roscoe36
06-18-2007, 04:45 PM
Taller rims top trash-can dunks | TheNewsTribune.com | Tacoma, WA (http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/columnists/mcgrath/story/89349.html)
An ex-NBA assistant, Newell is the son of Hall of Fame coach Pete Newell. Like his dad, Tom Newell has long been a proponent of tweaking rules that originally placed the rim at 10 feet because the balcony of the YMCA gym in Springfield, Mass., was 10 feet off the floor.
“If the first peach basket had been nailed 11 feet high,” Newell sad, “we might be here talking about raising the basket to 12 feet.”
Newell envisions an elevated rim encouraging a revival of such forgotten team concepts as pass-and-cut plays, continuity of motion and the containment of the perimeter on the defensive end. But, mostly, he wants basketball rid of those “SportsCenter” staples, the dunk and the 3-point shot.
After a predictably sloppy first quarter, the players settled down to participate in an earnest exhibition that more or less resembled any other basketball game, except without the glass-rattling exclamation points.
“As a basketball purist, I loved it,” said Patrick Leonard, former high school and community college coach. “I was surprised how quickly the players adjusted to the height of the rim.”
An ex-NBA assistant, Newell is the son of Hall of Fame coach Pete Newell. Like his dad, Tom Newell has long been a proponent of tweaking rules that originally placed the rim at 10 feet because the balcony of the YMCA gym in Springfield, Mass., was 10 feet off the floor.
“If the first peach basket had been nailed 11 feet high,” Newell sad, “we might be here talking about raising the basket to 12 feet.”
Newell envisions an elevated rim encouraging a revival of such forgotten team concepts as pass-and-cut plays, continuity of motion and the containment of the perimeter on the defensive end. But, mostly, he wants basketball rid of those “SportsCenter” staples, the dunk and the 3-point shot.
After a predictably sloppy first quarter, the players settled down to participate in an earnest exhibition that more or less resembled any other basketball game, except without the glass-rattling exclamation points.
“As a basketball purist, I loved it,” said Patrick Leonard, former high school and community college coach. “I was surprised how quickly the players adjusted to the height of the rim.”