Talking about reffing recently. The thing I find inconsistent.
If a 3 point shooter goes straight up and down but kicks out his leg a couple feet and the defender makes contact with that forward leg, it often is an offensive foul now. However if a player shoots a trey and lands 2 or 3 feet forward, often well within the 3 point line, and the defender makes the exact same close out and there's contact, it's a defensive foul.
Imo, in both cases the defender should be able to closeout within two feet or so of the shooter and if the offender chooses to come forward 2 or 3 feet on his shot, then he is encroaching on the legitimate defensive space. And I'd usually go with a no call. Maybe even an O-foul at times.
Players are going to learn not to kick a leg forward, but to land forward with both feet to get foul calls and 3 FT's. I'd argue it's already occurring. Not saying a shooter has to go straight up and down, but touching down 2 feet or more forward resulting in closeout contact (especially tangled feet) shouldn't be rewarded.
Fournier is pretty good at this. Watch him on 3-point closeouts frequently land with his entire sneaker inside the 3 point line. The NBA tends to be very anal in its rule interpretations. Such as giving a team a delay of game warning when a player actually speeds things up by tossing a loose ball to the ref. Or much of the way the clear path rule is nonsensical applied.
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