The WNBA should use some creativity in trying to save its league. The WNBA has been ignored every season by most sports fans and there may be many reasons as to why women's basketball never caught on with the general American public.
The men of the NBA are exciting to watch not only because they are some of the best basketball players in the world, but the actual game is fast and exciting. There are dunks, alleyoops, crossovers, hard fouls, blocks, steals, and great players showcasing their special talents. The WNBA needs to lower the hoop to 8 ½ft. to take better advantage of the popular elements of the sport.
Today, maybe 3 players in the entire WNBA can dunk a basketball. Only one woman has the ability to dunk during a professional game. If more women could dunk, the game would become much more exciting. Imagine all the possibilities that a lower hoop could bring...
A female player misses a shot, but her teammate crashes the lane and completes a put-back dunk off the rebound. Imagine her excitement as she hangs on the rim like Kenyon Martin. Think of how excited her team would be after seeing such a great play. The TV broadcast would run replays and ESPN may put the dunk in the top ten plays of the night.
With women having the option of dunking on each other, the game takes on an added level of passion in its players. Women would be able to posterize each other which may cause an ego boost for the dunker and animosity for the victim. This type of emotion could result in some trash talking in response, which may also be entertaining. With a lower hoop there may be big blocked shots and fastbreaks that can end with an athletic finish that brings the fans out of their seats.
There are many elements of the game that are not utilized in women's basketball. The highlights of women's basketball today are mostly boring layups and three pointers. Fans think to themselves "Why is this a sports highlight? I can do this myself...."
Lowering the hoop would bring out elements of the game that fans desperately want to see. Basketball players enjoy dunking and setting up their teammates for dunks. If the players are enjoying themselves, then the fans will be able to feed off that enthusiasm.
That is why the WNBA gets such little support. They are doing nothing to showcase why these women are some of the greatest female athletes in the world. At a time where the WNBA is slowly being disbanded, there is no better time for the WNBA to take a chance and lower the hoop to 8 ½ft.
The WNBA definitely needs saving. And lowering the hoop would create more dunking oppurtunities but i think 8.5 is way too low. I think i could dunk on that when i was in 6th grade and im 6'4 now. I think maybe 9 feet is low enough--maybe even 9.25, that way we dont see dunks so often that it becomes boring. And boring is what is killing the WNBA.
The NBA should raise its hoop.
This has already been done before. There was a womens pro league that lowered the goal to 9 ft and it still didn't generate enough buzz.
The WNBA will be succesful when they: 1.Dunk more, 2.play in sports bras, and 3.wear shorter shorts. I should point out that #2 and #3 have worked amazingly well for the womens sports that gain the most attention: beach volleyball and soccer.
WNBA: Where Nothing Happens...
LOL SO TRUE
People who think layups and three pointers are boring are not basketball fans, and 99% of the guys who think they can play on a level with professional women are dead wrong. The Sky, a bad WNBA team, crushed a rec-league level team of men, the E-league All Stars, in the preseason 102-55.
People who enjoy watching three pointers and layups can watch middle school basketball and not pay to see professional layup makers.
For anyone who thinks 8.5 feet is too low, I believe 9 feet is too high. Anyone who dunks on nine feet knows that they can probably grab the rim on a 10' hoop. When was the last time you saw a WNBA player grab the rim? On a 9 foot hoop, women would still have a lot of trouble dunking and they would be almost no alley-oops or putback dunks.
A nine foot rim still does not solve the problem. The skill level is so bad it will never be watched by anyone. I could give a crap about dunks. I have never dunked in my life but I would destroy any wnba player. They cant shoot,dribble,pass...It is like junior high ball. The idiot 2 posts above has never played if they think the WNBA players could compete with high schoolers. They can't. They are not fundamental. The quality of play is horrible. The E League team was a bunch of entertainment stiffs. You could go to any park in Indiana in the summer and there is not one WNBA player that could score if the guys wanted to lock them down. Stop the insanity. what a weak excuse for "professional" athletes. If the league were open to men,not one female would be on a squad.