Does Palming Bother You?

[Ilikesports17]

I'm for it.  If always felt that if your hand dips all the way to the underside of the ball, then you have to call a carry, or if you trap it against your body, or if you come out so wide from your body that you kind of lose control.  Other than that, if you just cradle it to the side while hesitating, like Isaiah is a master of, I'm cool.

Side note:

One of the things I've always loved about Rondo is that he is a very pure dribbler.  He almost always keeps the ball low with his hands on top of the ball.

Eh, Rondo palms the ball all of the time, though not in quite the same way as Isaiah.

I won't go as far as to say he never does it, but compared to other top NBA ball handlers it's infrequent with Rondo.  When he's making moves, he generally keeps a low, tight dribble.

If you did a "pure dribble" ranking of top point guards, Rondo would be at or near the top of the "purity" rankings.

Nice photos.  He sure does have big hands.

It should go without saying, though, that a couple of still photos aren't the best evidence to prove or disprove carrying frequency.

I knew a guy who claimed he worked out with Rondo a decent amount (played D-1 basketball and lived in Boston at the time and now plays in the D-league so I didnt really have a reason not to believe him) and he said rondo's hands were so big and strong that he was able to palm the ball without turning his hand to the side of the ball which made him lethal as a ball handler because he could do those hesitation and unstoppable crossovers without appearing to palm the ball.

[droopdog7]

Great topic.  Yes, sometime between the 80's and the 90's (AI?) the way people dribbled the ball changed.  Look at any old game on youtube, even in the mid 80's, and you'll see that the ball was dribbled straight up and down without palming the ball.  If I had it my way, it wouldn't be part of the game as it is now.  But I understand that there is no going back.

In terms of palming the ball though, IT isn't the biggest violator on the team.  Anyone seen how Rozier dribbles the ball?  Dude pretty much picks up the ball on every dribble.  It's actually pretty annoying to me but if the refs aren't calling oh well.

[nickagneta]

Yes and so does traveling, ala Lebron James and others

[biggs]

Op- carrying and palming are two different things. Pretty sure little kids can't palm it with their little hands. I do have a problem with carrying the ball, but guys with huge hands..it's just too tempting to not palm it now and then. (As long as it's not blatant). 

[2short]

Palming, carrying and traveling are some of things that have made nba not that much fun to watch.  I feel it started with Jordan as did the star treatment on calls or lack of

[BlastFromThePast]

It depends on whether "Hanna and her five sisters" are involved.   

[slamtheking]

hate the palming and the traveling.  has taken away from the game.  it's one of the knocks I have against the current version of the NBA product -- too much blatant violation of the rules where the product and players are really inferior to players just 25 years ago.

[Redz]

Yes

[tarheelsxxiii]

I'm fine with it, but prefer my men a little more handsy than most.

[timpiker]

Hell yes it bothers me.  FU Michael Jordan

[Big333223]

I'm curprised Kyie Irving's name hasn't come up yet. He was the first guy I thought of when I saw the word palming.

I don't like it but I'm ok with the trade-off of getting to watch guys like Irving and Crawford (and Thomas) work defenders on the perimeter. I think that's entertaining. What really bothers me, like others have mentioned, is the traveling that just lets less skilled players off the hook with providing any kind of positive in return.

[GratefulCs]

I'm curprised Kyie Irving's name hasn't come up yet. He was the first guy I thought of when I saw the word palming.

I don't like it but I'm ok with the trade-off of getting to watch guys like Irving and Crawford (and Thomas) work defenders on the perimeter. I think that's entertaining. What really bothers me, like others have mentioned, is the traveling that just lets less skilled players off the hook with providing any kind of positive in return.

irving palms like there's no tomorrow (IT too, but he's our guy dangit)

[Chris22]

Palming does not bother me.
But Lebron taking seven steps with one dribble does.

[Monkhouse]

I'm curprised Kyie Irving's name hasn't come up yet. He was the first guy I thought of when I saw the word palming.

I don't like it but I'm ok with the trade-off of getting to watch guys like Irving and Crawford (and Thomas) work defenders on the perimeter. I think that's entertaining. What really bothers me, like others have mentioned, is the traveling that just lets less skilled players off the hook with providing any kind of positive in return.

I think the only reason for the rule right now is so that there is something already on the books if the league decides it needs to start enforcing it. They are ok with how it is being used right now, and honestly it would impossible to call a consistent line between carries vs. almost carries given how many times per game and how quickly they occur.

I'm not sure it'd be that hard.  Anytime a guy does what IT does literally dozens of times in the highlight video I included in the original post -- lean back and entirely stop the dribble motion for a half-second or so before re-engaging in a particular direction after the defender shifted his balance -- you call it.

Monkhouse makes a good point that what it really comes down to is how fluid and confident players are when making moves.  Rookies often get called for things because they are hesitant or overly mechanical in executing dribble moves and footwork.  The quicker you do it, and the more you integrate it into your game, the harder it is for refs to call you out on it.

It's not hard at all to call obvious and egregious violations. The problem is that when you start being more strict about the rule, the borderline calls will become emphasized. There has to be a line somewhere and it's easier right now to have a really loose rule with a wide berth for enforcement.

It would be almost impossible to actually catch a lot of carries that are close to not being carries. Or refrain from calling palming violations that look close in real time. That's what I'm saying. The rule right now is easy to enforce because they don't really enforce it. Any time they do, the player really has no complaint.

You can palm the ball a lot less than IT does and have it still technically be a violation. But would you want to make that call when maybe 10% of the dribbles in a game could be borderline? How many dribbles are there in an average game?

Agreed. But then again, its better they don't call tick tacky fouls unless its pretty obvious. Players like IT, Kyrie, Steph, and other great ball handlers semi palm the ball for hesitation moves, and I see nothing wrong with that.

Yeah, it has lol.

Kyrie Irving and Steph/IT were the first 3 players to come to mind when palming the ball. Crawford is also another perfect example, but I never really liked Crawford's game, so eh, meant to exclude him lol.

Palming does not bother me.
But Lebron taking seven steps with one dribble does.

Well... 

[TheSundanceKid]

If they clamp down on any rule it needs to be the travelling rule first. That one is far more ridiculously flaunted