Paul Pierce: NBA Should Raise the Rim Three Inches
Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce recently started blogging for Boston.com's Celtics Blog, and in his first entry, he tackles some changes the NBA should make.
Perhaps most interestingly, he advocates raising the rim three inches:
Then, you have to learn the art of the jump shot. You'll have to know how to play this game a little bit better then. Raising the rim, you'll see improved play. You'll see increasing fundamentals.
Pierce doesn't really have an above-the-rim game, and he plays a wing position loaded with guys like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Vince Carter and others who do take advantage of vast leaping ability. Raising the rim certainly wouldn't have much of an impact on what Pierce does as a play, although I'm not sure putting it up three inches will take the dunk out of the arsenal of most players in the league, since most can pretty much hit their foreheads on the league already. Six-to-eight inches might pose more of an obstacle.
Pierce also suggests that the NBA should do away with the age minimum, which is a good point, and shorten the schedule from 82 to 60 games, which is kind of insane. Cutting a third of the games off the schedule is certainly not a way to increase revenue league-wide.
While Pierce's ideas may not be all that viable, it's nice to see more and more athletes get into the blogging game. Pierce joins Gilbert Arenas, Brendan Haywood, Channing Frye and Stephon Marbury as NBA players who have had decent audiences with their blogs.
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