Talk:Three seconds rule

Reason for rule
The game in 1936 may well have been the stimulus for this rule, but from the sketchy explanation given here, I don't see a connection. The description suggests that NYU played very rough on defense, while the refs swallowed the whistle. A 3 second rule would have little effect on this, even today, sometimes refs get accused of letting one team get away with extensive fouling.

As a former HS official, the explanation I always got was that the rule was to reduce "cherry picking" by forcing offensive players to station themselves outside the lane and hence further from the basket. I think some further explanation is needed as to what was going on in this game that the 3 second rule addressed. Wschart (talk) 13:23, 12 September 2011 (UTC)

Merger proposal
I propose that Defensive_three-second_violation be merged into Three seconds rule. Páraic Maguire 09:21, 18 April 2016 (UTC)


 * I disagree. The defensive three-second rule is totally different in concept and intent.  The defensive rule is just in the American NBA, and is intended to keep teams from running a de facto zone defense by defenders sagging too far from their match-up in order to also protect the lane.  It is meant to keep the games high-scoring and entertaining.  The offensive rule is in place at all levels of basketball, and is to prevent big players from camping out under the basket to get high passes or rebounds without giving the defense a chance to deny or box out.Pete71 (talk) 16:06, 24 April 2017 (UTC)

This is wrong! Anyone who has watched basketball for a long time knows this!! The three second rule came into the NBA in 1936.

Evidence: I'll start with other wikipedia articles! In this article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_of_basketball#Shot_clock_and_time_limits, the correct rule is stated: 'In 1936 the three-second rule was introduced. This rule prohibits offensive players from remaining near their opponents' basket for longer than three seconds (the precise restricted area is also known as the lane or the key).' Another https://thesportsrush.com/nba-news-nba-3-second-rule-what-is-the-3-second-rule-on-offensive-end-complete-explanation/ article:  'Introduced in 1936, it is one of the major reasons why big men are unable to camp under the basket and convert alley-oops all the time.'  This document also confirms this: https://www.worldofbasketball.org/basketball-rules.htm, it says: 'In 1936 the three-second rule was introduced.'

This document 'https://cdn.nba.net/nba-drupal-prod/nba-rules-changes-history.pdf' goes through the history of rule changes. There is no mention of a rule change in 2001-2002. Note however that in 1951-1952 the lane was increased from 6 feet to 12 feet (not mentioned in the article, it was done to try to stop George Mikan). Why would they increase the size of the lane if there wasn't a three second rule in place for another 50 years? Note that the article does mention 1964-1965 the lane was widened from 12 feet to 16 feet, and specifically says that it was done to stop Wilt Chamberlain. Again, how would widening the lane impact the game if there weren't a three second violation until 2001-2002? This blog https://blog.barrystickets.com/nba-rule-changes-over-the-years/ does mention Mikan '1951-52 The Lane was changed from six feet to 12 feet wide because of the dominance of the sports first big man George Mikan.' It also mentions Chamberlain '1964-65 Wilt Chamberlain the next dominate big man leads to the lane being widened from 12 to 16 feet.' This article http://www.orangehoops.org/NCAA/NCAA%20Rule%20Changes.htm shows that the NCAA adopted the 3 second rule in 1935-1936.

My third line of proof - please somebody watch tape of a game from back then! There is a reason why Wilt, Kareem, Moses, etc. camp on the end of the lane! 47.20.115.206 (talk) 19:43, 8 February 2021 (UTC)

Timeline and Quality
This article is an absolute mess. It says the rule was introduced in 1990, then immediately contradicts that and says it was introduced in 1936, then talks at length about a 1945 game without even explaining why that game influenced the three second rule. I want to know when the rule was introduced and why, and this does neither. 2601:281:8080:F90:FE5:EE3B:AC51:909D (talk) 20:31, 23 April 2023 (UTC)