nba court redesign

NBA Court Redesign

By Simone Thiry

First Step: Analyze Existing Court Dimensions

We created a baseline court model using the existing court dimensions in Google SketchUp.The current 3-point line design uses straight lines that intersect a circle with radius 23’ 9”.We will show alternatives to the current dimensions that will make the game more challenging and interesting.

Alternative #1:We created a new equation for the 3-point line using the same endpoints in the original model.We chose to center our new model on the y-axis with our endpoints on the x-axis (our endpoints were -22.5’ and 22.5’).Given those endpoints, we determined that coefficient b should be 0, and coefficient c should be positive.We wanted the furthest point of the 3-point line to be 472.5” from the hoop.

FactoringOur first equation:

Quadratic FormulaOur first equation:

Alternative #2We decided to keep the straight extensions of 169”, and change the arc that connects to them.Since the points were still 22.6 points away from the center, we decided to make our c value 22.6 also.We then used what we knew to solve for a and get our equation.

FactoringOur second equation:

Quadratic EquationOur second equation:

Conclusion

ConclusionWe think that the NBA should use our second model because it is closer to what the current model is, and because it adds more area to the inside of the 3-point line without taking away from the current area.

Resourceshttp://www.sportsknowhow.com/basketball/dimensions/nba-basketball-court-dimensions.htmlhttp://sketchucation.com/http://www.lincoln.k12.or.us/Page.asp?NavID=2537http://sketchup.google.com/support/