Fans at Sal’s NBL games and viewers on Sky Sport will see something new this season with Player Timeouts set to feature for the first time in men’s basketball.
Introduced with success in last year’s inaugural G.J. Gardner Homes Tauihi season, the coming Sal’s NBL season will be the first time the New Zealand’s men’s league get to experience the innovation.
Thought to be a world first, the unique timeouts take place on the court and only include the players on the court at the time, meaning no coach involvement.
Last year’s Tauihi competition saw teams progressively get used to when and where to use the timeouts, which led to clever strategy and in some cases game-winning plays.
Each team will be permitted one Player Timeout per half, which can only be called by the player in possession of the ball.
The player with the ball calling the timeout can be in possession on the court (in-play) or in possession while attempting to pass the ball in from a sideline or baseline.
A Player Timeout runs for 30 seconds and only involves the players on the court, meaning the two teams come together on the court (separately) and conduct their timeout. At no time can the players approach the bench or interact with coaches, nor can any of the players or coaches on the bench interact with the players on the court.
Teams cannot make a substitution during a Player Timeout.
Upon the re-start after a Player Timeout, the team in possession advances the ball to the front court in-bound point and has 14-seconds on the clock, unless there was less than 14-seconds remaining on the shot clock when they called the timeout and, if so, the game will re-start with that amount of time left to run on the shot clock.
If the timeout was called by a player passing in from the baseline under their own basket, they will return to the same spot to re-start the game after the timeout.
So get ready to see a new level of strategy in the Sal’s NBL this season and the players calling the shots!
