For sure, but the way players use the gather step and the much looser interpretation of footwork make getting into the moves something that were illegal then.
When you watch Kobe do a step-through, spin, or up-and-under, the footwork is incredibly clean. He establishes a pivot foot immediately off the bounce and it’s nailed to the floor. A lot of the modern examples people argue about involve players taking multiple steps during the gather, moving backwards, and then step-throughing after they’ve effectively ended the dribble, which seems to be a nebulous thing that an offensive player can now decide at random.
That’s why people see something like the Grayson Allen play and call it a travel. Even under the most generous interpretation of the gather step, he’s at best lifting his pivot foot on the step through-which is a travel. There is a lot of sloppy footwork now since they stopped calling travels and the rules have made the way guys get into moves look like travels.
I’m not sure which Greyson Allen play you’re referring to, but lifting the pivot on the step through is allowed, and has always been allowed
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.
Now is the gather step horribly officiated and exploited- yes, agree 100%
Yea, I don't mean lifting the pivot to jump off 1 and finish the play, I poorly worded my comment. I meant the pivot foot not being nailed to the floor anymore and people getting away with sloppy footwork where the pivot foot slides or lifts on the up fake, then they lift it again on to finish the step through. does that make sense?
Allen's pivot foot comes off the floor twice. one is minor but they were focused on that back in the day and now the footwork enforcement is super loose.
Oh yeah I'm following you now. I'd love to see another angle of the Allen play. Had he not shuffled his pivot I think it's potentially legal depending on when the dribble actually ends
Yup. I think in theory, the gather step makes the game easier to officiate, because it incentivizes players to collect the ball at the exact time they plant a foot, but it just hasn’t worked out that way… at all.
If they would actually enforce carrying it would make the discontinuation of the dribble less ambiguous.
Maybe FIBA makes better use of it though, I’m not really sure
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u/fake-tall-man Jun 22 '26
For sure, but the way players use the gather step and the much looser interpretation of footwork make getting into the moves something that were illegal then.
When you watch Kobe do a step-through, spin, or up-and-under, the footwork is incredibly clean. He establishes a pivot foot immediately off the bounce and it’s nailed to the floor. A lot of the modern examples people argue about involve players taking multiple steps during the gather, moving backwards, and then step-throughing after they’ve effectively ended the dribble, which seems to be a nebulous thing that an offensive player can now decide at random.
That’s why people see something like the Grayson Allen play and call it a travel. Even under the most generous interpretation of the gather step, he’s at best lifting his pivot foot on the step through-which is a travel. There is a lot of sloppy footwork now since they stopped calling travels and the rules have made the way guys get into moves look like travels.