PreGame Rim Grasp and Pull
 

I know dunking pre-game is an unsporting technical, and I know that during the game grabbing the rim for a reason other than to prevent injury is a technical, but what about grabbing the rim and pulling it down pre-game? (Player doesn't have ball and pulls/hangs hard enough that backboard shakes quite a while)

I quickly went through the rule book and did not find anything addressing it, but a having a brain fart and may very well be missing it.

Yes, it is illegal.

10-4-1i

i. Grasping either basket except to prevent injury; dunking or stuffing, or attempting to dunk or stuff a dead ball.

Peace

T will be served.

Thanks.

What I had seen was 10-3-3 which made me wonder if a T for the lone act of rim grabbing was limited to after the game began.

"Grasp either basket at any time during the game except to prevent injury; ..."

Gave a technical this year during warmups for this same thing. One kid shot a three, his teammate went up to grab it after it bounced off the rim but missed the ball. As he came down, he grabbed the rim and popped it. It wasn't that bad, but I couldn't really ignore it. The coach ended up sitting him the entire first half. He was not pleased with him.

When one of these type of technicals occur, how/when do you inform the team of the technical? Do you whistle it, or just inform the table and the coaches of what you have? Never seen one of these called, so I am curious.

Line them up for the jump ball, and just prior to the R tossing the ball up in the air, blow the whistle and give the T signal. Then, you ceremonially look angry.

Honest answer:
Whatever feels comfortable. Personally, I would just walk over to the coach and let him know what #25 just did, and remind him that the free throws come with a loss of the coaching box.
Inform the opposing coach as well, and remind him that he can pick any shooter he wants (even from the bench).
Remind the table that this will count towards the player's five total fouls, and will be added as a team foul as well.

When this happened in my game last week, I looked angry, but it certainly wasn't ceremonial.

If administered correctly, the coach HIMSELF ended up sitting the entire game. Until the game begins, all team members are considered bench personnel so this is assessed as an indirect technical on the head coach and he loses his coaching box privileges for the entire game

Yes, it was administered correctly. The head coach sat for the game. Wasn't my first rodeo.

Does the shooter of the free throws then have to start the game?

Actually, the shooter did start the game. If you mean does he have to remain in the game following the free throws, the answer is no.

Confucius Say ...
 

Must sit a tick, don’t have to play a tick.