I personally love watching pregame rituals. I think it’s entertaining and you get to see a different side to the players, but apparently the NBA doesn’t care nor agree.
The NBA is taking steps to cut down on pregame handshakes and rituals that have become popular with players in recent years. Starting this season, as soon as player introductions are finished, there will be 90 seconds put on the game clock and teams will be expected to be ready for tipoff after that time.
The guideline will eliminate or severely cut down on the routines players from most teams go through before games, which often include a series of handshakes with their own teammates before greeting opponents. It would also likely legislate out individual rituals like LeBron James’ famous chalk toss, which he abandoned last season during the playoffs.
Over the years, as the elaborate handshakes and other routines have become extended — for example, Shaquille O’Neal famously created team-wide skits acted out before Phoenix Suns games three seasons ago — games have routinely taken five minutes or longer to begin after the starting lineups were announced. The NBA is attempting to speed up the start of games.
Players have been advised of the initiative during the annual meetings with referees in the preseason as part of the league’s “points of emphasis.”
“There’s a 90-second countdown, it is placed on the clock,” NBA spokesman Tim Frank said. “At 30 seconds, there’s a warning horn and alert by the refs. At the end, teams need to be ready to tip off or face a delay-of-game warning.”
Two delay of game warnings would result in a technical foul.
Players around the league are already reacting negatively to the new policy.
“I personally don’t like it,” Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant told The Oklahoman. “Every player in this league has routines they do with their teammates, rituals they do before the game and before they walk on the floor. The fans enjoy it. You see the fans mimicking the guys who do their stuff before the game. To cut that down really don’t make no sense.”
WRITTEN BY Brian Windhorst | ESPN.com & FULL STORY HERE
