Talk:Three seconds rule

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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)[reply]

Merger proposal

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

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)[reply]