It's becoming more and more apparent to me that most of the great leapers in the NBA pan out to be good players, whether it be role players or all-stars. They seem to develope a nice shot and improve and improve. Look at Carter. Great leaper, one of the best. First came into league, couldn't shoot a lick. He's improved by year with his 3-pt% and has become an all-star. Brent Barry was first noticed as a leaper when he entered into the 3-pt contest. his shot has improved, and by the Rockets game tonight, he's a hell of a player now. How bout Desmond Mason from Seattle? He went from never playing to hitting that nice midrange jumpshot. He's becoming a factor, unfortunately for the Rockets in this game.. Jason Richardson - won the slam-dunk contest, took off from there. He already has a good shot, only to improve with years to come? Hopefully, another all-star in the making. so with these guys developing to be so good of players, why don't teams look to draft kids with an incredible leap? Or do they, and thats why we drafted Langhi hoping for something?
I'm not sure I subscribe to the theory that great leapers become great players.... There is no doubt that basketball is a game for athletes! But this doesn't mean that all athletes are great players. It becomes noticeable when a player who has tremendous leaping ability develops a nice shot for a number of reasons; 1. This means that they can now damage opponents from the outside as well as from near the ring 2. Gerat leaping ability invariably translates to great acceleration/ quickness and floor speed (same muscle groups used) 3. Thus a leaper with a shot must be guarded more closely which means that they can put the ball on the floor and use their outstanding quickness to blow by their defender and get 'up and over' defenders who play for help. 4. Great leapers are exciting and are thus well-hyped by the media/ games promoters! So I say that a gerat leaper who develops a nice shot is a dangerous player indeed! But the reason that we notice so many is because they are the promoted players! (you left Kobe off your list!) But there are definitely PLENTY of athletes who don't even make it in the front door of an NBA club, and plenty who do, but don't cut it as a player because they cannot learn to shoot or put the ball on the floor. soem leapers stick around as defensive experts... such as Bruce Bowen, but most who can't shoot don't stick.
I say we don't need more leapers. Nay. We need more lepers -- they'd get a clear path to the basket every time.
If you want to know why Teams dont draft players just because of great leaping ability refer back to Harold Minor. Everybody called him "Baby Jordan" back in the day cause he won the dunk contest yet hes not in the league anymore. Another great leaper was Kenny Gregory from Kansas but I guess he had no shot. It takes more to make it then just great leaping ability.
Nobody dominated the game like Terence Stansbury, Bill Willoughby, Harold Miner, Kenny Walker, etc. What you're seeing is leaping and dunking being brought to the forefront. It's what defines basketball right now. Larry Bird (great everything player), Magic Johnson (one of the 3-5 greatest ever to play the game), Dale Ellis (possibly the best pure shooter ever), Pete Maravich (greatest dribbler), etc., weren't exactly known for their leaping ability. What all this leaping and dunking ends up getting you are people like Darius Miles, Gerald Wallace, Jeff Trepagnier, Harold Miner, etc. who may have game, but rely so much on the "dunk effect" that they're rarely as productive as they were touted coming out of college or high school. Leaping ability in today's game always scares me because I always think that many of the guys with leaping ability just dunked over the competition and dominated in the high school or college ranks. When they come to the NBA, they're faced with guys that can match their hops or know how to defend against a lob and these leapers are left with nothing because they often don't have a jumper to fall back on. People like Kobe, Vince, etc. are great players because not only can they leap, but they can shoot, they can drive, they are multi-threat players. Cuttino (minus his one or two r****ded shots per game) falls into that category. Screw the leapers, give me the multi-talented... if I want leapers, I can go find some at the circus.
Why was the leper hockey game suspended? There was a face off in the corner. (Boooo hissss....terrible joke)
Dream, MJ, David Thompson, Drexler, and Barkley (not a high vert, but he got off the floor as fast anyone I've seen), were all great leapers. I guess leaping ability is only a part of the grand scheme of things.
Fosbury- First he leaps, then he flops Seriously, David Thompson was an incredible leaper who couldn't rebound worth a s***. By the time he got to 20,000 feet the ball was already gone! D R
