The game of basketball was fashioned from fragments of other games, seeking to eliminate flaws of indoor rugby, soccer and lacrosse. Naismith also borrowed aspects from the children’s game “Duck-on-a-Rock,” in which children tried to knock off a rock from a boulder by tossing smaller rocks from about 20 feet away (Lauren S. Bahr, 1995).

There has been no question that basketball was first played in the United States. In fact, the first game was played at the International Young Men’s Christian Association Training School, now called Springfield College. (Joseph Morse, 1973) Naismith invented basketball as an alternative to the calisthenics and marching his students practiced to keep fit in the winters (Lauren S. Bahr, 1995).

Basketball was a simple game, which consists of a ball and a basket. The very first ball that was used was a soccer ball until 1894 when an actual “basketball” was invented. The basketball was slightly smaller, about 30 inches in diameter (William D.Halsey, 197

5). While, the first baskets that were used were two peach baskets that were hung from the balcony of the gymnasium (Frank G. Menke, 1970). By 1906, the peach baskets were replaced by metal baskets with holes in the bottom. These holes were placed in the basket so a long pole could be used to poke the basketball out of the basket. This was better then in the early days, when a ladder was used to climb and fetch the ball out of the basket. Finally, in 1913 a hoop with a net was invented so the basketball could fall freely to the ground (Lauren S. Bahr, 1995). In my opinion, the invention of the hoop and net was a major step in the game of basketball. Due to the free falling ball the game’s tempo increased which allowed th!

Around this time, there was no name for this game. Students wanted to call the game “Naismith Ball,” but in did not take. In 1921, a man called Mahn named the game “basketball,” and it has been called basketball ever since (Frank G. Menke, 1970).

In 1893, due to the overzealous spectators interfering with the basketball, the backboard was invented. The first backboard was constructed out of wire mesh, then wood and now it is made out of glass so the backboard does not interfere with the viewing of the game (Lauren S. Bahr, 1995).

In the late 1990’s, the final two teams joined the league. They were the Toronto Raptors and the Vancouver Grizzlies, which are the only two Canadian teams in the NBA. The addition of these two teams brought the total to 29 teams. With the increasing teams, the league was divided into the Atlantic, Central (Eastern Conference) Midwest and Pacific division (Western Conference) (Lauren S. Bahr, 1995).

Throughout the formation of the league there were many aspects and rules that were added to the game of basketball. In 1930’s, Kenny Sailor invented the jump shot. He realized that he could shoot over taller player if he jump while he was shooting. In 1946, Bob Kurland, a seven-foot center from Oklahoma was believed to make the first dunk shot. Although the dunk shot was permitted in the National Basketball Association it was banned from the NCAA until 1976 season (Barbara A. Chenow, 1993). Also in the 1940’s, Bob Kurland use to block shots which led to the rule of “goaltending.” In 1952 the foul lane was widened and the three-second rule was put into affect so centers could not station themselves in front of the basket all the time (Ralph Hickok, 1977). In 1954, the 24-second shot clock was introduced to eliminating the “stalling technique” used by teams so that they could keep the lead in the game. The three-point line was introduced in 1967 (Barbara A. Chernow, 1993).

In 1925, the American Basketball League (ABL) which was the first real attempts to widen basketball to a worldwide sport (Lauren S. Bahr). The American Basketball League seasons were six months long and star players were paid $1500. The American Basketball was made up of a nine-team circuit.

As the game of basketball was developing, Naismith introduced the 13 original rules for the game of basketball in which 12 out of the 13 original rules were still used up to 1934 (William D. Halsey). The only rule, which changed, was that a player was now allowed to dribble a basketball (Lauren S. Bahr, 1995). The rule of dribbling the basketball was f

Some topics in this essay:
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