NBA plans to enforce 90-second pregame rituals limit

Once again it seems the NBA is putting in place new rules to try and please the people who don’t really watch NBA games.

David Stern and the league office are going Bill Maher:

New Rule: From the time pregame introductions end, teams will have 90 seconds to return to the court and be ready for the opening tip.

This will effectively limit the pregame handshake, powder toss and other rituals that players have adopted before the line up for the opening tip.

Apparently this is an effort to speed up the game, part of an across the board effort. It smells of some television executives’ complaints in the form of a memo to the league. Of course, if the league really wanted to speed up the game one fewer television timeout per half would do it. But we know that is never going to happen, so the players putting on a show for fans must be curtailed.

My question: Why this to speed up games? There are other options. Has there been some kind of outcry of complaints about pregame player handshake rituals? I mean I spend an inordinate amount of time watching games, thinking about the NBA and attending games and this is not something I have heard as a serious concern. Or really any kind of concern whatsoever.

Kevin Durant doesn’t like it either, speaking to the Oklahoman.

“I personally don’t like it,” Durant said of the 90-second rule. “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 like it. 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. Why would you do it? I really don’t agree with it, but I don’t make the rules.”

No, television does.