I'll try and bridge the generation gap here... :)

The "thinking" behind the pat down of your star player in warmups is that you are checking him for "weapons" since he is so good...silly, I know, but there's something to be said for presentation...

If you want to play basketball, play basketball. If you want to act, take up theater.

If you have to ask, chances are officials will view it as:

1) Illegal
2) Stupid

Welcome aboard HS...
 

I agree with Trigger...

Do you want to play basketball or be a "Cheerleader"?

Where is Vince Lombardi when you need him? :)

I think your comment about a generation gap is valid :) A behavior like this, which you probably consider cool and harmless could easily be misunderstood by an official. You run the risk of getting T'd for taunting, baiting, or intimidating behavior. Were I to witness this ritual, I certainly might be uncomfortable with the notion that a team's star players need to be checked for weapons on the floor. I might think that you were intentionally sending a message to your opponents that they need to worry about more than just your outside shooting. It sounds like your coach is really just giving you the heads up that this ritual could have unforeseen and unintended consequences.

Re: Welcome aboard HS...
 

Just changed my signature line and saw the Vince reference. Don't have anything meaningful to say other than the tagline.

Mregor

Re: Welcome aboard HS...
 

I prefer to talk about Barry Sanders. He was not just great. He was one of the top 3 or 4 running backs ever. You can't possibly even argue about that.

Did you ever see him do a celebration dance in the end zone? Did you ever see him do an exaggerated "first down" signal after a 3-yard run? Did you ever even see him spike the ball after a score? No. Never.

He didn't need theatrics to promote himself. He was great. He knew it, his opponents knew it, the fans knew it. He acted with pride and grace on the field.

There's a lot of athletes today at all levels who could take a lesson from Barry.

Can I get an "Amen" from Mick? :)

well Chuck, I don't know about Mick, but you get one from me AMEN, act like you have been there before....

Also along another pet peeve of mine, the shirt thing, keep em tucked in, we have this problem in basketball and football. I saw one day on one of the pregame football shows, during warmups a coach walks by one of the rookies whose shirt is untucked...he tells him the usual have a great game bla bla bla, then finishes with hey rook tuck your shirt in look like a pro today...I wish I could find a tape of that and disseminate it to all the high schools in the nation...

Funny you should mention shirts
 

My players know that thye don't go anywhere in their uniform without wearing it properly. They go to lunch after the game and decide to keepo the uni on, it stays tucked in. When you wear it, you represent it, and we always represent well.

And if you see one of my players with their shirt untucked, tell em to fix it before I see them

One thought to add about the "pat down." You mentioned doing it after a dunk (I would presume a particularly impressive dunk.) This would probably earn a T, more so than doing it in warmups. On top of that, if you take the time to showboat after this dunk, you've now got two guys who aren't playing defense. Either the other team is good enough to take advantage of it and you're putting your team at a disadvantage, or the other team isn't at your caliber, and the ref is more likely to see it as taunting. Bottom line, your coach says not to do it. It shouldn't matter why. If it doesn't earn you a T, it could likely earn you a spot on the bench.

Hawks Coach, we need more like you.....that or velcro inside the shorts to keep em in...