How has the game changed in the last 50 years?

[warningtrackpower]

This is our new topic for this week's SVC Sports Talk. Here is an article to generate some discussion. Let me know your thoughts.

http://www.svcsportszone.com/gameforeverchanging.html

[moose]

It's getting harder to hear the whistle.

[eagles73Taylor]

Where do I start! lol

My biggest beef is palming/traveling with the basketball. The crossover is ridiculous anymore. A defender is forced to put their hands on a ballhandler who does this because the ballhandler can change direction with the ball as quickly as they can without the ball. The hand of the ballhandler must be on the middle and bottom half of the basketball to pull this off. This advantage has led to defenders being allowed to mug ballhandlers and the jump stop! AAAHHHHGGG, when that piece of crap was put in, the offensive player had to land on both feet and then continue the shot. Next, they were allowed to land almost with both feet hitting at the same time, now they can land with each foot and pass the ball. The jump stop was supposed to be an extension of the layup, same philosophy. Now, you can take two steps, land on one foot then plant the other, so 4 steps and pass the ball! lol The jump stop has since created the mess we see on block/charge calls!

Its like a giant crappy snowball effect. If they bring the shot clock to high school, good old basketball will be forever dead IMO!

[Hitops2.0]

Kids these days are just bigger, faster,stronger girls included ...I used to walk into gyms and be taller or average height ...now I walk into a gym and the girls are taller than I am let alone the boys ....and were are talking junior high age ....my son is already bigger than I was when I was a sophomore ...and they go to camps constantly ...I went to one camp for basketball in 4 yrs now kids go to 4 camps a summer ....so the learning curve for skills has dropped dramatically ...what used to take 2 yrs to learn for shooting technique is taking kids a yr or less now .....yet as I watch the games there arent many pure shooters anymore ...its all run and gun or slash and crash or brick city ...so IMO after all that being said ....... pure dead eye shooting ability is a lost art along with a good bank shot from 10 to 12 ft ....kids just cant seem to get it

[chef_piketon]

The Chef believes the game has changed drastically in 2 ways and everything else is the result of these 2 changes.
1) No one knows what a foul is anymore. "Back in the day" if you touched the shooter or made contact with the dribbler it was a foul. The Chef doesn't believe the rules have changed. It's become what's accepted and allowed. Not refs, coaches, or players fault. Just what has become the game. Actually basketball today is more like football and football is more like basketball. The two are merging. The game used to be about skills. Take shooting for example. Used to see lots of "good" shooters. Now if a team has one good shooter, they're lucky. But it's hard to hit shots when hands are all over the shooter and getting chested and fore-armed all the time. The game is now all about speed and strength not dribbling, shooting, passing.
2) Kids play year round making them bigger, better, stronger, faster. Used to players played during the season and maybe shot around in the barn lot or driveway sometimes in off season. Walk down on the floor and stand next to some of these teenagers now on a basketball school's team...impressive. Then look at some of the pictures from "back in the day". No comparison.

[BlindWhiteHat]

I have to agree with the comments about how rough the game has become as well as how dribbling has gotten out of control. You continually hear how today's players are such great athletes and are able to do so much more. I think a lot of that comes with the liberties they are allowed to take with the rules. Players move so quickly with the ball as most travel but the rules have bent to allow that to go uncalled. Also, finesse players are mostly all gone. Players must be strong and physical or they are just tossed to the side (literally).

[Lightle04]

There is no 15 footer in the game no midrange it's either all the way to the cup or a 3.

[WitnessProtection]

I do miss the peach baskets hanging in the barn.

[npeifer]

This is the future of basketball (at least at the high school and college level):

http://www.basketball.org/systems-check ... -grinnell/

Uber fast pace, scoring tons with non-stop pressure defense.....

[Eaglesnest]

I don't know about peach baskets, but the major difference in the game is that today the defense is allowed to make contact with the offensive player even if it impacts the play without it being a foul. Today, teams that are stronger physically can neutralize better players by "bumping" them or playing extremely physical.

This trend has led to a decline in fundamental dribbling, passing, and shooting IMHO.

[jottings]

Kids didn't have all the detractions they have today. Remember the jump shot started in the early 1950s...Clarence (Bevo) Francis at Rio Grande. Some still shot free throws underhanded. And too, I think you had a choice to take the ball out of bounds instead of shooting foul shots late in the game, especially if you had an outstanding guard...
and remember all those two-handed setshots from afar?

And those scoreboards that only went to 99 points without any lineups and other stuff that appear on them today.

[Sid Farkus]

The actual ball is different, too. The lines are indented further into the ball making it easier to handle and grip. I agree with eagle73. The "jumpstop" should have never been allowed. It's a travel in my book.