3-point shot changed basketball

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The game of basketball has changed over the years and will probably keep changing in the years to come.

At this time, the one change that is still being discussed, even though it was made a number of years ago, is the 3-point shot, and the 3-point line.

There have been, however, a lot of changes through the years that have affected the game maybe as much or more than the 3-point line.

I can still remember when the lane was only 6 feet wide and a big post player could do a lot of damage in the lane. The first really talented big guy was 6’10” George Mikan and he dominated while he was in college at DePaul and then with the Minneapolis Lakers.

The player that really widened the lane was Wilt Chamberlain who played at Kansas for two years before leaving college and playing with the Globetrotters for a couple of years.

Mikan was a good big man, but Chamberlain was a great big man; so the lane got widened to 12 feet. That is still where it is for high school, but in other levels of basketball it has different shapes.

At one time, there was no three-second rule for being in the lane, but the big guys changed all that also. Lots of little changes here and there came about because the post players were getting more skilled.

The one strange change that was talked about when Chamberlain was in college was to raise the baskets up to 12 feet instead of 10. But that didn’t catch on so I suppose it could be a topic for another time.

The 3-point line is another subject all together. It is still being cussed and discussed every year.

Some say it is ruining basketball, others say it is the best thing to ever happen, and the discussion continues on and on.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Larry Pritchett is a well-known coach and businessman in the Imperial, Nebraska, and Grant, Nebraska, communities.

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