Are these really travels? These two plays are a lot harder to officiate than we give them credit for. The travel violation is very misunderstood. So lets have at it. Even though Brewers footwork is completely unnecessary and sloppy, he did not necessarily travel. Lets ignore all the half step talk thats out there and just say you have 2 steps. Notice where Shaq starts counting Brewers steps on this video - he counts steps while the ball is still live, meaning he can still debatably dribble again. And even though it may look like a pickup or the beginning of a carry in slow motion, an official shouldnt be looking at a players steps until they have officially picked up the ball with two hands. (In some cases, the player may pick up the ball with one hand, and that makes it even more difficult for the official in real time). In Brewers case, he only took 2 full steps after his actual pickup. Once again, for deng, the focus shouldnt be on his feet. While his hand remains on top of the ball, he can stutter his feet all he wants and he still could have dribbled again. The referee didnt call a travel because the referee couldnt determine an actual pickup to start counting steps. After deng picked up the ball, he definitely didnt take more than 2 steps. Once again, a refs hardest job is pinpointing a players pick up point. The best players in the world are generally great at making that difficult for officials! Basically what is happening in the game of basketball is players are learning how to use their feet to cover more space between dribbles and learning how to float their dribble to delay their pickups and buy themselves time. This change in the game has caused more people calling travels from their couches, even analysts on segments like this. But the travel is NOT determined by steps alone; its determined by the players timing of picking up the ball. I can forgive brewer his sloppiness but he needs to be able to jump without stuttering his feet. Lets not go crazy on his travel though...because well, he may not have traveled after all. Its a judgment call. Would these guys have carried if they dribbled again? Now thats another topic!
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 18:47:12 +0000
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