Philadelphia 76ers bet NBA centers reemerge in importance
By Bret Stuter
Rules changed again… and again.
The game of professional basketball is played upon a 94 feet by 50 feet court. But the true prime real estate is the small rectangle in the vicinity of the basket, also known as the key. That is where the old school centers reigned.
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Sir Charles In Charge
1951 Rule Change – Width of key changed from 6 feet to 12 feet
1955 Rule Change – Introduced 24 second clock
1964 Rule Change – Width of key changed from 12 feet to 16 feet
1979 Rule Change – NBA introduced three-point shot.
The key to the cycle is that little tidbit of a three point shot. Has it improved the game? Perhaps, but at the cost of the significance of the center position. And that has proven over time to be just one of the forces eliminating the center dominance in the NBA.
Value equivalence
The 60 plus percent shooting in the paint of dominating centers is now less valuable than the 40 plus percent shooting from the perimeter by smaller backcourt players. In fact, it takes a 70 percent shooter from the floor to come close to a 47 percent shooter from the perimeter.
Based on 2016-2017 statistics, the value of the perimeter shooter is the equivalent to that of a dominating center. But the bonus is that they come cheaper.
Still, there is one more force at work here. Durability. And that means help must come from elsewhere.