The basket is ten feet tall because that is the height of the track above the gym when Naismith conceived the game and fastened peach baskets to it. There is nothing more or less. Of all, it's one of the game's major historical storylines, but that's hardly a justification to keep it from evolving. The truth is that nobody knows for sure why he chose to make the hoop ten feet high, but there are two popular theories.
The first theory is that it made the game easier to play because it was lower to the ground. This is not very convincing since basketball has been played for many years and the hoop is always measured to be exactly ten feet high, so this cannot explain why it was originally made this way.
The second theory is that it made the game look better on television because it was higher than the backboard. Once again, this isn't very convincing since basketball has been televised for many years and they used to show the bottom of the ball court during games (this is no longer true today), so this cannot explain why it was originally made ten feet high.
10-foot-tall Since 1891, when James Naismith wrote 13 rules for a game he termed "Basket Ball" at a Springfield, Mass., YMCA building, the rims have always been 10-feet high. However, the average height for males at the period was 5-foot-6. So, to make the game fair for both boys and men, Naismith raised the basket height to fit their new skills.
This idea has become so standard in basketball that changes are usually noted by other sports when they introduce an equivalent adjustment into their own games (e.g., baseball's home run ball was lowered in order to give players of equal ability a chance against hitters).
The early basketball courts were located within walking distances of most schools. Because of this, the size of the court was not limited by geography. In fact, early courts were 90 feet long or more. This is why even today, college basketball games often last more than two hours.
As basketball became more popular, people started to build arenas specifically for basketball. The first such arena was the Madison Square Garden, which opened its doors in 1918. The original height of the basketball rim was 9 feet, 6 inches.
Over time, the height of the rim was reduced to attract more fans to the games. In 1954, the National Basketball Association changed the height of the rim to be exactly 2 feet, 1 inch.
Baskets of peaches The answer is fairly simple: when James Naismith created basketball in 1891, he put the first hoops on the railing of the running track at the YMCA gym in Springfield, Massachusetts, and the railing was 10 feet from the ground. The original baskets were made by the photographer William F. Nast (pictured at left). He sold them for $10 a pair.
Basketball has changed over time, but the design of the basket has not. It starts with a rope core wrapped in twine or leather, then covered in net. Today's basketball nets are usually made of nylon, although wood is also used sometimes. They can be single-strand or multi-strand, depending on how tight you want the weave to be. A single-strand net will not hold as much weight as a multi-strand one, so it is better for shooting baskets.
The basketball itself is shaped like a ball, but is flat on the bottom instead of being spherical. This allows it to sit upright even though it is falling through the air.
Basketball rims have always been important parts of the game. Before they existed, players just threw the ball into the stands to their teammates or against a wall. Rims prevented people from being injured by the balls, and also gave fans a chance to watch the game without getting too close.
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