The Science of Hoops
The playoffs for the National Basketball Association — the NBA — are in full swing right now. And for those listeners who haven't been watching, this year's games are a little different, thanks to COVID: All the teams are in Orlando playing in what they call "the bubble". It's a complex created for teams to compete in the middle of the pandemic.
And for listeners who have been watching, you might notice that players are shooting more three point shots than they used to. The three-pointer is the shot that changed the sport of basketball. So today on the show, in the last of our summer school Friday series, we are re-airing one of our favorite episodes that Stacey and I did last year. The economics of the three point shot: not only how it changed basketball, but also how the unintended consequences of that change could mean trouble for the future of the sport.
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