When is it a charging foul, and when is it a blocking foul?
If the defender is set and offensive player runs into him/her charging. If defender is not stationary than blocking.
Thanks!
To be more specific, a defending player can be moving backwards retreating, and still be charged on. In practise, though, it’s pretty much only called when the feet are set.
Note also that, according to NBA rules, nobody can be called for charging directly underneath the basket (in the area marked by a half-circle). According to actual NBA practice, any significant contact in that area is a blocking foul, even if the defender is set.
Additionally, while not in the rules, the general practice is that charging is only called if the contact is directly into the chest of the defender. Jumping into the stationary shoulder of a defender is usually not called or called as blocking on the defender.
And of course, that’s before getting into the actual NBA practice of, before deciding whether something is a foul, comparing the relative size of endorsement contracts for the two players involved, and tipping the scale heavily based on that.
Doesn’t the practice actually match the rule in this case? if you can’t charge inside the circle then any contact would be a blocking foul.
The OP forgot to add the third option: neither: “no harm, no foul”. I see happening most of the time.
The same applies in college - unless (a) the offensive player isn’t the one with the ball (and didn’t just pass or shoot), (b) the offensive player shoves/trips/kicks the defender, or (c) the offensive player stops and then restarts movement within the arc. The intent of the rule is to prevent defenders from “camping out” underneath the basket in hopes of drawing a charge by a player trying for a layup.
Note that this is not the rule in high school (or younger), at least not yet - a stationary defender underneath the basket is still granted protection under the rules, and in HS, if you shoot and then make contact before touching the floor again and a charge is called, any basket you make doesn’t count.
You could still commit a offensive foul by sticking your knee out, or stiff-arming, or hooking the defensive player, or something like that. The charge/block decision is only part of the equation, in theory – in theory you’re still making the same decision about every other kind of contact that you’d make outside the restricted area.
For the record, Tom, it’s my opinion that at higher levels of basketball, the answer to your question is that it’s almost never really a charge. Players are just too athletic these days to be unable to miss a stationary target while attacking the basket, unless they’re so poor at ball and body control that they aren’t really in command of where they are on the court. You’ll see legitimate charges where the defender is totally set and the ballhandler plows into him at the high school level, for sure, but in my opinion 90% or more of the charges you see called in D1 or pro games are blocking fouls by the letter of the law. The defender is never really in an established position before the offensive player gets there, so it’s usually either the case that the defense is sliding in causing the contact, or there’s no significant contact and the defender flops to the ground to simulate contact.