Basketball Referee

Basketball Referee

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

SubscribeGet emails when new questions are answered. Ask Me Anything!Show Bio +

Share:

Ask me anything!

Submit Your Question

651 Questions

Share:

Last Answer on September 20, 2019

Best Rated

Can I lift the pivot foot as I jump of nonpivot foot to shoot and during the motion my pivot foot actually goes past/infront of the nonpivot foot-before touching the floor?

http://youtu.be/MNRXBJOWpQk?t=5m41s
and
http://youtu.be/7WvtjP1TQw4?t=27s

Asked by Blaze over 12 years ago

The direction of the pivot foot vis a vis the nonpivot makes no difference as you can pivot 360 degrees on your pivot.  If your right foot is the pivot you can step with your left and then jump picking up your right foot off the floor and it is legal.  I think of it this way -  if you were not allowed to ever lift your pivot foot how could you shoot a layup?  Direction does not matter, you can make this move as a fadeaway and it is still not travelling (but your coach might bench you!).

When two players are scrambling for a loose ball can one player "screen" the other from trying to reach it and therefore letting it go out of bounds?

Asked by Josh about 13 years ago

You are allowed to screen or block out if you get to a space before your opponent leaves his feet to get to that spot.  It is no different than blocking out on a rebound.

On an inbound play when a ball is deflected back into the inbounder does the defense gain possession? I was under the impression (until tonight) that the player was not "live" until they entered the court after the pass.

Asked by Mike over 12 years ago

The inbounder is considered a player (not a sub or a bench personnel).  If the ball has achieved inbound status (in your case when the ball is touched or deflected by an inbounds player) and then the inbounder-player who status is still out of bounds, the ball is awarded to the opposite team of the inbounder, assuming the ball hit the inbounder first (before hitting the floor, bleechers, out of bounds referees, spectators).

There is no definition in the NFHS rule book of a live or dead player.  There is live/dead ball definition, but not player.  Team members are defined as players, substitutes or bench personnel.

) When a player returns from out of bounds - to touch a loose ball - does he need to have touched back inbounds with both feet - or is one enough to establish himself ? Thanks for your time Alex

Asked by Alex almost 13 years ago

The rule book states that a player is out of bounds if any part of his body is touching out of bounds or touching a player who is out of bounds.  It also states that an airborne player has the geographical position of where he jumped from (until he lands).  So the player does not by rule have to have two feet in bounds, just one as long as the other is in the air and not out of bounds.

What is a typical NBA ref salary and what is the difference between the three refs and what they do?

Asked by Alias over 12 years ago

According to theriches.com beginning NBA referees make $150,000 and senior officials make up to $550,000.  In every game, one official is designated as the "referee" and the others are "officials".  In NFHS, the referee has certain additional duties such as picking who will toss jump balls, giving pre-game instructions etc..  But the "referee" is not supposed to overrule the other two officials.  I suspect that in the NBA, senior officials might have additional duties such as travel arrangements, meetings, training, rule advisories, etc.

To follow up, "never award...doesn't matter if team is in bonus", well yea, of course...so is the ONLY player control violation when affected team gets possession A CHARGE, with no free throws even if in bonus???

Asked by MM over 12 years ago

Other than technical fouls, there are no free throws awarded when a team with possession of the ball commits a foul. 

If it is in the possession of the player committing the foul, then it is a player control foul (NO free throws).  If a player's team has possession and a foul is committed by a player on that team without the ball it is a team control foul (and again, NO free throws). 

A team or player control foul is never awarded free throws, and it makes no difference if the team is in bonus.  

Also, you might be asking if a charge is the only player control foul possible?  The answer is no.  A player with the ball might push, trip, hold, etc a defensive player and an offensive player without the ball might set an illegal screen, push, hold, etc in addition to charging. All of this is relative to NFHS rules.

Yea...I am just trying to find out what OTHER PLAYER CONTROL examples are there where the team fouled just gets the ball out of bounds...no free throws if in bonus...I assume an OFFENSIVE CHARGE is one such example(maybe that is wrong), what are some

Asked by MarkM over 12 years ago

OK. Got it.  A player with the ball could push, hold, slap, trip, and charge for player control fouls.  A team mate of the player with the ball could do the same plus illegal screens.  All of these are control fouls with no free throws.