Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court

Basketball in the Year 2000

Here are a few thoughts on what I’d like to see considered regarding the rules of the game of basketball.

Back in the 1940s Phog Allen, the coach at Kansas, advocated a 12-foot-high basket because he said the time would come when players would be much taller and the hoop would be too low. Phog was right. The time has come to try his idea.

I would like to see the rules committee raise the basket to at least 11 feet and see how it works. Try it selectively and then judge. Dr. James Naismith, the man who invented basketball, did not anticipate players who could stuff the ball without even jumping. How high would he put the rim if he were around today?

The three-point rule is good, although it didn’t serve the purpose ...