Clock ticking on players, coaches

No one likes unnecessary delays and these days, time is more valuable than ever. For sports fans, waiting for play to recommence can be frustrating and the NBL is doing everything it can to speed up play and avoid unnecessary interruptions during its games.

Last season 33% of games took longer to complete than they should have, so the NBL is moving to eradicate delays with timeouts and on court huddles deemed the main culprits.

“On average we had 4 minutes and 12 seconds added to every game because of timeouts that went too long, our officials and teams need to work better together to allow a return to the court and resume play. This includes preventing unnecessary delays including huddling up on the court after time-outs,” Chief Operating Officer & Head of Basketball Operations, Vince Crivelli explained.

“This contributed to 45 games going over their respective broadcast windows which obviously impacts fans in terms of their personal time, being able to plan, and how they enjoy games.

“Where time-outs should be 60 seconds long, they were often taking 95 seconds on average which is something we identified as an issue we needed to address.”

To do that, Crivelli says the NBL will be instructing its referees to clamp down on teams delaying their return to the court out of a time out.

“We will ask the referees to direct the team back onto the court, and as per the rules of the game, if ignored they’ll be issued another time-out. If they don’t have a timeout available, the head coach will receive a technical foul,” he said.

“If players return to the court and huddle up, they’ll be issued with a “delay of game” warning. If they’ve already had a “delay of game” warning, a technical foul will be issued to the team bench. I am confident that with consistency from our officials and the support of our amazing teams we will see an improved flow of game this season”

This is one of several areas that fall under delay of game rules that the league will have a particular focus on this season.

Further information delivered to teams on specific timings and expectations for time-outs is detailed below:

At 40 seconds:
- Referee to be positioned behind each team
- Referees to advise coaching staff 20 seconds remains

At 50 seconds:
- Score bench to sound 10 second warning
- Referees blow whistles and approach huddle
- Referees request teams to finish timeout and return to floor

At 60 seconds:
- Referees blow whistles and request teams immediately return to floor
- Referee to directly address Head Coach
- Teams must return to floor immediately
- No huddles on the floor

“We are confident these changes will improve the game day experience for fans,” Crivelli said.