. . .revisionists who "remember" when they called traveling. I've been watching the pros since "The NBA on CBS" on Sundays in the late 60's.
The NBA has not called traveling since i've been a fan UNLESS the extra step creates an advantage over the defender. A guy taking an extra step on a breakaway dunk is not creating an advantage and they have not called it traveling since i knew enough about basketball to know the difference. (Figure 6th grade, and i'm 61.)
Even the great Jerry West and his partner Gail Goodrich used to do a slide with the second foot to get both feet squarely under them before lifting for a jumper. So did Havlicek. And my hero Pete Maravich traveled about 6 times a game, but again, they only called it if it caused the defender to be at a disadvantage.
Now, they call obvious stuff like the one earlier this year where LeBron had the brain cramp and just started walking up the court with the ball. I think he was surveying the floor and forgot he had the ball or something. That didn't cause any advantage as nobody was within 15 feet of him, but you can't just take 3 steps forward without dribbling because you forgot, so the refs just had to call that. But, that's a rare circumstance. Guys like LeBron don't make mistakes like that very often, and neither do the other guys in the NBA, even those nowhere close to as good.
The Euro Step clearly creates that advantage, because the defender is completely guessing as to where the ball handler is headed. The guy could easily be moving right then pick up the dribble, step back to the left, and as fast as those guys are, the defender has little chance to do anything but foul.
They should call it traveling, not give it cute nickname.
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