How do they change the paint on a basketball court

How They Do It: Pulling Off Today’s Bold Basketball Floors

Larger-than-life metallic Spartans on the new San Jose State University basketball floor created an out-of-the-box challenge for United Floor Services Inc. (Courtesy San Jose State University)

Not long ago, gym floor specialists were known mainly for their ability to travel long distances to a job, use their riding sanders to sand vast expanses of maple, paint their lines and walk miles back and forth to get finish on the floor. It wasn't a niche involving much creativity or imagination, and, except for painting the lines, it didn't require much finesse, either.

Times have changed. While coating gyms still involves a lot of walking, what happens before that final coat could hardly be called boring. Today's basketball courts are in-your-face, with huge logos and other wild graphics that are all about branding. Many people date this trend to the University of Oregon floor that debuted in 2010 (more on that in the sidebar "Into the Woods" below), with its forest of tall fir trees that broke the mold of traditional floors and even led to rule changes in the NCAA.

The effects have been far-reaching. While many NBA floors remain tame in comparison, NCAA floors seem to compete to outdo each other, and high schools and even junior highs and grade schools are catching on to the trend. How do wood floor pros execute the crazy designs? HF talked to some gym floor specialists to find out.

United Services Inc.

United Services Inc. in Idaho Falls, Idaho, has a long history of doing basketball floors, but they really put themselves on the map when they created the University of Oregon floor in 2010 (see the "Into the Woods" at the end of this article). They've done many tricky designs since then, but the most elaborate one was this San Jose State University Spartans floor.

The new floor design originated with the coach, who had previously been at Boise State, known for its bold branding, including its "Smurf Turf" blue football field and its basketball floor with huge bronco heads inside the three-point lines. The coach wanted the same kind of branding for his court at San Jose State.

"They said, 'We want these Spartans faux-painted on the floor,'" United Services' General Manager Shane Matheson says. "We had to figure out what that was! On top of that they picked these metallic paints—golds, coppers, silvers—that are impossible for anything to stick to."

Once they had an image of the Spartans they liked, it was created in Adobe Illustrator. To convince the client they could actually create the design on a floor, United created an 8-foot sample. With that proof in hand and client approval, the outlines of the design were transferred to the plotter to create stencils—many, many stencils. The stencils are carefully adhered to the gym floor and have layers, so when one paint area is dry, a section can be removed and another area painted. This process can go on repeatedly depending on the complexity of the graphic.

'Countless layers' of paint and transfer paper, along with three artists, were necessary to complete the Spartans graphics on the San Jose State University basketball floor.

The main Spartan graphic is 27 feet tall and 48 feet wide. The first stencil created the general outline of the Spartans for the base color. At that point three artists went to work on the graphic at the same time, using stencils along with faux painting techniques. "We put the base paint layers down, pull the vinyl up, then take transfer paper—what they use on top of vinyl—and put that on top of it and cut it," Matheson explains. "It was countless layers of paint and transfer paper and cutting by hand."

The client wanted the graphic to be perfect, and the artists on the floor, including United's Project Supervisor Nathan Banks, were perfectionists, too. When the desired effects—texture of the skin, cracks in the old pounded brass armor—in some small sections didn't look right, they sanded it off and started all over again.

Because the paints were metallic, they presented particular challenges. In addition to the fact that Matheson found "not only does it look like gold, it costs like gold," due to its composition, the appearance of the paint would change depending on direction of the brush strokes. So, the crew had to airbrush the metallic paints. Sometimes one of the artists would stand on a 16-foot ladder to direct the others during airbrushing so they could be sure to get the correct overall effect. They employed stippling techniques—using small dots—and also sprayed on highlights and shadows to make the floor pop.

Adhesion was always on their minds, Matheson says, adding that they knew the college would be taping a volleyball court over the Spartans graphic on a regular basis, so the crew was religious about making sure each paint and finish layer would be correctly bonded.

{rblink 2331}One of the biggest challenges was hand-abrading the entire graphic, Matheson says. ("I've seen guys spend hours hand-painting a logo and then run a buffer over it and ruin it," he says.) Then a sealer with "very good adhesion characteristics" was used to coat the graphic before the buffers abraded the rest of the floor.

"If you get close to them the details are incredible. You can see sweat, patina, cracks in the armor. When we were done they said, 'That is so much better than our expectations,'" Matheson says.

By comparison, the rest of the floor was easy. The large logo was painted—a routine process for them—and inside the three-point lines, the maple floor was stained. Although Matheson says the first time they ever stained a maple floor it turned out "nasty," by now they have their process—involving not sanding to too high of a grit, conditioning and water-popping the floor correctly—down to a science.

