.... if only he had Dwight's legs. This Sports Science (2012) video shows Dwight, "The Real Superman"'s (Shaq must've got pissed when he watched this) freakish power/hops for his height and weight. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/w8Wiq-POmFA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> **If a 185 lb player (Garcia or Canaan) generated the same jump force as Howard, he would have a vertical leap of 61 inches!** When Dwight was drafted in 2004, he had a 35.5" vertical and could only bench 185lbs 7 times. He upped that to 39.5" and can now max press 395 lbs. The rest of the team ..... