Learning to Play By the Rules

If there is one rule that the WNBA has seemed to follow in its eight seasons, it is that change can be a good thing.

In fact, when it comes to improving the quality of play on the court, change is most welcome. That is why the WNBA Competition Committee meets to discuss and introduce changes to the WNBA rules every year.

Prior to the start of the 2004 season, the Committee introduced, and the WNBA implemented, several rule changes that should have an immediate impact on scoring and shooting percentage and help grow the popularity of the league.

Sheryl Swoopes likes that college players now have to make an adjustment. Bill Baptist WNBAE/Getty Images

First, the league moved the 3-point line further away from the basket, from 19-9 to 20-6.25. Another move was the adoption of the NBA lane, widening the paint area from a 12-foot lane to a 16-foot lane. Both of these rules changes help to separate the professional game from the collegiate standard and demonstrates that WNBA competition is at a �higher level.�

After a few preseason and regular season games adjusting to the new rules, players and coaches have expressed different reactions. However, one thing is clear. The athletes are getting stronger and faster.

�I always thought the 3-point line should be moved back a bit so that the players coming right out of college would have something they would need to adjust to and learn,� Houston Comets star Sheryl Swoopes said.

As the sport has progressed, WNBA players have proven that they are capable of shooting from a greater range. But in terms of player shot selection and overall percentages, the greater distance has not seemed to make a significant difference.

�It does not look like the 3-point line has had much of an impact so far. In my experience, shooters shoot the ball,� Comets head coach Van Chancellor said. �You can give them different balls, put them in different arenas, put them in a dark room and they will still get their shots off.�

Through the first week of the season, the league average from beyond the 3-point line is slightly higher than at the same point last season, up from 31.5% to 34.5%.

�It may make some difference for the borderline shooters, but many of the players, for us it is Becky Hammon, Crystal Robinson and Elena Baranova, have NBA range, so they will not be affected by a longer shot,� Liberty coach Richie Adubato said. �It makes it easier for us to mix up our game and penetrate and create as well.�

Moving to the same distance used internationally is a bonus for the 20-25% of WNBA players who play overseas or in international competitions such as the Olympic Games and World Championships.

�It will be a fairly easy adjustment for those players that do play overseas in the offseason or compete for the national teams on an international level,� Comets forward Tina Thompson said. �If I played internationally and got to come back here and it was a bit closer, I would be happy, but the fact that it is now the same distance changes some things for some of the American players.�

While it is still too early to recognize a noticeable difference yet, there is a greater consensus that the wider lane will affect the flow of the game. The evolution of professional women�s basketball has progressed in such a way that the wider lane will lend itself to more freedom of movement in the paint, thus providing the opportunity for WNBA players to display their speed, quickness and agility.

Vickie Johnson sees a greater opportunity to drive to the basket. Ray Amati WNBAE/Getty Images

�I think it has opened up the court more,� Liberty swing player Vickie Johnson said. �You can take the ball to the hole more now. So it�s a good thing.�

More drives to the basket means more scoring, but like any rule change, the wider lane will take some all-around getting used to. Until players have gotten into the flow of the season, expect to see more three second violation calls.

�Some of our post players need to be more aware of going in and out of the lane, so it probably affects them a little bit more,� Hammon said, �but I like how it opens the court up and allows the guards to get in there and penetrate and find people.�

But the wider lane not only affects how teams play offense, but helps some of the smaller interior teams match up defensively.

�If other teams have better post players than we have, we can push them out wider a little bit more,� Adubato said. �It is easier for them to recover and get back inside and jam them up.�

One rule that has not been changed, but remains a constant source of dialogue among players, coaches, team officials, league personnel and the international basketball community, concerns the size of the official WNBA game ball. The WNBA ball is smaller than the international ball. While the �small ball-big ball" debate has been quelled by the fact that FIBA, the international governing body for the sport of basketball, has adopted the use of the WNBA-size ball beginning in the fall 2004, many players would prefer the larger ball.

�I have always been a fan of the bigger ball,� Thompson said. �It is the ball I grew up playing with as a kid and the one I practice with when playing against men in the offseason. Although I know they respect me and care about me, they are not going to play with a small ball because it will help me prepare and train for the summer. So it is always an adjustment.�

However, FIBA�s adoption of a smaller ball will have a positive effect on the WNBA, as players will now play with the same size ball all year, thus minimizing the �shot adjustment� factor when players begin or return from international competition.

For the time being, Chancellor, the coach of the U.S. National team at the Olympics this summer, has set his sights on bringing about another change modeled after the international game.

�I�d like to see us go to the international trapezoidal lane,� he said. �I think it would open up even more scoring. I think I may introduce that rule at the next Competition Committee meeting, though if I introduce it, of course it means it has no prayer of passing.