Make Basketball Better - Pitch

 

Pitch: 

I strongly suggest that you invest in basketball the same way you have innovated LIV Golf so magnificently, but with an important twist, play “four-on-four” full-court basketball instead of the traditional five-on-five format.

 Reducing the number of players to four-on-four would open up the game and revive the dynamic, fast-paced, style of basketball reminiscent of the 1980s, particularly the exhilarating “Show Time basketball” and the iconic Phi-Slama-Jama® style from 1982 to 1984. Reducing the number of players to 4-on-4 would reintroduce the faster playing styles of Magic Johnson, Pistol Pete Maravich, Michael Jordan, and Dr. J, who were beloved by fans worldwide.

By playing 4-on-4 there would be more dunks, alley oops, and blocked shots including “blocked shots against the backboard,” spectacular passes including “no look passes” and “behind the back passes,” more 3-point shots, bank shots, and short-range jump shots.

 Moreover, playing 4-on-4 would make money, given that traditional 5-on-5 basketball is a worldwide, trillion-dollar industry, where amazing highlights drive advertising revenue.

I am one of five brothers, who all played basketball, and possess knowledge of the history, economics, science, and mathematics of basketball. Standing at 6 feet 4 inches tall (193 cm), I could dunk a basketball backwards, as could my 6-foot-7-inch (201 cm) brother and my 6-

foot-6-inch (198 cm) brother, both of whom played college basketball. I became a physician, a medical doctor, and my journey has given me a unique perspective on basketball.

To briefly explain the mathematics: players were 5-feet tall (152 centimeters) when basketball was invented, but today’s players are nearly 7-feet tall (213 centimeters). Because 7-foot-tall players also have 7-feet of arm reach, removing two players from the court by playing 4-on-4 creates 98 square feet (9.1 square meters) more space on the basketball court to pass the ball or drive to the basket. To be concise, today’s super-tall players take up too much space on defense.

Who is going to stop a “freight-train-like” player such as Lebron James from driving to the basket if there is 98 square feet (9.1 square meters) more room for him? No one!

The 3-point line combined with taller players and players becoming better long-distance shooters has changed today’s game. If you make 50% of 100 two-point shots you score 100 points, but if you make 50% of 100 three-point shots you score 150 points. These are today’s approximate shooting percentages, and they have resulted in walking from 3-point line to 3-point line and moving in a semi-circle around the 3-point line, which is boring compared to high-speed dramatic fast break full-court basketball. 

The 3-point shot is so valuable in today’s game, one college team, Grinnell College, shot 111 three-pointers in a single game. NBA teams are often shooting 40 three pointers per game. Keeping the 3-point line while reducing the number of players to 4-on-4 will allow players to make 75% of their 2-point shots from running full court basket-to-basket, doing alley oops, and shooting shorter distance jump shots and bank shots. Both 2-point shots and 3-point shots will be equally valuable again, but the best fast break teams will have the advantage.

This proposal represents a revolutionary transformation for basketball. The resulting increase in dunks, alley-oops, “no look passes,” shot blocks, and fast breaks while keeping the 3-point shot, will elevate each game’s entertainment value, leading to each team scoring over 200 points per game instead the 100 points per game they score today.

Today, there is a surplus of great players who can dribble the basketball like a guard and dunk. Even the center for the Denver Nuggets, the 6-foot 11 inch (211 cm), Nikola Jokić, sometimes plays point guard.

 The passion and love for the game among the surplus players, who have no professional league to play in, could facilitate the 4-on-4 league’s establishment. Players would be willing

to play for free during the league’s inception, or in tournaments, because basketball players have so much passion for playing ball. Players love to hoop! In fact, many basketball players considered “average players” in the USA could blossom into highlight producing super-stars when playing 4-on-4 instead of 5-on-5. A player who could thrive playing 4-on-4 is the 2023 NBA Slam Dunk Contest champion, Mac McClung. He’s already gone from the NBA. He’s only 6’ 2” tall (182 cm), but he is a human highlight reel because of his incredible dunking ability. But when playing 5-on-5 there are too many 7-foot-tall giants defending the basket. Mac McClung needs more space on the court to create highlights. He needs the 4-on-4 game.

 Other players could be recruited from the end of their NBA career, like Russell Westbrook, who has recently been demoted from the starting line-up. He would thrive when playing 4-on-4, because he is a natural “run-and-gun dunker” who needs extra space to be a superstar again.

Fans around the world of the trillion-dollar basketball industry deserve a better product than walking from 3-point line to 3-point line, stepping backwards, and moving sideways around the 3-point line. Fans need more running, points, dunks, alley oops, blocks against the backboard, and more hard-to-believe, thrilling passes.

Four-on-four basketball could easily compete with the NBA and the NCAA Colleges for sports highlights by creating tournaments, games, TV shows, and even a reality TV show about the start-up of a business to do 4-on-4. It would all work, because 4-on-4 basketball is more spectacular.

Fans love basketball so much they could act as the press and create publicity by posting highlights using their cell phones. Advertisements could be automatically attached to video clips of highlights. Four-on-four basketball could be done inexpensively if advantage is taken of every good idea.

Mathematics and analytics predict success, so I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible by Gmail, or regular mail, and my telephone number is available by request: