The idea here is a novel one and one I'm sure has been thought of many times. I know I've personally considered this a few times so let me share my thoughts.
1. Having an rf tag in the ball would be a great way to know exactly when a ball goes through the hoop. I know I've seen plenty of instances late in games where the clock doesn't stop immideatly after the ball goes through the hoop. Although it may not be a big factor in deciding a game, every second (or tenth of a second) counts when you're trying to win a game.
I don't see any real problems with implementing this technology, just stick a transmitter in the ball and match it to the location of the rim. All you have to do is be sure some fan can't trip the frequency.
2. Having a tag to start the clock would be a bit more tricky. First it would have to be set to know when it needs to start the clock which could easily be triggered by the timekeeper (or a ref). Second it would have to respond to touch. This would require a sensor over the entire ball (or inside of the ball) which would keep track of pressure applied to the ball. A problem here is starting the measurement the moment after the player inbounding the ball releases it. I think this is probably simple enough, however the issue is whether or not the technology exsists that we could do this without affecting the feel of the ball.
3. I would add a pressure strip to the sideline and 3 point line so that players stepping on the lines can be exactly called. This technology would not be too difficult to implement and would help take the question of "was he really out?" or "are you sure he was on the line?" out of debate.
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