The university ships the court back to United every year to touch up and recoat, not risking damage to the floor that cost at least $250,000.

Pulling off a floor like this takes decades of accumulated experience, Matheson says. "It's a team effort to do it—all the way from the selling of it, to the design of it, to the execution and maintenance of it. It just takes a lot of people to do this, and everything has to fall in line."

More photos of this United Services project:

Praters Athletic Flooring

'We really pushed the limits of what paints and sealers can do with this one,' says Praters' Mark Frainie of the 2016 Women's ACC Championship court.

From its facility in Chattanooga, Tenn., Praters ships wild basketball floors all across the country. "Facilities don't get to sand their court down to bare wood very often. When they do, we encourage them to do something different, and we allow them to push the limits of court design by working with our design department. 'Whatever they want' is our attitude; let's make this particular facility a showplace," says President John Prater. "It doesn't matter whether it's the NCAA or a high school or the NBA, it's the same approach."

In the last couple years, the company has come to embrace the technique of using paint colors within their sealer coats, because the trend right now is for clients to want to see the grain of the floor. "That allows you to get any color of the rainbow, including colors that aren't traditional stain colors," Prater says. The technique also allows the company to match Pantone Matching System colors—a typical request for universities and schools particular about their branding—with the transparent look of a stain but without the need to use a traditional painted logo or other graphic. For earth tones, the company adds a concentrated dye in the sealer, and for other colors, paint is mixed with the sealer. "It gives us a lot more creative flexibility," Prater says.

It does require more work in doing samples, however. Matching a PMS color with paint is straightforward since the paint is opaque. Matching a PMS color in a sealer requires lots of sampling and back and forth to get approval, since the color of the natural wood becomes a factor, and typically the colors used must be darker than the end color to compensate for the lightness of the maple.

There's a fallback when using pigments in sealers, too. "If it's absolutely horrible, I can always paint over it," Prater says. Because it doesn't penetrate the wood like a stain does, it tends to not bleed as much, and if the client ends up not liking it, you can "buzz it off with a sander real quick," he adds.

{rblink 2144}Either way, the technique is not a good one for a typical residential contractor to use since any areas with more or less finish show the color darker or lighter. It works on these types of jobs because there are no start or stop marks—the sealer application starts and stops on the masked area, or is simply pulled straight wall to wall.

No example of this technique shows it off better than the elaborate 2016 Women's ACC Championship court. The ACC had a good idea of what they wanted for their design; it features large geometric shapes, with blended blue, green and pink shades across the three-point areas, "as if they were painted by a giant artist's hand," says Praters Creative Director Mark Frainie. "We really pushed the limits of what paints and sealers can do with this one, as well as the techniques used for application," adding that when they first got the design concept, they weren't sure how they would achieve it.

The initial process for the new portable floor was typical: It was assembled in Praters' facility and sanded, then coated with two coats of sealer. Then three-point lines were striped, and three colors of pigmented sealer were applied using an 18-inch T-bar with a nylon foam pad. During application, the T-bar was treated "as if it were a huge paintbrush," and all the color was applied at one time—so there was only one shot to get the colors right. And it had to be done quickly to keep the product workable. It was not for the faint of heart, says Prater. After the pigmenting, the logos and lettering were applied, buffed and the final coat(s) were applied. "At the end of the day, the floor looked just like the picture—which is always nice!" Prater says.

More photos from these Praters projects:

Sportstech Flooring

'You've just got to know what you're doing and be confident in what you're doing ... We've made mistakes; everybody does. It's part of the learning process,' says Andrew Ledford, project manager at Sportstech Flooring.

Complicated staining and dying jobs along with big graphics aren't just for NCAA and NBA floors. The trend has reached down to pre-collegiate levels, too, and companies like Sportstech Flooring in Tulsa, Okla., make their living specializing in gym floors in their region, handling all the design work, artwork and printing of stencils in-house. At Sportstech, "we probably do about 150 screen and coats per year and probably have 12 new floors going in this year," says Outside Salesperson Kathryn Gould.

The floor at Nathan Hale High School in Tulsa, Okla., (shown above) is a great example of how even high schools are taking a more modern approach with their basketball floors. The fixed maple floor was sanded and screened, and tape was laid down for the lines for the lanes and three-point arc. The lanes and basketball circles were premasked to leave only the three-point arc exposed. A white stain was mixed with sealer and applied to the three-point arc with a T-bar. After at least four hours of dry time, they peeled up the premasks in the key and premasked everything around the basketball circles, then coated those with sealer with a brown tint. The next day they peeled everything up, ran a maroon pad over all of it to knock down the grain and sealed the entire floor with two coats of sealer without any color.

Once the seal coats were dry, the floor was screened because "paint has to have something to stick to," says Sportstech Project Manager Andrew Ledford. This logo was relatively easy, he says, because it was only white and gray. "Whenever we do a stencil, painting the outline is first, and then we just work different colors one at a time," he explains. So the white was painted, and, once dry, the areas were cut out for the gray paint. Each color had at least two coats of paint. "After it's all set, you pull all the premask up and you have a single logo," Ledford says.

"If you don't do it a lot, it's easy to get lost in a logo," Ledford says. "You might pull the wrong color. If you're using paint, it's easier, because you can repaint with the right color. If it's stain, you're done for and you have to resand." Once the logo and lines were painted, the entire floor was abraded and the topcoats are applied for a completed floor.

Ledford says he is happy to see the trend toward using stains and tints that show the grain in the wood. "A while ago, every customer thought the more paint they had on the floor, the better it looked," he says. "But paint just sits on top, and you have to worry about scuff marks."

See the Basketball Courts of the Top 12 Seeded Teams in March Madness

March 16, 2022

In The Paint Basketball

Home>Sports>Basketball>Basketball Glossary

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Table of Contents

• The Paint
• How Big Is the Paint in Basketball?
• History and Rules
• Gameplay
• FAQ

The Paint

The paint in basketball is a rectangular area on the court extending from the foul line to the baseline with perpendicular lane lines enclosing the shape.  It is also known as the “foul lane'' or “the key,” for short.

The paint gets its name from the shading done on courts to denote its shape. Attached to the paint are the blocks where players line up for free throws. The low blocks are a common spot for players to post up.

Different leagues have slightly different shapes and markings for the paint. The NBA and FIBA have a restricted area within the paint, but the NCAA does not. This arc denotes where a player is unable to draw a charge from. There is also a dotted semicircle within the paint for leagues that do not use alternating possessions, like the NBA.

How Big Is the Paint in Basketball?

The size of the paint varies among basketball leagues. In the NBA and the WNBA, the paint is 16 feet wide and 19 feet long, with the foul line painted 15 feet from the backboard. In NCAA play, the paint is the same length, with the foul line in the same position, but it is narrower, at 12 feet wide. 

History and Rules

In basketball, certain rules apply to the paint.  Violating these rules can lead to a technical foul or turnover, depending on which team possesses the ball.

NBA Basketball Paint Violations

Unless actively guarding a player, defensive players are forbidden from standing inside the paint for more than three seconds. This deters having a player in a zone scheme who just stands underneath the basket. This violation results in a technical foul. Offensive players are also not allowed to stay in the paint for more than three seconds, and this infraction results in a turnover.

NCAA Basketball Paint Violations

In NCAA basketball, there is no defensive three-second violation. This allows teams to use a zone scheme on defense, which typically features a defender roaming the middle of the paint. However, there are still offensive three-second violations in NCAA basketball, with the same rules as the NBA.

FIBA Basketball Paint

Similar to NCAA basketball, FIBA basketball does not penalize defensive players for standing in the paint for more than three seconds.  Consistent with most other leagues worldwide, FIBA rules state that an offensive player may not stand in the paint for more than three seconds. 

Gameplay

Since players are more likely to make shots closer to the basket, a common statistic noted is points in the paint (PITP). The NBA also records an advanced statistic called paint touches, which averages a player’s number of possessions in the paint per game. Teams that can outscore their opponent inside typically have a better chance of winning the basketball game.

FAQ

What is the paint in basketball?

The paint itself is the rectangular colored area directly surrounding the basket. It has four hash marks extending from it for players to line up on during free throws. The paint’s width varies depending on the league; in the NBA, the lane is 16 feet, and in college, it is 12 feet. 

What is the purpose of the paint in basketball?

The paint allows referees to more easily officiate the game by making a colored area where they can clearly enforce certain rules.  The paint is also a reference for players to position themselves both on offense and defense. Plays are drawn up where players need to be in certain spots on the court, and the paint is an easy reference point.

What are the rules of being in the paint?

