NBA Will Allow Teams to Review and Cut Video on Bench During Games
On-the-fly adjustments in the NBA are about to receive an upgrade.
According to USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt on Thursday, the NBA has passed a rule that will allow teams "to review and cut video for immediate access, transfer video between bench personnel and the locker rooms and access data rather than have that info delivered from the video room to the bench."
Zillgitt noted the NBA previously allowed teams to cut video and deliver it to the bench—which was not the most efficient operating procedure. But thanks to the rule change, the process of delivering real-time looks at schemes will be expedited.
"This enhanced file-sharing ability will enable coaches, players, athletic trainers and medical staff to make more informed decisions in real time," NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Kiki VanDeWeghe said in a memo, per Zillgitt.
After the previous rule was instated prior to the 2012-13 season, the Portland Trail Blazers were among the first teams to use iPads on the bench as a way to make more effective in-game adjustments.
Former Blazers guard Wesley Matthews spoke about it in November 2013, per Sports Illustrated's Ben Golliver, who was writing for SB Nation's Blazers Edge at the time:
"It does [help] because you get to see it [again], and in the game everything happens so fast. You ask yourself, 'Did I rush it? I felt like I rushed it.' [The video can tell me] when I'm in that same situation -- off a flare screen, when Nic [Batum] passes over the top -- [if] I have more time to get the shot off or [if] I have to shoot it at that speed again. Or, could I have driven it?
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Unsurprisingly, VanDeWeghe said players and coaches support the league's decision.
"This is a way more efficient way of doing this," he told Zillgitt. "Instead of having somebody run it out, it’s available right there in almost real time. It’s just the next natural step. We have the technology to do it. Teams are excited about it."
