How long is the 3pt line in basketball

Shaquille O'Neal is 1-for from 3-point range in his career, that one a humorous bank shot buzzer-beater. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played half his pro career with no 3-point line and half of his career with it. He was 1-for from behind the arc in his career. More than anything, though, the 3-point line has made basketball a completely different experience for the fans--a more spread-out game with another level of energy that wasn't there before the s.

When it's not incorporated properly and not utilized properly, it can hurt a team. But the advantage is to be able to stretch the floor. With a nod to legendary player George Mikan, Kyrie Irving demonstrates a good way to practice finishing at the rim. With the help of Klay Thompson and Ryan Anderson, coach John Calipari demonstrates the fundamentals of shooting a basketball. The Tips, Skills, Drills series continues with a lesson on the pick-and-roll from P. Ball handling and dribbling are critical skills for any basketball player, and for point guards in particular.

Dribbling with two balls is a great way to develop those skills, so here is a series of two-ball drills. A solid set of footwork techniques helps ensure proper development and, eventually, is a building block for mastering other skills.

Forgot Password? Kevin Durant. PTS REB 5. AST 3. Jayson Tatum. REB 3. Damian Lillard. REB 2. Featured Articles. Retired General Martin E. A'ja Wilson. REB 7. FG PCT. Sue Bird. The basket is also 10 feet off the ground. Just as in college and professional basketball, the foul line is 15 feet from the backboard, and the key is 19 feet long. The other visible difference is the distance from the three-point line.

FIBA governs international basketball courts. FIBA courts are an even 28 meters long, which converts to almost 92 feet. The meter width converts to just over 49 feet. The tip-off circle is a bit smaller as well, at 3. This difference translates to a radius of about five feet, seven inches.

The key is almost the same size at 5. These numbers convert to within a few inches of 19 and 16 feet. The basket is 1. The restricted area under the basket is 1. The basket is still 10 feet off the ground, which means the biggest difference is the three-point line. At the top of the arc, the three-point line is 6. This measurement works out to about 22 feet, two inches. It would appear the foot basketball hoop is the result of a careful calculation that considers the human anatomy and mechanics of the game.

After all, even the tallest players today have to jump to dunk a ball, and a ten-foot high rim gives a comfortable target to shoot for at a distance. But as we see so often in history, the truth is much more mundane.

When James Naismith dreamed up the game in Springfield, MA in , the railing he chose to hang the baskets on was ten feet off the ground.

So, while everything else about the sport has changed since that first game, the baskets are still right where Dr. This line is also known as the three-point arc. The three point line was established in basketball's top leagues in There was initially some confusion on how to use the three point line and when was the right time to take a three point shot. But as time passed, players began to feel much more comfortable with the new rule. The game of basketball has dramatically changed since the s, and probably the biggest change is the evolution of the three point shot.

When the three point line was first introduced, it took years for players to get comfortable with the shot and the vast majority of shots were still inside the arc. In his book Sprawball , Kirk Goldsberry suggested shrinking the lane to encourage more post-ups. Others have suggested the opposite of the NBA's plan.

Rather than adopting the corner's length around the entire arc, the league could remove the corner 3-pointer to prevent shooters from camping out there.

Thorn himself even seemed open to the idea of a 4-point shot in a interview with ESPN's Henry Abbott, which would theoretically space the floor for other kinds of shots even further than modern shooting. The NBA has grown far more sophisticated in the implementation of rule changes over the past two-and-a-half decades. Shortening the 3-point line was a relatively untested plan, but the modern game has a number of laboratories it uses to tinker with new ideas. The G League has been a popular staging ground.

As has summer league. When an idea is ready for the big boys, it usually first finds its way into an exhibition. The lessons the league learned in the mid-'90s are one of the primary reasons these changes are so thoroughly vetted. As well as any rule change works in theory, its success in practice is never guaranteed and its ripple effects are almost never anticipated. It only took a minor tweak to change the course of Kerr's career. If the NBA ever submits a direct response to the weight of Curry's, it will have been thoroughly vetted before being unleashed upon the league and its record book.

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