A Radical Experiment in Basketball Nirvana

EPISODE 206: The Philippines.

Any discussion of the four-point shot must begin with a legendary quote that isn’t on tape anywhere, unfortunately, but remains seared into my brain. Because back in the early 2000s, a reporter interrogated the 6-foot-9 Antoine Walker — Celtics forward, all-star, unrepentant gunner — about why he shot so many threes.

To which Antoine Walker replied:

“Because there are no fours.”

And… there aren’t.

Not in the NBA. Even though the topic has been debated, by members of the league’s competition committee and the press, for years.

Lots of coaches hate the idea, obviously. But no less than Phil Jackson, one of the greatest coaches ever, has proposed a four-point line “a few feet behind the arc.” Friend of PTFO Tom Haberstroh wrote a whole ESPN.com column advocating for it. Just last month, while appearing on Jason and Travis Kelce’s podcast, Caitlin Clark called on Commissioner Adam Silver to install the shot.

And it was the inventor of basketball himself, Dr. James Naismith, who pitched the four-pointer more than a century ago, in order to make the sport more exciting. A familiar business concern, today.

But the oldest pro basketball league in the world was never crazy enough to rectify Antoine Walker’s state of the union.

The second-oldest (!) pro basketball league in the world, however — the Philippine Basketball Association — was.

The PBA just played a whole season with a four-point line, in fact.

And the story of why and how makes sense once you understand the deep history that the incomparable Rafe Bartholomew imported into our studio.

YOUTUBE SPOILER ALERT:

Salamat,

Pablo