Re: threes

[Kim Malo <kimmalo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 07:16 PM 1/23/2004, Douglas342@xxxxxxx wrote:
>     OK, folks, forget for a minute about whether 
> Walter/Antoine/Pierce/Kobe/whoever takes/makes too many or not 
> enough.  Forget the Celtics for the moment.  If you're King of the NBA, 
> do you abolish the three-point shot?  If so, why?  If not, why not?  And 
> while you're at it, what do you tell Evil Antoine who wants a four-point 
> line maybe eight feet outside the three-point line?  (We won't talk about 
> Psycho Antoine who wants five points for a shot from beyond half court.)

Abolish it. I hate the shot. Look, basketball at its best is a game of 
continual motion and flow highlighted by athleticism and controlled 
aggression. The three point as an occasional option in an overall offense 
based in that is fine, but that's no longer what it's become. It's now an 
end in itself, and is there anything more ugly than a beautiful break 
ending in an unnecessary 3 point heave clanging off the rim with no one 
there to rebound. It's too tempting - you get extra points for taking the 
easy way out with a shot that doesn't require teamwork, motion, controlled 
athleticism and actually defeating the defense - the intellectual 
underpinnings of basketball at its best. Merely someone standing outside 
and heaving one up. In some cases taking us back decades to the days of the 
set shot. It completely disrupts flow because of that and the long rebounds 
it generates, turning basketball into a game of long ball HORSE. Ugh. Also 
eliminates a lot of strategy with things like fouls, since you're not going 
to get them that way.

I've no doubt Antoine was at least half kidding, although I have no doubt 
he'd take advantage of a 4 point line if it existed, but obviously any such 
thing would just reward people even more for doing the wrong thing.

Kim