There are rules regarding how long a player can stand still in the paint. In the NBA, defensive and offensive players are only allowed to stay inside the paint for a maximum of three seconds before exiting the paint. However, players may exit and then immediately re-enter the paint as often as they want. An exception to this rule is that defensive players can stay as long as they want if they are within arm's length of an offensive player. In NCAA and high school basketball, only offensive players are prohibited from standing in the paint for more than three seconds. These rules are in place to deter players from standing in the paint for an entire possession and not moving around the court.

In basketball, what does it mean to “go hard in the paint”?

The phrase “going hard in the paint” is a common term in basketball, which is used to define a situation where a player is advancing aggressively towards the basket in an attempt to score, by necessity passing through the paint.  In basketball, being “in the paint” refers to when a player positions themselves in the area of the court known as the paint, which is the shaded rectangular area surrounding the basket. The paint is also known as the lane, key, and free throw lane.

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In the name of the law. 25 rules named after basketball players - Blogg on the floor - Blogs

Basketball is a young and developing game. The inventor of basketball, James Naismith, wrote a set of only 13 rules, and now there are an order of magnitude more. In fact, basketball in the form familiar to us did not appear at all until the 80s, with the introduction of the three-point line in the NBA. And what rules have not been added or changed over the history of the development of sports - from dribbling the ball to technical fouls.

Some of these new rules ended up being referred to - formally and informally - by the name of the player (coach, owner) who most influenced the establishment of this rule. If we add to the game rules the amendments that were made to the laws of basketball management, then we can collect a whole list of “nominal” basketball rules.

Game Rules

George Mikan Rule

George Mikan is the most dominant player in the history of the sport. No other athlete has influenced such a huge number of rule changes. Of course, some of the new rules had to be named after Maikan. It is erroneously believed that the "George Mikan Rule" is the double width of the "paint" to 12 feet (3.7 m), established in 1951 - it was introduced so that the great center could not calmly dwell at the ring, easily avoiding violation of the rule of three seconds.

However, this change is not what is called the "George Mikan Rule". As they don’t call it, the 24-second rule, which was also introduced largely because of George, didn’t want to transfer possession to the Lakers, being afraid of easy points from Mikan, so they simply “killed” time.

Mikan's authentic rule is just goaltending. Back in the NCAA, the center was a colossus in defensive play. At that time, a player with a height of 2.08, especially among students, was a rarity. Maikan used his advantage and simply brushed off all the balls flying into the DePaul Blue Demons basket. At 19In 44, they decided to stop this disgrace, and the NCAA, and after it the NBL (the NBA had not yet formed) introduced the “George Mikan Rule” - the ball that passed the highest point of the throw trajectory must not be touched by the defending side. Later, the name "Bill Russell's rule" was also attached to this law, but in 1944 Russell was 10 years old, and he could hardly brush the ball out of the ring so easily.

Wilt Chamberlain's rule

Goaltending in offense was limited only in 1958 and also at first in student competitions, and then only adopted in the NBA. Wilt Chamberlain was the same Mikan, only more maneuverable, and therefore much more dangerous. He could turn any throw from a teammate into a scoring pass with a sharp jump. So in basketball they introduced the "Wilt Chamberlain Rule" - now no one had the right to touch the ball sinking into the basket.

By the way, a year later, the NBA introduced its own "Wilt Rule" - just before Chamberlain entered the league. In pursuit of goaltending, the NBA banned players from crossing the foul line when taking a free throw - otherwise Wilt could have dunked from the free throw line. The NBA feared Wilt like hell because they didn't want to turn into a one-man league, and even before he appeared in the Association, they introduced several restrictive rules.

Lew Elsindor Rule

Another rule that appeared in the NCAA that was designed to contain the dominant center was the Lew Elsindor rule. At 218 cm tall, with incredibly long arms and the agility of a martial artist, Lew was too tall and fast for the minors who took care of him. Now, in the college games, Elsindor was forbidden to throw the ball from above. Everyone else, however, too.

The dunking ban, referred to as the "Lew Elsindor Rule", lasted in the NCAA until 1976; by that time, Elsindor had long become Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, had 4 NBA MVPs, and had even already played for the Lakers.

The Michael Jordan rule

Where would we be without Michael? In 1987, the NBA introduced a rule that no more than two attacking players could be on the weak side of the court if they were behind a line drawn parallel to the front from the top of the circle around the foul line.

Got this geometry? Excellent.

The rule was introduced, it is believed that the game does not consist of Jordan one-on-one with all the other Bulls just waiting in the center of the court so that the opponent does not run into a fast break in the attack and interfere with "His Air" to play aizo.

