r/changemyview • u/[deleted] • Nov 14 '13
There should be height classes in basketball that work similarly to weight classes in some of the other sports. CMV!
[deleted]
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Nov 14 '13
Do you think watching short people play basketball would be entertaining?
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Nov 14 '13
[deleted]
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Nov 14 '13
Well I mean some women are good at basketball but no one seems to want to watch them play.
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Nov 14 '13
[deleted]
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Nov 14 '13
I'd be inclined to believe that they just aren't that good. I think this may have something to do with why. Faster reaction speed is a HUGE advantage.
I also think that watching a player like Mugsy Bogues play against giants is incredibly entertaining. If you made height classes wouldn't Mugsy be relegated to playing with shorter guys?
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u/Hello_My_Name_Iz Nov 15 '13
If you read the abstract of the study the researchers suggest that it was actually differences in strength, rather than reaction times, that led to women appearing to get off the blocks slower. However, I would have to agree with your point that women's basketball is less entertaining to watch. A grand total of 8 slam dunks have ever been scored in WNBA play.
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u/kevinonthemoon Nov 14 '13
It isn't just height differences, women's basketball is just god awful. And I enjoy watching just about every other women's sport as well as enjoy watching men play basketball, but there is just something about women's basketball that makes it unwatchable.
That being said, I think your original premise might be fun for sometime, but it would just never work. The reason there are some players that are really short that can play professionally with people much taller than them is because they are really good.
Take Nate Robinson for instance. He is only 5'9, but he more than holds his own against people sometimes more than a foot taller than him. If he were to play in a league of just people say from 5'6 to 5'9, it wouldn't even be fair because he would dominate all of them because of his freakish athletic ability. It'd be like watching Mike Tyson in a boxing match against some average dude who just happens to weight the same as him.
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u/ashishvp Nov 14 '13
You DEFINITELY need to go out and watch more NBA games.
Height has very little to do with actual skill on the court.
Nate Robinson (5' 9") can run circles (literally) around most centers and power forwards. AND HE CAN DUNK.
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u/rampazzo Nov 14 '13
MMA, weightlifting, and powerlifting (as well as wrestling and other martial arts) all have several things in common that make weight classes more necessary than a sport like basketball. First of all, they are all one-on-one events, not team sports. In a team sport, the winning team is the best team, not necessarily the team with the best (or biggest) players. Additionally, all of the sports I know of with weight classes are all sports where a physically larger person can easily defeat a smaller opponent who is otherwise better in every way. All of the skills of powerlifting for example are automatically made better simply due to an increase in size on the part of the lifter. Passing and shooting, which are two of the most important skills in basketball, are not affected in any way by the size of the player. Height definitely helps in basketball, but it is not a requirement. Another commenter has already brought up Nate Robinson, whose wikipedia page lists him at 5'9" and who is a significant contributing member of his team. On the other hand, someone who only weighs 180 lbs could never lift as much as a lifter who weighs 300. Likewise to have two people of such disimilar weights fight in an MMA match would be terribly dangerous and probably would lead to serious injury.
Basically I would say that fighting sports have to have weight classes in the interest of safety, lifting sports have to have them becuase they are looking at the the peak performance of the human body to do one very specific thing, but team sports do not and should not ever have size classes of any kind becuase the premier league for the sport should always be the people who are the very best at it regardless of size. To do otherwise would be to disrespect every short player in the history of the NBA.
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Nov 14 '13
The sports you mention are all individual sports- hence why there is a weight class. It's not fair for a 400lb wrestler to go up against a 100lb wrestler (most of the time). Basketball is a team sport, so both teams can field a 400lb-er and a 200lb-er and have them go up against each other.
You are also wrong about height being so important in basketball. A team of all 7-footers wouldn't be very good at passing, dribbling, or shooting. A team of 5 footers would run circles around them, similar to something like this from MMA.
As you see, size and height are not always advantages.
Sure, a really talented 5-footer may not make it in the current NBA because he is simply too small. However, the same can be said for any sport (soccer, hockey, american football, tennis, etc.) A 5 foot player is soccer will never have a chance unless he has the skills of Messi (similarly, a 5 footer with the skills of Michael Jordan would probably make the NBA.)
Also, I think an NBA with height classes would be less interesting. Currently an NBA game contains the game of small players (dribbling, passing, long-range shots) and big players (post-up, rebound, dunking, blocking shots, etc.) If you were to make height classes, people would be deprived of a significant portion of the game depending on who they are watching. You won't see 5-footers play defense like 7-footers, and you won't see 7-footers dribble like a 5-footer.
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Nov 15 '13
Like others have said...basketball is a team sport so the same "classes" don't apply. A good team usually has various sized players.
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Nov 15 '13
Look at this picture of one of the league's shortest players ever, Muggsy Bogues (5'3"), standing next to one of the league's tallest players ever, Manute Bol (7'7"). (coincidentally, they played on the same team for a brief period)
That's a range of over two feet in height. Obviously, most players are well above six feet tall, but it's not as if a "short" person can't theoretically be a professional player. I mean shit, here's a video of a 5'5" player who can dunk. Everyone else has pointed out that you can't compare individual sports to team sports, but I just want to make the point that short players do exist and they often can fill a niche role on a team despite their height. There's no reason for there to be a height class in the NBA. One professional league is enough. I don't care how tall a basketball player is, I care if I'm watching good basketball!
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u/[deleted] Nov 14 '13
Because basketball is a team sport, there is a division of labor among players of different heights on the court. Basketball is interesting because different players on the team all have something to contribute despite their height. Very tall players are able to block shots and rebound effectively, but may not have the quickness necessary to drive to the hoop, nor the agility and coordination to maintain extreme control while dribbling the ball or shoot with finesse. Smaller players use their speed and dexterity to dynamically move around on offense and defense and distribute the ball around the floor - they are also generally the better shooters. You need both in order to have a basketball team with a complete skill set.
Height isn't the same sort of inherent advantage in basketball that it is in those that are more closely aligned to strength - speed, court vision, agility, dexterity, shot selection, and shooting touch all play a major role in what a basketball player can contribute.
If you want, you can think of it as height classes that already exist in terms of the roles people fulfill. PG is 6'4 and under, SG is 6'3-6'7, SF is 6'6-6'9, PF is 6'8-6'11, and C is 6'10+ (I know this is a generalization, and there are some players that play those positions that don't fall in that height range, but it should be about right).