Have Ball, Will Travel: Blake Griffin

its only a travel because his first step occurs when both hands are touching the ball. Since both feet are touching the ground he only has one more step. had he been able to handle the spin with just one hand on the ball and leap in the air before touching with his second hand, he would have been allowed to step after he lands. since he touched the ball with both hands in midair. the key to the hopstep is catching the ball in midair before you land. if you are touching the ball with both hands before you jump then you can only land on one foot before you shoot since your first step was when your hands touched the ball.
your video clearly shows both of blakes hands touching the ball before you lunches into the air. he has to catch the ball in midair with neither foot touching the ground.

The question here is, was it a travel? There's no sense debating other players like Wade, other players may or may not get away with it, but if Griffin travel and it's called it'll only make him a more aware and overall better player. It was a travel hands down! Let the kid play and allow criticism to be an important factor in his career.

As others have said - clearly not a `hop' violation - the hop occurs during the collect and is not during the two steps. The restriction on hopping is during the two steps and essentially says that once you have established a pivot you cannot lift it and place it back down.

If Griffin didn't take the last step off of his left foot then this would be completely legal. I do it all the time under the watchful eye of much more strict referees when it comes to travelling, as do many, many others. It is pretty much the textbook spin move.

It does annoy me that in the NBA they never seem to call the extra last step on spin moves though, e.g. Wade.

I appreciate your effort to put those videos together, but I think your definition of gathering is not in agreement with the NBA's interpretation. As Kevin and Jimbo pointed out, this is not when he first touches the ball. Instead, gathering basically occurs at the same time the player would not be allowed to continue with his dribble, i.e. when he puts both hands on the ball or allows the ball to come to rest in his hand.

Therefore what you labelled the "collect step" bears no significance at all (ball not at rest yet), and there is no hop violation. On the other hand, what is labelled "first step" is in fact when the "first count" according to the rules occur, so the third step is indeed a travel.

For some reason, travelling during spin moves happens quite frequently in the NBA but is rarely called. Though to be fair, Wade and others have made a career out of retarding (ha!) the moment of gathering...

Lebron James does the same thing constantly, especially when he passes out of a spin move.

G

great job! i love this series because it adds much credibility to me street game. not to mention it educates the rest of us to question some of these moves all-stars get away with. please keep them videos coming

Good article, although the issue here (and on many other similar no-calls), seems to be the interpretation of "collect". In your video, you use the term when Griffin stops attempting to dribble the ball, rather than when he gathers it in 2 hands (when you deem he has already taken his "first step/hop"). In between, he doesn't appear to (or at least it's very difficult to determine if he did) put his hand under the ball to control it, so has he actually "collected" it ??? I'm no rule expert, but this seems a grey area......

Spin moves hide the travel so much in the NBA. Watch highlights of D-Wade, for example, to see how many times he does that little hop on the same foot. He's not the only one! It allows the player to keep moving forward while spinning, keeping his balance and setting up for a solid plant and explosion upwards. And it's a travel.

False. It all depends on when he picks up the ball. On his first step that you label, the ball is still in the process of a "dribble".

As soon as I saw that play, I knew it was a travel. Almost every single spin move ever made in the NBA has been a travel. If the league cared about strict rules, they instruct officials to automatically call spin moves as travels, but I have a feeling the league enjoys the buzz surrounding the highlights that the spin moves lead to.

ARe you kidding? that type of spin move (usually baseline) happens every night in the NBA... as long as you do it quick enough, its not usually called.

So do you want to shit on a guy after he makes a tremendous play or do you want to say, "wow, that's a spectacular move for a 21 year old kid". Get a life.

I don't think it's as complicated as you make it seem. It's a travel because of the hop. Since when can you count a hop as a step? If he hadn't hopped off his left foot before taking his two steps it would have been legal, agree?