Since 1940, the NBA’s court dimensions have remained 94 feet long and 50 feet wide. But the league has changed quite a bit since that time. They added a three-point field goal following the ABA-NBA merger for the 1979-80 season (stealing the idea from the ABA), and the arc has become a huge part of how teams structure their offenses and create space on the court. But the league keeps getting stronger and faster, and the players are bigger, so why not extend the court and add a 4-point shot? That’s what NBA president of basketball operations Rod Thorn and vice president Kiki Vandeweghe acknowledged to ESPN’s True Hoop TV during a taped interview in New Orleans over All-Star weekend.
Marc Stein of ESPN reports, “Thorn and Vandeweghe spoke of both concepts mostly from a hypothetical standpoint, but did concede that the ideas have been presented for discussion at a league level.”
On Tuesday, ESPN spokesman Tim Frank attempted to curtail the idea that it’s even in the preliminary stages of becoming a reality:
“No one at the NBA, nor the competition committee, has had any serious conversations about increasing the size of the floor or adding a 4-point line,” Frank said in a statement. “Rod Thorn and Kiki Vandeweghe were entertaining a line of questioning about out-of-the-box ideas and ESPN.com chose to make a story that doesn’t exist.”
When asked about the idea on True Hoop TV, Vandeweghe and Thorn admitted they’ve looked at the idea of both expanding the court and adding a 4-point shot. The downsides include logistics like expanding current courts in NBA arenas around the country. Adding girth to the court would be harder since the sidelines are already bursting with court seats that draw the big names and equally big bucks for teams. If expansion of the court were to happen, it would probably be lengthwise:
“Making the court bigger — it’s an interesting idea and we’ve actually looked at it,” Vandeweghe said. “We keep a list of ideas on what we should do and how we can make the game better, of course. But arenas are obviously built in a certain way and that would take a lot of adjusting to actually make the court bigger. But does it mean we shouldn’t look at it? No, of course not. We’re looking at all sorts of things.”
Added Thorn: “Those seats that are very close to the court are obviously very expensive seats to start out with. And most of them come right up to the floor. So when you start extending the floor, sideways or length — you could probably extend it lengthwise easier than you can sideways. So there are a lot of things you have to look at there.”
ESPN’s Tom Haberstroh [Insider only] even provides a look at those players who are most accurate from 28-32 feet, a possible 4-point area if the league were to push past the discussion phase. The three players who are most accurate from that range this season, minimum 10 attempts, are Jamal Crawford, Kendall Marshall (in a surprise since that shot of his is tough to look at) and of course Stephen Curry.
But before we start rejoicing at the prospect of guys actually pulling up from 32 feet when they’re trailing late, remember how adamant NBA spokesman Tim Frank was that the proposed changes are a long way from even inchoate stages of develop.
(ESPN)
Should the NBA look to enlarge the court and/or add a 4-point shot?
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