Too Much Offense in the NFL

[steve B]

Originally Posted by BobC

The obvious need for a 3-second rule in the paint has more to do to create a level and more fair playing field for those playing in the vastly larger area of non-professional basketball. Of all the major sports, height in basketball is likely the most overly advantageous attribute that can exist, and has literally nothing to do with a player's actual talent or ability. People can work on quickness, jumping ability, hand-eye coordination, and so on, but you can't teach or learn height. So, for the vast number of kids playing basketball at say the junior high or high school level, you are already at a severe disadvantage if you aren't lucky enough to have a student or two that is excessively tall for their age, and that actually wants to play. Remove the 3-seconds in the paint rule and you'll end up having the lucky school/team with a super tall player just have him/her stand in front of the basket and wait for their teammate to simply toss the ball to them, and they just turn around and drop it through the hoop. The shorter opposing players aren't tall enough to stop it and that isn't a game, it is just a joke. Making the opposing team's excessively tall player have to move in and out of the paint at least gives the shorter team a fighting chance to try to defend and somehow stop or at least slow down the taller player's advantage.

Changing this most basic of rules at just the pro level would likely alienate a lot of fans that otherwise expect the game to be played at least somewhat similarly to how it was when they themselves played it. That is actually one of the true beauties of baseball. Even an average looking person of typical/normal height and weight could become a superstar ballplayer. Meanwhile, the average NBA player looks almost nothing like a normal, everyday person.

That's only true up to a point.
One year I tried out for my HS basketball team I wasn't bad at outside shooting. But awful at anything else. I'm average height. The kid who most likely put the final nail in me "im totally getting cut first" coffin was a foot shorter. But he dribbled the ball between my legs on the way to a layup....

And bonus... I went to a small college. Some guys played basketball in the parking lot at lunch. Once in a while they'd need an extra player and sked pretty much anybody including me to join just to keep things going. They were all pretty much average height but with pretty good skills.
One day I happened to be eating at the same table and they were talking about playing against the super tall foreign kif Bridgepot had.
"Wait, why were you guys playing Manute Bol?"
"We had to, we're the basketball team"
"We have a basketball team?!"
"Umm.... yeah, and you've practiced with us."

And that's how I ended up playing occasionally against guys who played against Manute Bol.

They said it was spooky, he hadn't played, and was only taught the basics by then so in the paint there was this voice from way above "1,2,3 step 1,2,3, step"