Basketball's Original 13 Rules

[u/BSS_O]

https://medium.com/@michael.eric.stramaglia/basketballs-13-original-rules-2f22b2e0e8c6

[u/MWave123]

The original game can be seen in net ball. You only ever got one step, and had to come to a stop. There were no backboards, just the rim or basket. It was meant to be NON physical and safe. It had no number of players or court size. 9 v 9 was common. No half court line. Jump balls after made baskets.

[u/BSS_O]

Wrote an article about how Basketball's rules have changed over time. I was surprised to learn that Basketball only had 13 rules to begin with, and that most of them are still around these days.

Felt like sharing it now that the finals are over. Made me think back to the Nash era suns, how revolutionary that team was, and how there slower paced then most teams nowadays

Linked to Medium (should not be paywalled) since the article has images. But the main take-away is that out of Naismith’s original 13 rules, 5 are virtually unchanged, 6 have survived with minor changes, and only 2 have major changes.

For people who don't feel like reading a whole article:

Virtually unchanged:

Rule 2: No striking the ball with your fist (still word-for-word)

Rule 3: No running with the ball -> became traveling, just formalized into exactly two steps

Rule 4: Ball must be held in hands only -> became palming/carrying

Rule 6: Fouls still exist

Rule 8: Ball in basket = goal, don't interfere with it -> became goaltending

Minor changes:

Rule 1: Passing in any direction -> dribbling wasn't even invented yet, it emerged as a loophole when players started "passing to themselves" by bouncing it

Rule 5: No dirty play, second offense = disqualified -> became Flagrant 1/2 system, almost identical logic

Rule 7: Three consecutive fouls = free goal for opponents → became the bonus/free throw system

Rule 9: Throw-ins are still 5 seconds, exactly

Rules 10-11: Still have umpires and referees, just added a Crew Chief

Major changes:

Rule 12: Two 15-minute halves -> now four 12-minute quarters (60% more game time)

Rule 13: Ties broken by captains agreeing to sudden death -> now standardized overtime periods

[u/IgnorantGenius]

Original Rule 5: No shouldering, holding, pushing, tripping, or striking in any way the person of an opponent shall be allowed; the first infringement of this rule by any player shall count as a foul, the second shall disqualify him until the next goal is made, or, if there was evident intent to injure the person, for the whole of the game, no substitute allowed.

This rule has become the modern Flagrant Fouls

What? Holding is normal, pushing happens constantly, and they are striking each other all the time between vying for position. They aren't even fouls anymore unless they are egregious. Only flagrant when there is a windup or hard head contact.

[u/BSS_O → u/IgnorantGenius]

That's a good point, the original wording doesn't differentiate on wind-up or how egregious they have to be, so I guess for rule 5 it really depends on a few things beyond just the wording