Free Throw admin- NBA

[Freddy]

When asked about it in October or November, an NBA official who was guest speaker at a local association meeting said it was due to the desire on the part of the NBA to crop dead time from TV broadcasts. They determined that the C administering the first FT saved time and, though only a little each time, it all added up to several minutes of time savings each game. And in the TV stratosphere of economics, those minutes are apparently quite valuable.
That's what he said.
We used to do it that way all the time.

[bucky]

So does that mean they originally went from handing the ball to the shooter to bouncing it in order to lengthen the game? LOL, that would have been a strange reason for that change.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by bucky

So does that mean they originally went from handing the ball to the shooter to bouncing it in order to lengthen the game? LOL, that would have been a strange reason for that change.

It likely takes longer to get the shooter in place. I can see if that is the reason, it could easily speed things up.

Peace

[frezer11]

Originally Posted by justacoach

My 2 resident NBA rules practitioners say it to prevent inordinate delays by shooters by having an official closeby. Also, only applies to first shot.

This isn't a delay by the shooter actually shooting it correct? More the scenario where the shooter walks around outside the 3 point line before receiving the ball?

Originally Posted by Freddy

When asked about it in October or November, an NBA official who was guest speaker at a local association meeting said it was due to the desire on the part of the NBA to crop dead time from TV broadcasts. They determined that the C administering the first FT saved time and, though only a little each time, it all added up to several minutes of time savings each game. And in the TV stratosphere of economics, those minutes are apparently quite valuable.
That's what he said.
We used to do it that way all the time.

I'm sure they did the math and the research, but wow, that seems like a lot of time!