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
One principle is that you cannot travel between dribbles. Iverson probably travels (high school rules) when he jumps forward BEFORE he dribbles, a move Michael Jordan used as well. Iverson also, like Jordan, carries the ball (a NFHS violation) in the video several times but this seems to be allowed by the NBA.
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The NBA is different than NFHS because in high school players are supposed to wait until the ball hits the ring or backboard. In the NBA they can move on the release.
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I obviously didn't see the play, but if the defender has obtained legal guarding position (that is, he is entitled to the space he is at) and the opponent crashes his face into the defender's knee it is either a no-call or an offensive player control foul.
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While it is not ideal, a game can begin with 1 referee. It seems that it happens occasionally at the lower levels but rarely at the Varsity level because if the Varsity crew is short a ref, they will invite a ref from the pre-lim (usually sophomore) game to stay and work the game with them.
When I have had to ref myself, I find that play under the basket gets rough because the players know that you can only follow the ball. You also miss a lot of line calls.
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Suicide Hotline Manager
Has anyone killed themselves during a call?
Help Desk Technician
Does it get aggravating answering people's dumb questions all day long?
Basketball Referee
Ever get into a physical altercation with a crazed parent?
How about a common foul after a dead ball technical? Or, a 2 shot free throw sequence where there is a violation by the defense on one of the free throws which is missed and awarded a do over?
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No. After returning to the floor the player is no longer in the act of shooting. It should be a non-shooting common foul.
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If the ball is live, then any foul can be called. If the ball is dead, the only foul which can be called is a technical.
On a throw in, the ball is live (even though the clock is not running) when it is at the disposal of throw in player ... in other words when the referee hands or bounces the ball to the player. So, yes a common foul can be called before the clock runs.
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