"Are you watching March Madness and loving it as the games get intense? There have been spectacular finishes in these tournament games." - Actor 1 said.
Actor 1 points at actor 2.
"NOW THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX," Actor 1 says dramatically, in his deepest anchorman voice. "Ask yourself, why haven't you gotten into basketball until March Madness? Why have you waited the entire season before getting interested?"
"Why?" Actor 2, repeats the question.
"Because the typical game is low scoring and boring! The games are usually 10 players walking from three-point line to three-point line, and then passing the ball around the perimeter of the three-point line. It's boring! It's tedious! It's ridiculous! We are talking about the world's greatest athletes, and we have them chained to the three-point line."
"The games are pretty good now, for March Madness," Actor 2 said.
"Right, now they're good, now that the games are super intense, and they are the very best teams, and the tension is absolutely over the top! But you know what it's been like the rest of the season, the average score for a men's college basketball game has been only 60 some points per game. That's ridiculously low with today's super talented players. Most of the regular season games are boring!" - Actor 1 said.
Actor 2 nods his head.
"The players today are great. Almost everybody can dunk, and almost everybody can handle the ball like a point guard." - Actor 1 said.
"You know, you're right, I hardly ever watch a college basketball game anymore. I wait until the last minute of the game, or until the very end of the season for March Madness." - Actor 2 said.
"The problem is that the players are so big and tall now, the defense is overwhelming, and with the three-point line it's better to walk from three-point line to three-point line and pass the ball around the three-point line to get a three-point shot. There is no more run and gun basketball!" - Actor 1 said.
"Yes, you're right I miss that. Why aren't they scoring 100 points a game? Why aren't they fast breaking on every play?" - Actor 2 asked.
"It's mathematics! Because the three-point shot is so valuable it's better to pass the ball around the outside and waste a lot of time instead of fast breaking for the basket every time! Today's style of play slows the whole game down." - Actor 1 said.
"How do we fix it?" Actor 2 asked.
"It's so obvious and so simple, because it's mathematics. I can't believe people can't think outside the box." - Actor 1 said.
"Okay already, what is it? No more double negatives."
"In a previous blog post, I calculated that if you play four-on-four full court instead of five-on-five you will free up about the same amount of space as the space it takes to park a big car. That's a lot of space! Just think for a moment how large a parking space is for a car."
"Yeah, that's a lot of space on a basketball court." - Actor 1 said.
"Another way to look at it is that two giant basketball players can virtually fill up the lane of a basketball court, which is usually 304 ft². So, if you take two of the largest basketball players off the floor, you could say that you are freeing up an entire lane worth of space." - Actor 1 said.
"I think I get it. By taking two players off the floor, and playing four-on-four full court, the players can run and gun all the time."
"Exactly! I've been having trouble coming up with the perfect mathematical example to convince people, but that's it! The players are so good now, they can all play point guard, and they can all run and gun full court. Just free up the space for them to maneuver, and everything can be run and gun basketball again! Just like the ABA of the old days with Dr J. Or, just like the Phi Slama Jama (TM) of the University of Houston when they had Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon."
"Those were the good old days! That's when I watched every game all season long." - Actor 2 said.
"There were no boring games when it was run and gun all the time. This one simple change, playing four-on-four full court, will fix basketball. There are too many great players who can't play professional basketball today. There is an oversupply of great players. By starting a new reality TV show to follow the startup of a new league, and by actually starting a new league, there could be lots of new, exciting, basketball played with better highlights, more dunks and alley-oops."
"I can imagine--"
"Imagine the highlights! Imagine if the guy that won the NBA dunk contest, Mac McClung, played in a four-on-four full court league where all the players did was run and gun and dunk all the time! Just think of the highlights!"
"That would be spectacular!" - Actor 2 said.
"Exactly. And it's going to happen. The XFL is competing with the NFL, but it would be far easier to compete with the NBA. I've just explained how."
Copyright (c) 2023 BradMD (Brad Hennenfent, M.D.) All rights reserved. My blog posts are part of an ongoing treatment and script for playing basketball with fewer than five players on each side. My treatment and script include blog posts here at BradMD.com and also at https://4on4ball.com
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I write about MEDICINE, HEALTHCARE, ECONOMICS, BASKETBALL, AND FREEDOM. Animal Farm by George Orwell is a great book about freedom. When you read it, try to associate the characters in the book to people that you know. Who is Boxer in your circle of people? Who is Napolean? Set our basketball players free! In a free enterprise world, when there is an excess supply of something, such as great basketball players who can dunk, you create a new distribution channel. Thus, economics teaches us we need a new Reality TV Show, Scripted TV Show, and Games on TV (or all this stuff on streaming services).
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Yes, I have read the book! I read it years ago when my older brother brought it home from High School, and I am reading it again right now. In fact, I am on page 49 out of 91 (I use a paperclip as a book mark), and I love this book! George Orwell's Animal Farm teaches classic truths about freedom. This version is particularly good because it is just the book, without introductions and stuff added. Its 6" x 9" size makes it great for editing the book as you read it, and for making notes on the pages. This is a life changing book for making people understand freedom. Thus, I had to take a picture of my own copy and place it below. With freedom comes free speech and free enterprise; never forget it!
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