A basketball hoop is only as good as its parts. Here’s the pieces that everyone who is looking for a goal for their driveway needs to know.

Backboard

The size of the backboard and the material it is made of determines more than anything the quality of the basketball hoop. While a pro-grade NBA rim is 72 inches wide, hoops for the home can be much smaller, as much as 48 inches.

Basketball backboards are usually made of either glass, acrylic, or molded plastic. While glass is the best material for a backboard, since it provides the most rigidity, it is also the most expensive. Most home basketball backboards are made of acrylic.

Rim

The rim is simply the hoop you shoot the basketball through. These are a standard size of 18 inches in diameter. There are two types of rims: breakaway and fixed. Fixed rims are simply bolted directly to the backboard. However, breakaway rims include a spring mechanism that gives a little when pressure is applied. This helps reduce the amount of strain on the backboard when players dunk on the board, reducing the risk of the backboard breaking.

Net

The net attaches to the rim. Most standard rims are made of nylon. However, if you want to try for an upgraded net you could buy the perma-rim basketball net or even a metal basketball net.

Height Adjustment

A standard basketball rim stands at 10 feet. However, that is far too high for many younger players. In order to help smaller basketballers have more fun, most modern basketball hoops have a device that allows you to adjust the height of the rim from the regulation height down to seven and a half feet.

Height adjust system are varied, and can be as simple as a telescoping pole with a pin, or as sophisticated as a gas-assisted adjustment mechanism. While they all have the same weight range, better heigh adjustment systems allow you to adjust the backboard height with less effort.

Pole

The pole supports the backboard. Poles are usually made of steel and can either be square or round. The thicker the pole, the sturdier the backboard and the better the ball will rebound.

Base

This is a part that is only found on portable basketball hoops. Since portable hoops aren’t installed on the ground, they need a large and heavy base to keep the entire system stable. Bases are usually filled with either sand or water. While sand is heavier, it’s messier and more difficult to remove from the base, should you ever want to. Water is easier to deal with, but there is a risk if you live in a part of the country that can get below zero. If the water inside the base freezes over, there is a risk that it could crack the base. This is why it’s essential to either drain the base during the winter months or pour a little antifreeze in the base to prevent it from turning into a giant block of ice.

Installation Plate

Lower end in-ground poles are usually cemented straight into the ground. However, if you purchased a higher quality pole, such as a First Team or Goalrilla, you might need a plate to help you install the system. This plate has four bolts, and you cement it into the ground first. After the cement dries, you bolt the basketball pole straight onto the plate.

The regulation height of a basketball rim (in NBA, college, and even high school courts) is 10 feet. However, not everyone is comfortable playing ball with a rim at the regulation height. You may want to lower the rim in order to accommodate younger players or even just to make it easier to live your slam dunk fantasies.

For this reason, almost all residential basketball hoops come with a method of adjusting the basketball rim. Here’s a few of the most common ways you can adjust the height of the rim to a height that is comfortable for you.

Telescoping Basketball Adjustment

The most basic adjustment system is the telescoping adjustment system. This is where the part of the pole that attaches the backboard slides into the bottom part of the pole, and they are secured together by a screw. To adjust the rim up and down you simply remove the screw, slide the rim to your desired height, and screw the two pieces back together. This typically allows you to adjust the rim from seven and a half feet up to ten feet in six inch increments.

While these systems are inexpensive, the downside is that they have no overhang since the backboard attaches directly to the pole.

Broomstick Adjustment

The next most sophisticated system is the “broomstick adjustment” system. On systems with this adjustment, the backboard is attached to the pole with brackets. A ratchet mechanism near the brackets allows you to move your pole to the desired height with a broomstick or any long pole. Simply place the pole in the ratchet mechanism, unlock it, and then move it to any height of your choosing.

One Hand Adjustment System

If you want to get an easier adjustment system, you might try the one hand adjustment system. These systems have a handle with a trigger that attaches to the backboard. When you want to change the height of the rim, press on the trigger, move the handle to change the height and release. These systems are much easier because they allow you to adjust the height of the rim in matter of a couple seconds.

Gas Assisted Adjustment System

These systems are similar to the one hand adjustment systems, but they have an gas compression system that makes rim adjustment even easier. Since the compression system does some of the work for you, moving the basketball hoop to your desired height is so simply, even a child can do it on their own. Rather than forcing you to adjust the hoop in six inch increments, these hoops can be adjusted in “infinite” increments. So you can adjust the basketball hoop to any height that you desire.

This is the best choice if you want to get the easiest basketball hoop adjustment system possible.

Crank Adjustment System

On some larger systems, such as the Goalsetter basketball goals, there is a crank adjustment system. On theses systems you simply turn the crank to raise or lower the basketball hoop to any height that you want.