Basketball in the Year 2000

Here are a few thoughts on what I’d like to see considered regarding the rules of the game of basketball.

Back in the 1940s Phog Allen, the coach at Kansas, advocated a 12-foot-high basket because he said the time would come when players would be much taller and the hoop would be too low. Phog was right. The time has come to try his idea.

I would like to see the rules committee raise the basket to at least 11 feet and see how it works. Try it selectively and then judge. Dr. James Naismith, the man who invented basketball, did not anticipate players who could stuff the ball without even jumping. How high would he put the rim if he were around today?

The three-point rule is good, although it didn’t serve the purpose the rules committee thought it would serve: unclogging the middle. However, 19 feet 9 inches is too close for the three-point shot. I’d like to see them move it back farther.

Abolish the dunk, or have it count as only one point. After all, if the defense is not permitted to put a hand over the basket to block a shot, why should the offense be permitted to stick his hand in the basket to make a shot? If it’s worth three points to make a basket from 19 feet 9 inches, how can it be worth the same from no distance at all, when your hand actually goes into the basket?

Also, add another three-point play when a team runs a screen and roll, give and go, then cuts in and makes a nice basket. That requires skill from several players at the same time. Make it worth three points. (I wouldn’t really want that last suggestion to be used. I am merely emphasizing the importance I place on teamwork.)

I like teamwork. The pros don’t interest me generally because of all the fancy stuff and the reduced role of real teamwork generally. The players’ individual ability is truly amazing, but it has brought about too much one-on-one and less teamwork.

The colleges? That’s a different story, but are we seeing them also move away from placing a premium on teamwork? I believe basketball is a team sport and should remain so.