Technical Foul Shots, Substitutions, Leaving the Court

QUESTION:  During a recent game, we watched a team receive a technical foul and the other team went to their bench to have one of the subs shoot the two shots.  Is this legal?

ANSWER:  Yes.  ANY player or sub may shoot the free throws for a technical foul.  In fact, two different players or subs could shoot, each taking one shot. 

QUESTION:  How much time is a team allowed to take to replace a player who has fouled out?  I've seen teams taking a lot of time meeting with the players on the floor before a sub is put in the game.

ANSWER:  That's a rule that has been revised this season.  After both the player and the coach have been notified that the player has fouled out, the official will instruct the timer to allow 20 seconds for the coach to make his replacement.  The timer will blow the horn after the first 5 seconds to alert ("warn") everyone that there are 15 seconds remaining to make the replacement.  A second horn will be sounded when the full 20 seconds has been used.  By that point, the replacement should have been made (give or take a few seconds, much like any normal time-out).

QUESTION:  A-1 is taken out of the game and replaced by A-6.  Team B now calls time-out to make an adjustment to this change.  The coach of team A now changes his mind and has A-1 report back to the table to sub in for A-6.  Is this legal?

ANSWER:  NO.  Once a player leaves the floor, he cannot return until the next whistle to stop play AFTER the clock has been restarted.  In other words, A-1 must stay out of the game for "at least one tick of the clock" before he can return.  HOWEVER, if the timer and the officials all miss what's happening and

A-1 manages to slip back into the game again, all bets are off.  Once he's in the game and the ball is alive again, he's a player and that's the end of it.  Play continues as normal.  So, it is important for the officials and the timer (and the opposing coach.....??) to take note of who LEAVES the game so that this won't happen.

QUESTION:  Offensive player A-3 is criss crossing with teammate A-4 under the basket on an out of bounds play.  A-3 is unable to take the route he wants to because there are too many players in the way.  So, he runs out of bounds to avoid the traffic and then re-enters the court on the other side of the key where he receives the pass and scores.  Is this legal?

ANSWER:  You probably already know the answer.  Ask yourself...."If this were legal, how come I never saw this run as a designed play in any game on TV??"  I can just imagine if this were legal.  Sooner or later we could have players running into the bleachers as part of an out of bounds play!!  So, NO, it is not legal.  "The penalty for leaving the court for "an unauthorized reason" is a VIOLATION except if, in the judgment of the officials, there was something unsportsmanlike (deceit or deception, primarily).  On this play, the referee would simply blow his whistle when A-3 first steps out of bounds to indicate the violation and would award Team B the ball out of bounds at the spot of the violation.

Do you have a question?  Have you seen a play you didn't understand?   Was there

a controversy you'd like clarified?  Send your questions in and I'll do my best to get you an answer.

                                                            Skip Yutzler

                                                         IAABO Board 127

                             36 Years High School and Junior College Official

                            5 Times NY State HS Championships - Glens Falls

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