Magic Johnson Rule

Sad rule. If a basketball player has blood - on the body or on the form - the game stops, and the basketball player is instantly replaced.

The Trent Tucker Rule

In the 1989/90 season, the NBA introduced tenths of a second for the first time. That same season, Madison Square Garden hosted a regular season game between Ewing's Knicks and Jordan's Bulls. The stubborn meeting was coming to an end, and with one tenth of a second before the end of the meeting, the score was equal. The Knicks were throwing the ball in after a timeout, and both teams were preparing for the only obvious combination - throwing the ball from out of bounds directly to the ring. But Mark Jackson did not throw at Ewing, but passed to Trent Tucker, who ran out into the arc and was not guarded by anyone, who managed to catch the ball, turn around and accurately throw. And all this in 0.1 seconds.

The Bulls did not believe Tucker's rate of fire and began to protest, but the timekeepers and referees of that meeting firmly stood their ground. Rod Thorn, ex-GM Chicago and vice president of the NBA at that time decided to listen to the protests of the Chicagoans. According to him, previous tests showed that the minimum time required for a player to make a throw is three tenths of a second.

Since then, a clause has been introduced into the basketball rulebook: if the timer shows 0.2 or 0.1 seconds, then the player can no longer gain control of the ball, and therefore the only option to shoot the ball into the basket is to redirect it to the ring with one touch . The rule was named after the last player who managed to get around this law.

The next NBA game-winning shot under 3 tenths of a second was in 2006—coincidentally, it was again made by a Knicks player (David Lee) at Madison Square Garden, and the participants in that same bout Tucker in 1990, Ewing, Jordan and Oakley were among the spectators in the arena at that moment.

The John Starks Rule

As usual, the last seconds of games are crucial for the Knicks. In 1994, in the final series of the Knicks - Rockets, an incident happened. In Game 3 of the Finals, New York trailed three points in the final seconds, and a streak-flopping John Starks prepared to level the score with a three-point shot. But Olajuwon fouled him on the shot, and there was a hole in the basketball rules: for any throwing foul, only two free throws were allowed. Starks hit both, but the Knicks lost.

Starting next season, the NBA has amended the rules so that players who get fouled on a three-point shot now shoot three free throws instead of two.

Rule Brand Jackson

Oh, those '90s Knicks! No rule seems to go without their name. However, it is this NBA rule that has a second name - the “Charles Barkley rule”. Its essence lies in the fact that the player does not have the right to dribble the ball for more than five seconds with his back to the ring, if he is close to the basket (between the front and the penalty line). Jackson's height and dexterous hands, and in the case of Barkley, a wide butt back, allowed them to calmly control the ball, pushing closer to the ring.

« I had to do something to counter the fast defenders, and I used my height to my advantage - I stood with my back to the opponent and started pushing. Then the league decided to ban it, I still don't know why - it's better for me to ban frisky players from overtaking opponents ” .

Rasheed Wallace Rules

When the NBA began to be more meticulous about the behavior of players and issue them penalties left and right in 2010, this set of new bans began to be called after the expressive Sheedy.

* * *

Basketball rules are usually amended consciously, deliberately, gradually. But in the basketball business, any precedent can lead to a dramatic change in the rules. A large number of rules, clauses and amendments in the Collective Agreement are also named after players - most of them, of course, unofficially.

Business Rules

The Ted Stepien Rule

The CBA's most famous "nominal" rule bears the name of the team owner, Ted Stepien, not the player. In the early 80s, this eccentric man managed the Clevelands and managed to trade all his draft picks; one of them sent to the Lakers ended up being James Worthy.

Since then, the league, in an effort to keep teams safe from negligent owners, has imposed restrictions on draft pick trading. The club is now unable to trade first-round picks in two consecutive future drafts. Thus, if a team now trades its first pick in the 2014 draft, it cannot change its first-round pick in 2015. Otherwise, Prokhorov would have given up all his picks a long time ago right up to the 2020 draft.

Oscar Robertson Rule

B 19In 1970, the NBA Players Union, led by Oscar Robertson, sued the NBA. The main thing that the players wanted was to prevent the NBA and ABA from merging, but, in addition, the lawsuit included demands to introduce the institution of unlimited free agents and reform the draft.

After 6 years, the parties agreed, and the opportunity to change the team of their own free will after the expiration of the contract began to be called the “Oscar Roberston rule”, which by that time had ended his career. It's hard to believe, but until 19For 76 years, the athletes were in an iron grip with the team owners - even if the contract ended, the player might not be allowed to go to another club. However, even after 1976 until the end of the 80s, all players became only limited free agents, with the right of teams to repeat the terms of the contract and keep the player.

