to call fouls.
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If the player was pushed it should be a foul. If the player was not pushed, it is traveling when they hold the ball and any part of the body hits the floor beside the hands or feet.
Probably the right call is a late-called foul. It seems wrong to penalize the offensive player when the defender started the problem.
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I try to NOT call 3 seconds unless it changes the advantage/disadvantage of the play. If I am underneath the basket as the lead official and someone is camped out in the paint, I will try to talk him out. However, let's suppose that a player camps out for more than 3 seconds and a shot from far away goes up, and the player in the lane gets the rebound I will call a late 3 seconds violation - because his being in the lane for more than 3 seconds allowed him an unearned rebound.
In your scenario, assuming the ball is in the frontcourt for all of time the player is in the lane and that there was no shot previous to the airball, it should be called a 3 second violation - in my mind a perfect late call, because if the other team gets the rebound play on. If the guy camped out in the lane gets the ball, then whistle a turnover.
Oh one more clarification: the 3 second area is the rectangle outline from the free line to the end line. It does not include the semi-circle where a free throw shooter must stand. That is the top section of the "key" is not in the 3 seconds area.
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