Fumbling the ball

Question
A player is dribbling the ball and begins to fumble it.  On one hand you have said that a player may fumble the ball and then regain control and continue to dribble.  Is this a judgment call?  How long or how far can a player go "fumbling" the ball before it is a violation?  I figure there has to be some limiting factor or else a player could "fumble" his way all the way down court.   Thank you

Answer
Gary,

First of all, in order for there to be a traveling violation, a player must be "in control" of the ball. If a player is fumbling the ball, they don't have control. This really isn't a judgement call. A player is either in control or not and most of the time its pretty evident to the officials which one it is.

If a player is fumbling the ball all the way down the court, then they really aren't fumbling it, they are in control and dribbling it. There is no limit as to how long a player can fumble the ball.

Hope that helps.