But the leagues still united.

Danny Manning Rule

A minor rule, also called the "Mario Chalmers Rule", has been in place in the NCAA since 2010: undergraduate programs that hire people from prep colleges, schools, or amateur teams on their coaching staff are now banned for two years to recruit players from these teams - this is considered blasphemy. Al Manning and Ronnie Chalmers were assistant coaches at the University of Kansas when Danny (at 1988) and Mario (in 2008) became NCAA champions.

Moses Malone Rule

One of the strangest NCAA regulations involves high school competition: high school students are not allowed to compete in more than two show competitions—all-stars, bowls, and so on. This rule appeared in the 1970s, after schoolboy Moses Malone played in 14 different "all-star matches" in 1974. The same rule applies to football.

Student Byrd Rule

Another NCAA rule states that a player who has entered the NBA draft cannot return to college. It is sometimes mistakenly believed that it is in the NBA that there are such restrictions - in fact, the NBA rules allow players to go back to the NCAA, but only the student association does not take it back.

In 1978, Byrd was selected in the NBA draft, but decided to stay with Indiana State for another year. Later, the rules for entering the draft and the opportunity to return to college were supplemented and refined many times (for example, Voshon Lenard was selected at 1994, but returned to the University of Minnesota for a year), but since 2003 Byrd's rule has been clear: if a player is selected in the NBA draft, he has no option to return to the NCAA.

Larry Bird Exception

Larry is so cool that two laws are named after him. The second is an amendment to the rules of the NBA Collective Agreement on free agents, thanks to which the current NBA with its soft salary cap exists.

In the 80s the ceiling was hard. And one day at 19In '83, the Celtics were faced with a situation where they could not renew their top player Larry Bird's contract without breaking that ceiling. The league took up the resolution of such a problem in the summer of that year, because it was time to sign a new Collective Agreement, which included the “Larry Bird exception”, which stated that the team has the right to re-sign its own free agents in excess of the salary cap. So the "soft" ceiling was born.

Interestingly, the name of this rule is misleading. Larry was not the first player to be affected by this exception - he signed his new contract before the new Collective Agreement was ratified. But since then, it has been Bird who has been thanked by NBA stars for their multimillion-dollar contracts, signing new agreements on "Bird's rights. "

Gilbert Arenas Amendment

Over time, Bird rights have become more diverse - "early Bird rights" and "non-Bird" appeared in the new CBA. And with them, new loopholes appeared. In 2003, the Wizards took advantage of the fact that the Warriors did not have Bird's full rights to rising star Gilbert Arenas, who was selected in the second round of the draft and initially received only a two-year contract.

It turned out that under the terms of the CBA, Golden State could only offer Arinas an average contract, and any team with a place under the salary cap - any agreement, up to the maximum, which the Warriors simply cannot technically repeat. So Washington stole Arenas; a year later, in the same way, Okur left Detroit for Utah.

The new Collective Agreement of 2005 introduced an amendment named after Gilbert. Now teams are limited in the size of the contract that can be offered to a restricted free agent of another team, so each club has the opportunity to repeat the offer from the outside and keep their unexpectedly revealed stars. True, as the cases with Ashik and Lin convince, they do not always use this.

Allan Houston's rule

Gilbert Arenas is another name for the one-time amnesty rule that got the Magic rid of a massive defenseman's contract. But why call this rule again? He already has a nickname - in honor of Allan Houston.

Under the new 2005 CBA, for the first time, teams have the option to "amnesty" one contract. Unlike the 2011 amnesty, the contract was not deducted from the payroll, but the teams did not pay luxury tax on it. They called this amnesty "the rule of Allan Houston, the highest paid player on the most wasteful team, who, due to an injury, hardly played.

Ironically, the Knicks did not pardon Houston, but Jerome Williams, waiting for Houston to announce his own retirement, which allowed the Knicks to dump his contract in 2006 without any amnesty. Therefore, sometimes this rule is also called "Derek Anderson's rule" and "Win Baker's rule".

The Carmelo Anthony Rule

The Knicks rarely learn from their financial mistakes. New Yorkers continue by hook or by crook to collect massive contracts. In 2011, they poached Carmelo Anthony from the Nuggets on the terms that he would stay with Denver and then move to New York. It was a sign-and-trade trade, but it only happened in the middle of the season. With the implementation of the new Collective Agreement before the start of the 2011-12 season, all transactions under the "extend-and-trade" scheme were banned, and the ban itself was named Melo.

