Breakaway Rim

• Outline
  • Gameplay
  • Positions
  • Equipment
  • Official
  • Violations
  • Fouls
  • Strategy
• Techniques and Practices
  • Basketball Moves
  • Shooting
  • Layups
  • Slam Dunks
  • Posting Up
  • Rebounding
  • Passing
  • Dribbling
  • Blocking
  • Triple Threat Position
• Positions
  • Point Guard (PG)
  • Shooting Guard (SG)
  • Small Forward (SF)
  • Power Forward (PF)
  • Center (C)

A breakaway rim is a basketball rim that can bend slightly downward when a player dunks a basketball, and then instantly snap back into a horizontal position when the player releases it. It allows players to dunk the ball without shattering the backboard, and it reduces the possibility of wrist injuries. Breakaway rims were invented in the mid-1970s and are now an essential element of high-level basketball.

In the early days of basketball, dunking was considered ungentlemanly, and was rarely used outside of practice or warm-up drills. A broken backboard or distorted rim could delay a game for hours. During the 1970s, however, players like Julius Erving and David Thompson of the American Basketball Association popularized the dunk with their athletic flights to the basket, increasing the demand for flexible rims.

While several men claim to have created the breakaway rim, Arthur Ehrat is recognized as the inventor by the Smithsonian Institution's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention & Innovation. A resident of Lowder, Illinois, Ehrat worked at a grain elevator for most of his life and barely knew anything about basketball. In 1975, his nephew, an assistant basketball coach at Saint Louis University, asked him to help design a rim that could support slam dunks. Using a spring from a John Deere cultivator, Ehrat designed a rim that could bend and spring back after 125 pounds of force were applied to it. He called his device "The Rebounder". In 1982, he was awarded a patent for his invention, which was officially called a "deformation-preventing swingable mount for basketball goals".

The breakaway rim was first used by the NCAA during the 1978 Final Four in St. Louis. Although Darryl Dawkins notoriously shattered two backboards with his dunks in 1979, the old-style bolted rim structure was not phased out of the National Basketball Association (NBA)The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and is considered the premier professional basketball league in the world. The NBA was created on August 3, 1949, with the merger of the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and the National Basketball League (NBL). The league later adopted the BAA's history and considers its founding on June 6, 1946, as its own.National Basketball Association (NBA) until the 1981–82 season, when breakaway rims debuted as a uniform equipment upgrade.

• Outline
  

  SPORTS WORLD

  Basketball

  The object of the game is to outscore one's opponents by throwing the ball through the opponents' basket from above while preventing the opponents from doing so on their own. An attempt to score in this way is called a shot. A successful shot is worth two points, or three points if it is taken from beyond the three-point arc 6.75 metres (22 ft 2 in) from the basket in international games and 23 feet 9 inches (7.24 m) in NBA games. A one-point shot can be earned when shooting from the foul line after a foul is made.

  Rules and Regulations

  Gameplay: A jump ball is a method used to begin or resume play in basketball. Two opposing players attempt to gain control of the ball after it is tossed up into the air in between them by an official.

  Positions: During the early years of basketball's evolution, two guards, two forwards, and one center were used.

  Equipment: The only essential equipment in a basketball game is the ball and the court: a flat, rectangular surface with baskets at opposite ends.

  Official: Basketball is regarded as among the most difficult sports to officiate due to the fast speed of play, the complexity of rules that must be followed, the unique case-specific interpretations of rules, and the instantaneous judgement required.

  Violations: The ball must stay within the court; the last team to touch the ball before it travels out of bounds forfeits possession. The ball is out of bounds if it touches a boundary line, or touches any player or object that is out of bounds.

  Fouls: An attempt to unfairly disadvantage an opponent through certain types of physical contact is illegal and is called a personal foul.

  Strategy: The playbook starts as a canvas picture of the basketball court with all its boundaries and lines. On top of that, the playmaker can draw O's for players on offense, and X's for players on defense.

• Techniques and Practices
  

  SPORTS WORLD

  Techniques and Practices

  Basketball moves are generally individual actions used by players in basketball to pass by defenders to gain access to the basket or to get a clean pass to a teammate to score a two pointer or three pointer. Basketball Moves »

  Shooting: Shooting is the act of attempting to score points by throwing the ball through the basket, methods varying with players and situations.

  Slam dunks: A slam dunk, also dunk or dunk shot, is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air, controls the ball(s) above the horizontal plane of the rim, and scores by putting the ball directly through the basket with one or both hands.

  Rebounding: Rebounds in basketball are a routine part in the game, as all possessions change after a shot is successfully made, or the rebound allows the defensive team to take possession.

  Passing: A pass is a method of moving the ball between players. Most passes are accompanied by a step forward to increase power and are followed through with the hands to ensure accuracy.

  Dribbling: Dribbling is the act of bouncing the ball continuously with one hand, and is a requirement for a player to take steps with the ball.

  Blocking: In basketball, a block or blocked shot occurs when a defensive player legally deflects a field goal attempt from an offensive player.

RESOURCES
This article uses material from the Wikipedia articles "Basketball", "Breakaway Rim", "National Basketball Association" which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.