When was the nba lane widened

He was also the first person to regularly dunk during games. In the NBA, George Mikan controlled the area around the basket to such a degree that in , the league widened the free throw lane to give other players a chance. When Wilt Chamberlain was in high school, he had a unique way of shooting free-throws. He would stand at the top of the key, throw the ball up toward the basket, take two steps, jump toward the rim and jam the ball through the net.

Doing this resulted in basketball rules to state that a player cannot cross the plane of the free-throw line when shooting a free-throw. In , during his freshman year in college, the NCAA banned dunking free throws, as a result of rumors that Chamberlain had been doing that in high school. Later, the NBA also banned dunking free throws. Although Chamberlain had problems shooting free-throws throughout his career, the rule did not really improve his already dominant game.

They felt he would be unstoppable, so they changed the rules to forbid dunking in college games. This was called the "Alcindor Rule. The Alcindor rule held from to , when it was rescinded, and players were allowed to dunk again.

As a result of the rule, Alcindor developed a good hook shot, which he used effectively during his playing days in college and the NBA.

He played professional basketball from He changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar shortly after he started playing professional basketball. These five great basketball players caused rules of the game to be changed in order to prevent a talented, tall player from dominating the game.

In general, the rule changes actually helped to make the player more well-rounded. Leroy Edwards - Wikipedia. During his time at the University of Kansas, teammates were throwing alley-oop passes over the top of the backboard from behind it so Wilt could make dunks. One of the most incredible stories about Chamberlain is how he shot free throws. He made the shot, jumped from behind the free-throw line and slam the ball through the basket before his feet touched the ground.

He didn't touch any part of the lane area while the ball went through the rim, so that wasn't a violation. That created another rule that says, "players cannot cross the plane of the free-throw line, even if your feet are not touching the ground, until the ball hits the rim or passes through the basket.

You can talk about all the good things this man did in his career, how impressive was his jump, his point game, whatever; making a competition changing the rules for you, that's a different story. That's why Chamberlain will always be part of the greatest players ever. Fadeaway World. NBA Media. NBA Trade Rumors. Zion Williamson got famous thanks to his dunking highlights in high school. As in, any for of dunking altogether.

The Alcindor rule held from to , when it was rescinded, and players were allowed to dunk again. The consequence of this decision? Alcindor had to find a different way of scoring in the post — he started working on a hook shot. They wanted to prevent a dominant post move to give people a chance, and they got the skyhook.

Talk about unintended consequences. Sir Charles was surprisingly physical for his height. Barkley would match up against taller, stronger players and regularly win the duel. One of his favorite moves?

Back down a player for 20 seconds, use his quite large behind to creates space and then shoot or pass. Marck Jackson had the same penchant for backing guards down in the post, so the league created the five-second rule. The league stated that no player below the free-throw line could actually do this for longer than 5 seconds.

There was no chance for teams to defend Shaq without double or triple-teaming him. Zone defense was allowed, changing the way every team in the NBA defends the lane nowadays.