Derrick Rose Rule

Another NBA star named after the giant contract limit rule is Rose, but in his case, the Rose rule made him millions more.

The new Collegiate Agreement allows teams to renew their young superstars on rookie contract under special conditions - their maximum salary may not be 25% of the salary cap as usual, but 30% if the player meets one of three conditions: 1) he made the national team twice at the end of the season; 2) he started the All-Star Game twice; 3) he won the MVP award.

In the end, the very first player to benefit from the Rose Rule was Kevin Durant, who technically received a contract extension in the spring of 2011 while still under the old CBA. Then, before the 2011-12 season, the union insisted that Durant be eligible for a renewal review under the new terms, and his salary was raised. And recently, the NBA reimbursed Oklahoma for about $8 million spent on adjusting Kevin's contract under the Derrick Rose Rule.

Gary Payton Rule

Just for the record, a rule that no longer exists. In 2005, Boston traded Payton to Atlanta, he did not want to play for the Hawks, he was expelled, and he immediately returned to the Celtics. In the summer, a new Collective Agreement introduced the "Payton Rule", whereby a player who was traded and then expelled could not return to his former team for 30 days. But the CBA-2011 further limited such transfers - now the player can only return to the team in the next season - perhaps this amendment should be called the "rule of Zydrunas Ilgauskas. "

Scott Brooks Amendment

One of the most unusual amendments to the NBA's last-day trading rules is named after Scott Brooks. On February 23, 1995, he was still a Rockets player. Although no, it's not. At 8 p.m. on February 23, 1995, he was a Rockets player on the court during halftime warm-ups when general manager Bob Weinhower approached him and announced that Brooks had just been traded to Dallas. « Great way to report it ,” lamented Scott, who thought that once he entered the game, the deadline had already passed for him.

As a result, the deadline was pushed back from 9:00 pm to 3:00 pm New York time so that there would be no more such stories, and all games would start after the deadline.

Special Rules

Pat Riley Rule

In the NBA, the conference leader coach leads the team at the NBA All-Star Game. The Lakers of the 80s never had a decent competition in the West, and therefore Pat Riley constantly led the West team at the cost center - 8 times in 9years. At some point, Stern got tired of this, and he introduced the “Riley rule” - the coach cannot participate in the NBA All-Star Game twice in a row, and the coach of the second team in the conference goes for the weekend.

Tim Duncan's amendment

Since last season, there is another rule at the All-Star Game - earlier players were chosen there according to the positions "two defenders-two forwards-one center", but now centers as a class have been removed from the voting, and all centers go there on a par with forwards as "front-court players". And all because the league is tired of determining whether Tim Duncan is a power forward or still a center.

The Mark Cuban Rule

After the 2006 finals, Stern took seriously the behavior of Cuban, who had already accumulated more than $ 1.5 million in fines, forbidding the owners from entering the court, arguing with the judges, and generally doing everything that Mark liked so much.

Stan Van Gundy's rule

Non-existent rule. Before the 2010/11 season, there was a rumor that the NBA had banned coaches from replacing the shirt with a turtleneck, and Stan Van Gundy would have to change his wardrobe. " Well then, let them at least call this rule after me ,” Van Gundy Jr. lamented. It turned out - nothing like that. Stan can keep dressing up whatever he wants. If he finds a job in the NBA.

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Basketball court: marking, photo

Basketball court

The field in this sport is a flat rectangular surface with a hard surface. It should not have any obstacles or projectiles around the entire perimeter.

Any gaming platform of official sports has its own standards, which are registered in the code of the respective federation. The International Basketball Association is called FIBA. It has the right to change the dimensions of the field, markings, the height of the boards, etc. According to FIBA ​​standards, the basketball court must be 28 meters long and 15 meters wide. One of the main requirements of the association for the field is a flat and hard surface. The surface of the site must comply with generally accepted standards and have no bends, cracks or other obstacles. It is important that the field is a rectangle with an approximate aspect ratio of 2 to 1. Previously, the size of the basketball court (standard until 2011) was about 30 meters long and 15 wide.

It is worth noting that since the end of the 60s, according to the regulations, all official competitions must be held indoors. Until that time, tournaments could be organized outdoors.

Dimensions of the basketball court

There are two boards with baskets and corresponding markings on the playing field. Along the edges there may be a fence in the form of a high fence (net) or a wall.

