Have Ball, Will Travel: Dwyane Wade (II)

Carrying:
"A player who is dribbling may not put ANY PART of his hand under the ball and
(1) carry it from one point to another or (2) bring it to a pause and then continue to dribble again."

There is nothing in there about center of the palm axis or whatever...

no travel, no palming. stops dribbling in mid air, then takes two steps. you can take all the steps you want while still dribbling. the only reason it looks weird is you suck so much that your sorry brain can't keep up, so all you can do is complain about "travel".

no palming. hand stays on top of the ball. if you knew how to dribble, you would know it's harder to do that move while palming.

NOT a carry. The axis between the center of his palm and the center of the ball never dips into negative degrees.

Palm. Are you absolutely certain? I'm not. You can do all sorts of things with the momentum of the ball without "PALMING" it.

I require some clarification...

What has been labelled as his 'first step' is what has been deemed in earlier posts on here as the 'collection'. The 'hop' Wade does on the same foot should be deemed his 'first step', which brings me to my question...

Is a players first step allowed to be a hop?? I know that the wording of the rule as you have posted it says that “An offensive player with the ball may not hop consecutively on the same foot upon ending his dribble.”, but this mean that a players two steps after picking up the dribble may not be on the same foot?? Or that the 'first step' after picking up the dribble may not be on the same foot as the step made while picking up the dribble??

If it is the former, then this is not a travel.

I agree wit hsome of the comments. I dont think Wade "gathers" the ball until the second step. I was very close although and I think he travels often quite honestly.

To everyone debating the exact timing of Wade's collect: it's somewhat irrelevant. Look again at the rhetoric of the rule:

"An offensive player with the ball may not hop consecutively on the same foot upon ending his dribble."

Even if Wade is collecting/gathering at the time of what is marked in this video as the second step, he's still hopping consecutively on the same foot upon ending his dribble. The timing of the first step isn't all that important, but the acknowledgemnt that both steps come on the same foot is.

Clearly no gather until the second hop, thus no travel. Next.

Agree with Minam.

Dwyane doesn't gather until sometime AFTER he lifts off from the first step. Look at the freeze frame of his first step, and you can clearly see that the ball is on the edge of his fingertips.

It's totally different from Andray Blatche's travel, who picked up his dribble during his first step, and then took the extra hop.

I think it might be a travel because he touches the ball with both hands just before landing the second step, which the refs could have easily missed. That's definitely not an easy call.

Actually he took two steps to the basketball which is NOT a travel!

Firstly, thanks for another great post!! Secondly, what are you people looking at!!?? He hops on one foot!! I hope your comments are sarcasm because the last time I checked you can't hop on one foot, or for that matter two feet and then take another step! Although quick players get away with more, it doesn't mean they don't travel. This was a clear travel...too funny.

...not only was it a travel...I saw two palming violations as well that weren't called!

By the NBA Rulebook, yes, this is a travel. Anyone who plays basketball knows better. The no landing on same foot rule is kind of ridiculous. I strongly believe this rule should be changed as it does not appear to serve any purpose. The referees seem to completely ignore it anyway, perhaps realizing how pointless of a rule it is.

You can keep dribbling and hop on 1 foot all day long as long as you dont pick up your dribble

He picked up his dribble on his second left step not his first step as labeled by this video. So its a good play

I can't believe some people here says it's not a travel.

It's clear as daylight, even before doing an illegal hop step as indicated in the video, he lifted the ball took two steps then dribble again, specifically a palming violation.

It's not a travelling violation. Wade clearly still has a live dribble when the video claims he has taken his first step. Once he gathers the ball he takes two legal steps. While I believe that Wade and LBJ get awway with a lot of travelling violations, this one is definitely legitimate.

This is a travel, clear cut. He also carried the ball 2x prior to the travel. If this was another player from the Bucks or Cavs it would have been called.

it depends on how you define "is"

they let it go because they could have easily called it a foul - He almost go tripped up by McGee which caused the 'hop step'.

