Listening to a national sports show the other day a host stated a star shooter in the NBA said that 2 basketballs would fit and go thru the basket side by side together at the same time.

I was stunned by that statement because unless they are 2 girls high school, women’s NCAA college or WNBA basketballs that is not correct. 2 boys high school, men’s NCAA college or NBA basketballs will not go thru together side by side at the same time because they will just stick together and then if he meant that you could push or punch the 2 basketballs thru, yes then they would go thru the basket together at the same time.

The basket is 18 inches in diameter and a women’s NCAA, WNBA, and GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL basketballs is 8 and 1/2 inches in diameter so 2 times 8 1/2 is 17 inches so the women’s basketballs could pass thru the rim together side by side at the same time with a quarter inch to clear on each side surrounding the 2 basketballs.

The men’s basketball at any level HS to NBA is 9 inches in diameter and 2 times 9 equals 18 so that would be a tie and both basketballs would not pass thru the basket’s rim unless you punched them thru as they would just sit side by side on the rim.

I used to use this demonstration of showing my players and campers at the shooting camps the I used to run and also when giving individual shooting lessons to illustrate to the players, campers and students that the target they were shooting at was twice as big as the object the ball that they are trying to put thru it, plus the basket is stationary.

I had a rim and would have someone hold it and I would put the 2 men’s basketballs side by side together and they would stay on the rim until I punched them then they would go thru and then show them that 2 women’s basketballs would pass thru with a quarter inch to spare on all sides of the 2 basketballs.

I would tell the campers and students that shooting a basketball thru the basket is very easy compared to a batter hitting a baseball. Here both objects are abut the same size the bat and the ball and both are moving and not only are they moving the ball can change movement as the batter attempts to hit it.

There is more room for being successful in making a basket in basketball as the ball can be off center by over 8 inches and still swish thru the net. A perfect shot with a men’s basketball which means it goes thru dead center of the basket leaves 4 1/2 inches between the ball and the rim at all points, but can be off by up to 4 more inches and still not hit the rim.

In baseball the margin of error to hit a baseball dead center with the bat to hit a line drive is much less and much harder to do.

In basketball the shooter should be aiming for the dead center of the basket and not just in front of the rim or just in front of the back off the rim because if they are off by an inch the ball will hit the rim as when aiming for the dead center middle of the rim they can be off by 8 1/2 plus inches and still make a swisher.

I was flabbergasted that this statement was made on national TV. As the NBA player was giving out wrong information and the media was doing the same thing.

It doesn’t do it in the NBA, it does in the WNBA. Maybe the Player was referring to the WNBA basketballs, but that was not what was stated by the media show personality as it was second hand from one of the show’s hosts from the NBA star player.

Maybe it was just FAKE NEWS.