RODUCTION W hile baseball has long been considered the American national pastime and foot ball the most watched televised sport in the country basketball conceived entirely by Massachusetts physical education instruc tor James Naismith is also a truly American institution From casual one on one games in a gym to international Olympic level compe titions shooting hoops has come to occupy a unique place on the both the American and international cultural landscapes This vol ume examines the history of this much loved form of recreation and introduces some of the game changing professional players whose abilities have elevated the artistry of the game At first glance basketball does not seem to be a complicated sport As its name suggests the key components of a basketball game are a ball and a basket into which the ball must be thrown in order to score points the actual peach baskets used in early games were later
INTRODUCTION replaced with the open hoops in use today However a number of elements add a cer tain amount of drama to each game Within a short amount of time after gaining possession of the ball each team must attempt to sink a shot into the basket that the opposing team is defending Various offensive and defensive strategies may be employed throughout the course of a game The press for example is a defensive strategy often used to force the opposition to hurry its movements and to commit errors that result in turnovers Originally designed as an indoor game for Naismith s students to play in the winter bas ketball has since evolved in many respects Although it is still enjoyed by students and casual athletes both indoors and out its national and international appeal has esca lated dramatically The National Basketball Association NBA can be credited with much of this change While it competed with other professional leagues in its early years it even tually emerged as the primary professional league for male players in the United States and
BASKETBALL AND ITS GREATEST PLAYERS transformed the game With increased visibil ity and popularity both at home and abroad the NBA's teams and players have sold out are nas and attracted new generations of fans With basketball quickly gaining traction around the country after its introduction it was only a matter of time before women and international players took to the court Women's teams emerged soon after men's teams and basketball has thus retained pop ularity among women nearly as long as it has men Like the men's game women s basketball has undergone a number of modifications over the years The establishment of the Women s A F KED ITZ The first basketball court was set up in this Springfield Mass gymna sium in 1891 by James Naismith Hulton Archive Getty Images
INTRODUCTION National Basketball Association WNBA in 1997 as the primary professional league for female players in the United States cemented the presence of women s games on national television and made the game accessible to wider audiences International teams and players have similarly adopted the game and helped make basketball aglobal phenomenon Although basketball is a team sport that in many ways demands that the whole be greater than the sum of its parts individual players have been critical to advancing the sport and introducing new moves and dynamics to the game After all one can hardly mention bas ketball without recalling the acrobatics of Michael Jordan or Air Jordan as he aptly came to be known The icons of today Shaquille O Neal Kobe Bryant LeBron James to name a few owe much to the generations of ath letes who preceded them and have continued their legacy of innovation in exciting fashion From its humble beginnings in a school gym to selling out Madison Square Garden basket ball has endured and evolved immensely in the years since its invention Still it retains muchof its original character and stands as a testament to the imagination of one teacher as much as it does to the dedication of the remarkable play ers that have reinvented the idea of skill
