Europe, yesterday.
In what can only be good for the game, FIBA recently tackled the differing identity of basketball across tournaments and countries.
The FIBA Technical Commission — the advisory body to the FIBA Central Board — recommended that all competitions falling under FIBA jurisdiction should have their rules amended to effectively mimic NBA rules and court dimensions.
The major changes are found in the introduction of the 24-second shot clock, the 3-point line being pulled back to 23′9″, adopting the NBA-dimension restricted zone and the banning t-shirts worn under uniforms. I’m most pleased about the last, because it shows FIBA is addressing idiocy not only Europe, but in the American college competitions too.
Apparently some European leagues are very upset about this, but no-one should be surprised. We’ll get two years of tantrums until they realise that the more relaxed FIBA court dimensions are half the reason the Americans keep wrecking every other team in the world by more than 30 points. Allowing Lebron, Kobe and Michael Redd to jack up triples from under 20′? You’re just hurting yourself there.
See the link above for a run-down on the rule changes.
Posted by: Alex (with thanks to Ben Ko)
1 response so far ↓
Anton Trees // August 18, 2008 at 4:40 pm
I’ll be bummed to see one thing go: the excitement of seeing Michael Redd or Kobe or Carmelo jacking up threes from the standard NBA line while playing international ball.
Every time they do it you’re, like, ‘WHAT THE FUCK?! WHY ARE YOU SHOOTING FROM SO FAR AWAY?!!!!’ And then you realise 24-foot is super easy for them.
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