Technical Ford 302 Distributor play

To start off this motor is a little new to me so out of my comfort zone. Its 73 Ford 302 with a standard single point distributor. The car runs fairly rough. I popped open the distributor to check the points and found the upper plate where the points mounts is sloppy. I can push it side to side pretty far. I understand this plate is supposed to move in order for the vacuum advance to work but how much? I turned the motor over and got it to sit on top of one of the lobes and the points are damn near closed but I can then push the plate to the side and they have a huge gap. Surely this cant be right, or can it?

 

I'm sure you can move them around like you said but the center shaft should be tight.

 

NAPA HAS NEW UPPER PLATES THEY DO WEAR OUR , MAY NEED A VACUUM AS WELL...