A basketball court for public use must be at least 26 meters long and at least 14 meters wide. Such playing fields may have an additional 2 meters of running margin. Thus, areas with dimensions of 30 by 18 m are allowed.

According to the regulations, a deviation in dimensions of 1-2 meters is allowed, but official competitions cannot be held at such sports grounds. The size of a basketball court in a school or university can vary from 12 to 16 meters wide and from 20 to 28 meters long. The fact is that municipal and amateur halls do not fall under the jurisdiction of FIBA.
For mini-basketball, the dimensions of the court are 18 meters long and 12 meters wide. The main difference between this type and the main one lies in sports equipment, which is suitable only for small children.

For official tournaments, the dimensions of the basketball court must be 15 m wide and 28 m long. The measurement is taken from the inner edge of the lines that limit the playing area of ​​the field. The height of the hall should not be less than 7 meters, but at professional venues it is customary to raise the level of the ceiling and the hanging scoreboard to 12 meters and above.

Another important requirement is luminescence. It is necessary that its sources do not interfere with the movement of the players and the ball, and the light covers the entire surface of the field along with the shields.

Basketball court markings

The playing field can be conditionally divided into five components, which are outlined by a special contour:

1. Boundary lines. Conducted around the perimeter of the entire site. The lines that run along the width are called front lines, and those that go along the length of the field are called side lines.

2. Central zone, which is a circle. The measurement is taken along the outer edge. Placed in the middle of the field relative to all 4 of its sides. 3. Central line. It runs parallel to the facial lines. It is carried out from one side line to another.

4. The three-point line is a semi-ellipse. In fact, the entire basketball field is a zone of long-range shots, except for the area near the opponent's backboard.

5. Free throw line. It is applied to the surface parallel to the front line. Its length is limited by the penalty area.

All outlines and lines must be the same color. In most cases, white paint is chosen. The standard line width is 5 centimeters. The contour must be clearly visible from any point on the site.

Marking: common lines

The basketball court must be 2 meters or more away from spectators, benches, billboards and other obstacles. The playing field is limited by the side and front lines. The first represents the width of the rectangle, and the second represents its length. At the intersection point of the lines, there should not be any recognition contours, as in football. The front side of the site can be from 12 to 16 meters, and the side - from 18 to 30 m. The central line divides the field along the length into two equal zones. It is carried out through the middle of the side lines and should protrude beyond their edges by 15 centimeters on each side.

The center circle is located in the middle of the court relative to each of the boundary lines. Its radius to the outer boundary of the circle is 1.8 meters.

Marking the throw line

Prior to official competitions, the FIBA ​​commission pays special attention to checking the penalty area. The marking of the basketball court with the dimensions specified in the regulations must strictly comply with international norms and rules adopted in 2011.

According to these standards, the three-point zone must be limited to two parallel lines that start and end at the same front line. The end point must be at a distance of 6.25 meters from the center of the opponent's basket. The distance between the points of intersection of the three-point line and the end line is 1. 575 m.

The free throw area consists of limited areas that are semi-circles with a diameter of 3.6 meters. It is indicated on the site by a dotted line from the inside and a solid line from the outside (side to the enemy). The center of the zone is located in the middle of the foul line, which is 3.6 m long. Throws are made from this area after violations by the opponent. It should be noted that the penalty line should be at a distance of 5.8 meters from the edge of the front line. There is one designation in the marking - the area of ​​​​throws. From this zone, the players take the penalties earned on the opponent. The first line of the area should be at a distance of 1.75 meters from the front. It limits the area to a width of 85 cm. Next comes a neutral zone with a diameter of 0.4 meters. Following are two more penalty areas of 85 cm wide. Each of the lines should be 10 centimeters long.

Team bench area

The basketball court, in addition to the playing field, also includes areas for coaches and substitutes. Bench areas should be located on the same side as the scorer's table.

Limited to lines over 2 meters long. Bench zones can be either a rectangle or a square.

It is important that the substitute area is located at a distance of 2 meters or more from the site, and at least 1 m from spectators and billboards.

Optimum coverage

A specialized basketball court is a flat, hard surface on which players can move without any obstacles. Therefore, for the field, coverage is so important. It must be durable and resilient, as the site is constantly subjected to shock loads. The coating can be made from different materials, but the most common are rubber and parquet. It is important that the site is durable and resistant to many factors. Therefore, rubber coating is most often used, as it is versatile and waterproof. On the other hand, parquet is considered more environmentally friendly and reliable.

The flooring is laid in two stages: first, a diagram of the basketball court is made, then installation work is carried out on its basis.

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