Seems kinda obvious what transpired. But I guess you missed that part. Mavericks supporter, hmm!!

you can do better

Wow, these responses are crazy. That's as clear travelling violation as you will ever see. The gather happens with the first hop and, under no circumstances, are you allowed to land on the same foot without a travel being called. Clearly a travel.

It's not an issue of number of steps in this case. It's an issue, as Minam points out, of when the dribble ends. In the video he clearly ends his dribble by bringing the other hand to the ball on the second step (with the same foot) and then takes one more step to shoot. Correctly assessed by the official as no travel violation.

In the 2 NBA Video Rule book clips the players clearly have both hands on the ball before the hop. Establishment of the pivot foot off the dribble is all about when the dribble is terminated by gathering the ball. You and Henry should know that by now.

The funny thing is that right before the 3 steps you pointed, he made two quick ones without dribbling and held the ball irregularly. It's actually a double traveling.

"Per the rulebook the dribble ends when the ball is touched with both hands, or comes to rest in control of the dribbler."

A good rule of thumb is that, if the dribbler could make another legal dribble, then they haven't picked up yet. It's pretty clear at "First Step" that Wade could keep dribbling if he wanted to. After that, it's too close to tell for me.

Have to revert paraphrasing the Supreme Court: "I know a travel when I see it". After playing basketball for years, your body just reacts, your heart skips a beat, your head jerks back a bit when there's a travel.

This is obviously not very scientific, but I haven't figured out a technical way to write a rule so that these plays will also clearly be travels according to written rule.

Agree with the above post - I actually think the refs got it right, the hop occurred prior to the gather. But as with so many things in basketball, there are shades of grey...

dont forget about carrying the ball

have ball and did carry !

Agree with above, not a travel. He had not ended his dribble before your claimed first step, the ball barely makes it back up to his hand and his foot is already down, that is not a step. In fact he barely ends his dribble before your claimed second step.

Interesting observation Minam. Interested to hear Rob’s thoughts and a clarification on the rule. What determines “comes to rest in control of the dribbler?”

Interesting observation Minam. Interested to hear Rob's thoughts and a clarification on the rule. What determines "comes to rest in control of the dribbler?"

cuz also when you are jumping into two feet, if you did super super slow motion, there's no way they land at the exact same time, does that mean everytime some 1 does that it's a travel?

actually the last two steps, what if it was supposed to be like supposed to land together and it happens so fast instead of two steps it looks like one big step with two feet. you know?

That is absolutely not a travel. I have been following this series for a while now, and I have always agreed with the analysis. However, this time I have to protest. As Minam says, when Wade's drive is replayed in slow motion and "First Step" is cited, the ball has not yet been picked up. The ball is clearly below his hand and not being palmed. He picks up the ball after that "First Step" has been planted and both his feet are once again in the air.

I am not taking Wade's side here though. I would argue two instances of carrying during this play. Once at the beginning when he crosses over Alonzo Gee, and then again on that move he puts on JeVale McGee.

I'm not saying it's not a travel...but I have some questions:

Where's the gather? Before or after the first left step?

Also, that slight contact adds some awkwardness to the whole sequence. Did the contact cause/encourage the second left step? And if so, is that then a foul? Say Wade fell down, and the whistle blows. I know it's a hypothetical, but it ain't far off. If that's the case, why penalize him for surviving the contact and salvaging a play out of it?

I guess it's either a foul or a travel by the book, but it seems like there are situations where a ref will reset the step count based on physical contact, such as when Wade first receives the ball up near the half court line. It's like vigilante justice in basketball.

The NBA: Where travelling happens!

This rule applies after the dribble is ended i.e. after the collect. Basically during the `two steps' you can't hop on the same foot. This is because the first step establishes your pivot foot and once this is lifted it cannot be placed down again before the ball is released.

The question is when Wade's dribble ends. The way you have counted steps it is a travel (and is three steps anyway). But if you count his last two steps as the two steps following the collect then it is fine.

I disagree that it is obvious. Per the rulebook the dribble ends when the ball is touched with both hands, or comes to rest in control of the dribbler.

In the video where the text "First Step" is added, the ball is in his left hand. By the time he touches it with both hands (0:38 in video), both feet are in the air. So the labeled second step/hop is actually the first step.