Raise the goal: a rare Judeopundit sports post

When I was in my early teens in the early 70's, the slam dunk replaced the accurate shot as the cool thing to do with a basketball. From then on, all schoolyard basketball goals were inevitably ruined, bent-down by inept would-be slam-dunkers. So I think the 11-foot (rather than 10-foot) high rims used in a recent exhibition game are a great idea. From the AP via Seattle P-I:

[...] Organized by former NBA assistant Tom Newell -- son of former coach and acclaimed big-man instructor Pete Newell -- the exhibition surely won't be remembered for the quality of play, but perhaps for sparking a change.

"I think this will open the professional league's eyes, where they may experiment with it, give it a serious look," said Jim Harrick, the former UCLA coach who was coaching one of the teams.

For the record, Saturday's exhibition ended with a 90-60 victory for the "gold" team. Billbe, a 6-foot-11 center who played at American University, scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed 14 rebounds.

But the goal for Newell was to examine how the game was different with the taller rims. Was there more passing and spacing? Was teamwork at more of a premium and less of a focus on individual play? Was a challenge presented to the players, all of which had some college experience, and could they adapt?

The answer seemed to be a resounding yes. [...]

Another good current article at Seattle P-I deals largely with sports and intellectual property lawsuit "madness."

Tags: sports, basketball, lawsuits