They walk all over the place and nobody calls traveling, anymore.
I guess this tells you how much I watch the game these days. None of the fans
in the stadiums seem to give a damn about it.
Rule change?
Not as far as I know. I think the official rule is that your allowed one step away from your pivot foot when you pick the ball up, then you have to pass or shoot.
As you’ve noticed, no one seems to give a damn though. Refs, fans or otherwise. I think the last time I watched a full game was back in 2007. I was, (and am), a Detroit Pistons fan but my enthusiasm waxes and wanes. I was not a fan of the AI trade.
Growing up in Australia, i played basketball, and loved it.
I’m also generally something of a sports nut, so when i arrived in the US i made an effort to watch all the major North American sports. While i’ve become a huge baseball fan and a big NFL fan, i just wasn’t able to get into basketball, and one of the reasons was all the traveling. I would find myself yelling at the screen, “Hey, i would have got called for that in high school.”
As for the rule, according to this recent story,
The story says that the NBA is considering rewriting the rule to conform with general practice, but personally i’d be more likely to watch if they kept the current rule and enforced it properly.
FWIW, they seem to be allowing more than even two steps sometimes. Ya know… depending on what your name is. 
It is about who you are. Jordan could take steps from the locker room and not get called.
Usually two. Does this actually bother anyone? I know it’s not what the rule used to be and may not be what some people are used to, but does anyone think it has a negative effect on the game?
Yes.
I never understood how players were allowed to take 2 gigantic goose steps in the lane and not get a call. I know you get 2 steps, but the goose stepping seems to violate the spirit of the traveling rule.
How so?
I do think the “jump stop” is ridiculous, and I’m not sure why anyone gets away with that.
I don’t think that people think it has a negative effect on the game in an inherent sense so much as the rule is inconsistently applied, (as mhendo pointed out). For example, taking two steps toward the basket is usually acceptable, but anywhere else on the court it’s not. (And I’m still not sure how the “one step and a hop” unofficial rule is supposed to apply to all of this, though that may be an interpretation of the two step situation.)
There’s also the whole “different rules apply to superstars” angle that plays into this. It’s a problem in just about every pro sport, but seems to be particularly bad in the NBA. I’ve often thought it was because of how prominent NBA players are in comparison to other athletes. Only MLB players come close. NFL and NHL players wear masks/helmets which cuts down on the recognition factor and no other sport comes close to the visibility of the big four. Tiger Woods is an exception of course but it’s difficult to fudge the numbers in golf.
So, again, it’s not the rule itself. (I, personally, would have no problem with it being rewritten.) It’s the inconsistent enforcement.
Because big names bring in money. “Exploding to the basket”, is usually the result of a blatant travel. I really don’t think it’s anymore complicated than that.
I agree it’s not done consistently. But then again, the OP asked about the rule in general, so he for one seems to think it’s bad overall.
Yeah, it does. There are many borderline calls in baseball that go the way of the star pitcher or hitter, but it’s worse in the NBA. I guess it’s star treatment plus the speed of the game plus the higher level of ref involvement.
I guess, for me, it’s mainly the notion that the central component of basketball should be the pass and the dribble, and that being able to make the transition to shooting in one step (or, actually, a step and a half) is a skill worth rewarding.
In objective terms, allowing two steps may be no worse than allowing one, but one was the rule, and i see no reason to change it. If two steps is OK, why not three? It seems to me that one is a reasonable amount of time to make the transition from dribbling to shooting, and anything more is unnecessary.
It also seems, at least from my own observations—and i’m willing to admit i might be wrong about this—to encourage the one-man-dunking-machine mentality that pervades modern basketball, at the expense of a good passing, cutting, and outside game.
Actually, while we’re on the subject of lax enforcement of basketball rules, another one i remember from my playing days is a prohibition, during dribbling, on pushing the ball upwards with your hand and then rolling over to bounce it. That was always called “carrying,” or simply traveling.
But the way some of the pros roll over like this while dribbling allows them to effectively carry the ball while taking three or four steps. I think the game would be better if they enforced a rule whereby your hand has to be exerting only downward pressure on the ball.
There was a word for this when I was a kid and somebody would try the double step after catching a pass : cheating. It cheapens the game. A good defender sets up in a certain stance that makes it troublesome for the dribbler to get past them while maintaining control of the ball. If the player in control of the ball can just clutch the ball with both hands and run around, they have an unfair advantage in the ongoing conflict of offense vs. defense. I refuse to watch NBA ball because of 2 things : excessive allowed travelling and the run and gun style of play.
Here’s part of the skinny from the NBA Rulebook
From Rule 10, Section XIV:
b. A player who receives the ball while he is progressing or upon completion of a dribble, may use a two-count rhythm in coming to a stop, passing or shooting the ball.
The first count occurs:
(1) As he receives the ball, if either foot is touching the floor at the time he receives it.
(2) As the foot touches the floor, or as both feet touch the floor simultaneously after he receives the ball, if both feet are off the floor when he receives it.
The second occurs:
(1) After the count of one when either foot touches the floor, or both feet touch the floor simultaneously.
As for the Jump Stop, it occurs in both college and pro ball. It is not specifically in violation of the rules, and the powers that be would have made it a clear violation in recent rule revisions if they thought it unduly corrupted the game.
It’s why I don’t give a shit about the NBA. They’ve let it become lowbrow streetball for sneaker pimps. If many of todays “superstars” actually had to not travel and be able to shoot free throws, they’d be out of a job. It’s just basketball dancing, not basketball.
I tend to agree.
This.
I’ve never followed basketball. I was at my brother’s and he had the Bulls game on, the one where they won their first three-peat. I asked about three times, “Uh, wasn’t that traveling?” then let it go.
My BiL, who referees high school games, said, “Oh yeah. They let it go all the time.”
Agreed, it cheapens the game. IIRC my bro and BiL also said that in the last couple minutes, they won’t call a foul unless it’s pretty egregious because they don’t want the game to be decided by a call. Well, WTF? They ought to allow the refs to wear their big boy underwear.
I can’t watch it.