I don't think the kick in rules have made any significant difference to the game - I haven't noticed any great strategy changes.
But geez, it looks terrible. It's supposed to be a formal restart of the play after the game stopped because of a score. And we get somebody just wandering off until he decides to kick it. All sports have formal restarts after scores, or if the ball goes out of play - and there are rules about how it is done, and if performed by a player, there are usually set ways it happens - think of a goal-kick in soccer, a kick-off in rugby. Even in basketball, a player has to pass the ball from behind the end-line.
Yes, it's an extremely minor thing (as I said, it hasn't changed the game much at all, and there are much more important things to worry about). But aesthetically, it's rather depressing.
But geez, it looks terrible. It's supposed to be a formal restart of the play after the game stopped because of a score. And we get somebody just wandering off until he decides to kick it. All sports have formal restarts after scores, or if the ball goes out of play - and there are rules about how it is done, and if performed by a player, there are usually set ways it happens - think of a goal-kick in soccer, a kick-off in rugby. Even in basketball, a player has to pass the ball from behind the end-line.
Yes, it's an extremely minor thing (as I said, it hasn't changed the game much at all, and there are much more important things to worry about). But aesthetically, it's rather depressing.