Michael Jordan, Julius Erving, Clyde Drexler, and Vince Carter

ANNOUNCER

Think of the tallest, fastest, greatest basketball players!

COMMENTATOR

Michael Jordan, Julius Erving, Clyde Drexler, and Vince Carter were four of the greatest fast break basketball players of all time! They could all finish with fantastic dunks. They were outstanding at running and gunning! They were, and are, a fearsome foursome!

ANNOUNCER

You're talking about Air Jordan, Dr. J, Phi Slama Jama™, and Vinsanity!

ANALYST

I used to love basketball, but I hate it now. Mostly, I try to watch the last two minutes of today's NBA, or of the NCAA games. In the games today, they mostly run 3-point line to 3-point line. They mostly pass the ball around the perimeter. Boring! So so boring! I remember when players used to fly!

ANNOUNCER

What can we do?

ANALYST/COMMENTATOR

We can fix basketball! We can fix basketball by playing 4-on-4 full court. We can bring back the non-stop running and excitement that we all used to enjoy. We can bring back the highlights!

The answer is math. It's analytics. What do we love? Fast break basketball. What would bring it back? Answer: Making it more likely to make two point baskets! We can do that by playing 4-on-4 full court instead of 5-on-5 full court.

Right now the NBA is sort of like this: If you make 35% of your 3-point shots, and you shoot 100 shots, that means you make 35 baskets, times 3 points, equals 105 points.

If you make 50% of your two-point shots, and you shoot 100 shots, that means you make 50 baskets, times 2 points, equals 100 points.

SO, mathematically, it's better to shoot three pointers. But, basketball would be much more exciting if it was better to dunk!

ANNOUNCER

Who would be your dream team for that historical fearsome foursome to play against?

COMMENTATOR

That's easy, it would be LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Kawhi Leonard.

ANNOUNCER

You're talking about King James, KD, the Greek Freak, and The Klaw.

COMMENTATOR

That's right! Imagine those two sets of four player teams going against each other full court! In their prime!

ANNOUNCER

But it seems strange. Why remove the two players? Why go from five-on-five to 4-on-4?

COMMENTATOR

Removing two players and playing 4-on-4 full court instead of 5-on-5 full court makes tremendous sense. Many of today's players are nearly 7-ft tall and have 7 ft wingspans. These players are essentially taking up 38 square feet of space each when they play defense. By removing two such players you are freeing up 76 square feet of space! That's a lot of space! That makes room for wide open basketball!

Suddenly, passing lanes will be open. Driving Lanes will be open for dunks. Players will make a higher percentage of two point shots!

If you make 60% of your two-point shots, and you shoot 100 shots, that means you make 60 baskets, times 2 points, equals 120 points!

Suddenly, it's way better to run and gun again! It's way better to fast break again! It's way better to go for dunks!

Fast break basketball is the kind of basketball we all used to love. It's the basketball that thrilled us. It's what we dreamed about. It's Showtime! Let's bring the chills back by playing 4-on-4 full court.

Today's basketball players all have the handles, and all have the speed, to play 4-on-4 full court. We wouldn't have to wait for the last few minutes of games for them to get exciting. The entire game would be exciting from start to finish.

ANNOUNCER

I'm with you. bring back players playing like Clyde "The Glide" Drexler and Phi Slama Jama™ as the University of Houston used to do (they own the trademark). Russell Westbrook comes to mind!

Copyright © 2019 Bradley R. Hennenfent, M.D. All rights reserved. This is an ongoing treatment and script for all media incorporating 4-on-4 full court, 3-on-3 full court, 2-on-2 full court, and 1-on-1 full court basketball.