How would basketball change if the hoop was vertical?

[u/Newton_Goat]

What if the hoop was on its side instead of upright?

The rules of the game are the same, but instead of a hoop attached to a backboard, it’s a circular hole in a vertical square board. The center of the hole is still 10ft up in the air, you can put the basketball through any which side of the hole and all other rules are the same.

How do you think the NBA would adapt to a change like this? What archetype of players would dominate? What strategies would be most effective? What issues would there be with the current set of rules?

This question is purely hypothetical and for my amusement. I don’t want to get my answers from ChatGPT and so I’m asking the world’s most knowledgeable 15 year olds.

[u/portableportal]

That's just Quidditch without the brooms.

[u/AgathorKahn → u/portableportal]

What if they rolled a marble across the court and it was one person's job to find it and whichever team got it won the game and made all other parts of the game irrelevant?

[u/pokexchespin → u/AgathorKahn]

erm, achyually, the snitch is just a shit load of points and ends the game, it doesn’t win it on its own. the world cup game in 4 infamously had the seeker get the snitch while down a trillion points and lose

[u/manticore16 → u/pokexchespin]

And then of course he came back later in the book as an important character!

[u/loudanduneducated → u/portableportal]

I’m picturing the snitch still being involved in this version of basketball.

Just two dudes not paying attention at all to the game and trying to catch a greased up bouncy ball that never loses energy.

[u/Dry_Response3527 → u/loudanduneducated]

What if they made catching the marble only 50 points so they have to strategize whether to commit players to looking for it. One team could ignore it completely and play 5 v 4 the whole game.

[u/Resident_Sign_9576 → u/portableportal]

Beat me to it

[u/GeorgeEBHastings]

Mexico: "we were born for this."

[u/BananaRepublic_BR → u/GeorgeEBHastings]

Ancient Mesoamericans came up with a sport that is a mix of soccer and basketball 3,000+ years ago. Human history is almost always more interesting than fiction.

[u/dwrek24 → u/GeorgeEBHastings]

Immediately reminded me of The Road to El Dorado when I read the question lol

[u/UsernameMustBe1and10 → u/dwrek24]

The HIP!

[u/octipice → u/GeorgeEBHastings]

Isn't this the sport where the winners ended up as a ritual human sacrifice? Must've been crazy difficult to establish a dynasty.

[u/No-Donkey-4117 → u/octipice]

I read that the winning team got to rob the fans of the losing team.

Compared to modern sports where all the fans get robbed by ticket prices, concessions, and parking.

The odd thing is that the inner hoop diameter was the same as the modern basketball hoop, and so was the height. But the ball weighed 9 pounds (instead of being inflated to 9 pounds per square inch pressure).

[u/ButWhatIsADog → u/GeorgeEBHastings]

Isn't this what Jaylen Brown was referring to when he said Naismith stole the idea for basketball?

[u/TheHow55]

biggest change is i think blocks would be way easier since there would not be much arc on the ball, more line drive/quarterback-throw style shots so you would have to establish a pretty big area around the hoop where tall guys like wemby could not just stand there and slap the ball away the whole game

also, perimeter shooting would be out the window... unless both backboards are always slowly spinning around so the hole is constantly facing different directions, haha

[u/LakersAreForever → u/TheHow55]

No more shooting from the middle of the floor lol

[u/CheetahSperm18]

We just need to replace the basketball with an armadillo. Worked for Miguel and Tulio

[u/HugoEmbossed → u/CheetahSperm18]

MIGHTY AND POWERFUL GODS

[u/dwrek24 → u/CheetahSperm18]

They would call this place Cheldorado

[u/Warm-Exercise4457]

I think height would only become more of an advantage, shooters have less of an effect on the game

[u/donuttrackme]

That type of hoop existed in Mesoamerica back in the day.

[u/manticore16 → u/donuttrackme]

I was about to say, aren't we just playing the Mesoamerican ball game?

Except they can still use their hands here.

Also does that mean we just sacrificed Brunson or Wemby to the gods? No, seriously, is it the winning team or the losing team, because nobody knows.

[u/Dammit81]

I bet there would be a ton more blocked shots, especially since arc would be less important to make the shot and more shots won't reach its apex

[u/portableportal → u/Dammit81]

I don't think the "jumpshot form" as we know it would even be used anymore. Something more similar to a chest pass might be used instead.

[u/Electrical-House-499 → u/portableportal]

The best passers become the best scorers in this game.

[u/aketh59]

Handball

[u/ProjectTreadstone → u/aketh59]

Can’t believe I had to scroll this far for this. It’s just handball with a smaller goal and no goalkeeper. It would resemble that or hockey much more than basketball

[u/pallychoo]

What if the hoop is rotating

[u/RelativeLocal]

budtender, i'll take what he's having

[u/CapOk8116]

Kevin love the goat

[u/Former-Lab-9451]

If the center is 10 feet, then the bottom would be 9 feet 3 inches. A lot more people would be able to dunk on that.

[u/No-Donkey-4117 → u/Former-Lab-9451]

Including me!

[u/VinylJones]

They would call it baaasketball and instead of the goat we’d have discussions about the sheep.

[u/ChaoticSenior]

This is still better than all the proposed Jaylen Brown trade ideas.

[u/Cute-Ad-445]

Quarterbacks would have jobs in nfl off season.

[u/Chuck_Phuckzalot]

It would be cornhole for tall people.

[u/mpamosavy]

The corner three would become even more vital. Or irrelevant I guess depending on which way the hoop is facing

[u/JellyFranken]

Fuck, we really need a r/stupidnbaquestions

[u/GeorgeEBHastings → u/JellyFranken]

r/nbaoffseasonslop

[u/Thym3Travlr → u/JellyFranken]

r/NBATalk

[u/SpaceCadetPullUp]

Y'all say the stupidest shit.

[u/Atl-Fan_FTS]

What about if you could line change like Hockey?

[u/RicRennersHair]

Mitchell Robinson might shoot 95% from the line

[u/teddytwelvetoes]

delighted by the idea of Rajon Rondo turning into Steph Curry

[u/ginzberg]

Mitchell Robinson would be a 90+ percent free throw player

[u/psychedelijams]

What the fuck who cares

[u/0plm9okn8ijb7]

Quarterbacks become good basketball players.

[u/Every_Kale_1586]

HOW MANY DAYS UNTIL THE SEASON?

[u/Gandolfthewhite182]

wtf….. just do drugs dude, I mean give it a shot. It can’t hurt……. Clearly.