# Pedantic Basketball Rules Q **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** basketball-nba\ **Created:** [May 23, 2021, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pedantic-basketball-rules-q/942753 "2021-05-23T19:52:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pedantic-basketball-rules-q/942753/21 "2021-06-03T23:00:03Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Don’t focus too much on the term “air dribble”. I think the idea was that because no one uses their head on a basketball, you could get away with a lot by doing it. Obviously not _practical_ , but _legal_ ? > 1. If a player, with the ball in his possession, raises his pivot foot off the floor, he must pass or shoot before his pivot foot returns to the floor. If he drops the ball while in the air, he may not be the first to touch the ball. So either it’s a dribble (off the floor), or he may not move (except to pivot or take 2 steps). ---
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2021, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pedantic-basketball-rules-q/942753/22 "2021-06-10T02:41:46Z")
I always thought if you dribbled the ball above the level of your shoulder in a normal stance, that was carrying… But this is lonnnng agoooooo [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pedantic-basketball-rules-q/942753.md?page=1)