Making basketball too easy

Any decent shooter can get really good at a shot if he always shoots from the same place. The Globetrotters make amazing shots, but they practice them over and over. Their guys can shoot an amazing percentage from half-court.

The 3-point shot has become too easy. It certainly is not worth half again as much as other shots. After all, that is about all players practice these days. Just watch them during warm-ups. Ninety percent of their shots are from a narrow strip of court. So, they have gotten exceptionally good at that shot and it has become almost a "gimme" to many of them. Add to that the fact that the 3-shot foul has protected that particular shot more than a shot from closer in, and there is just no reason to do much else but stand around the perimeter and blast away. A glorified game of HORSE. Really exciting, what?

Think about the great shooters before the advent of the 3-point shot - guys like Jerry West, just to name one. His shots would be more from the outside than would those of teammate Elgin Baylor, but they would not be from any one specific place. He might shoot from ten feet out or 25 feet out. And, he shot from whatever place was the right place given the flow of the game at that moment. He did NOT step back (of all things! - how illogical is that?) before he took his shot.

We drool today over players who are such "great shooters." Why shouldn't they be great shooters: they are only shooting from one spot! Take away that stripe around the court so that they have to shoot from ALL OVER the court and see how good their shooting is then!

The three-point shot is making basketball too easy, and in the process, making it boring. It was introduced in the old American Basketball Association as a gimmick to give it a leg up against the established NBA. We need to send it back where it came from!