dunking in the warmups

[JRutledge]

Well another reason is because players will try this that cannot dunk. There was kid from my area that died trying to dunk but fell on his head (the incident I believe happen in an AAU game in North Carolina). Instead of warming up, they try to dunk and cannot actually dunk, so they might miss and hang on the rim. And unless you have sat around at a high school waiting to replace a rim because a player tried to dunk that couldn't, that is your answer as well.

Peace

[so cal lurker]

Originally Posted by APG

The only reasonable reason for the rule today is to protect the basket from damage...especially since no level, except for the schools in the Power 5 conferences, are going to have a standby basket ready. I saw this play out at a local AAU tournament 2 weeks ago.

Personally, I think the reason the rule remains has nothing to do with injuries or rim damage. Those player who can't dunk are trying to do it every day before practice on those very same rims (and even in the gym before the refs walk in). It is hard to damage a modern spring-loaded snap back rim -- the kids who can't dunk or can barely dunk aren't putting anyhwere near the stress that NBA and college players are when they dunk. So, my expectation is that while there may be some concern about damage or injuries (especally as it pertains to schools with older equipment), the major reason the rule is there is that it's been there and there is no one clamoring to change it.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by so cal lurker

Personally, I think the reason the rule remains has nothing to do with injuries or rim damage. Those player who can't dunk are trying to do it every day before practice on those very same rims (and even in the gym before the refs walk in). It is hard to damage a modern spring-loaded snap back rim -- the kids who can't dunk or can barely dunk aren't putting anyhwere near the stress that NBA and college players are when they dunk. So, my expectation is that while there may be some concern about damage or injuries (especally as it pertains to schools with older equipment), the major reason the rule is there is that it's been there and there is no one clamoring to change it.

All it takes is one incident. I've had a game delayed b/c players were dunking before we came out and someone knocked the basket out of off kilter.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

BNR:

Give me a break, I am 63 and started officiating basketball in 1971; I was writing from memory and without climbing up into the attic to look up the exact year, so please do not fault me for not listing the correct part of that decade.

MTD, Sr.

I'll be 51 next week, don't have an attic, and didn't start officiating until I was 37 years old. But I remember the rule changing, and when, b/c Bill Walton and David Thompson were not dunking when they were in college.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by constable

I still contend that there is no reason to ban dunking in the warm up. Ban hanging on the rim- absolutely but dunking as a whole is unnecessary.

So we should spend warm-ups scrutinizing if they hung on the rim or not?

To me it's simple, stay off the rim during warm-ups. Players who come close get my standard warning, "don't force me to make a decision."

[so cal lurker]

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

So we should spend warm-ups scrutinizing if they hung on the rim or not?

To me it's simple, stay off the rim during warm-ups. Players who come close get my standard warning, "don't force me to make a decision."

Let's make it easy . . . you can dunk pregame, but if you miss the dunk, then it's a T!

[potato]

Originally Posted by Mark Padgett

I wonder if the no dunking during warm-ups rule has anything to do with intimidation? If one team is more athletic, and perhaps taller, they could really do a job on the minds of the other team right before the game is about to start.

I remember when I was in HS (13th century), at our home games the visitors would come out first to warm up, then after a few minutes, our band would start playing the school song really loud, our team would dribble out of the locker room in a line to our side of the court with the first 4 or 5 players dunking the ball. Our fans would go crazy and it really had an intimidating effect on the other guys. I gotta say - it was incredibly exciting.

Dunking during in games instead of warm ups would prove to be more intimidating, i guess they just want to reduce the amount of finger injuries during pre-game to avoid delaying the game.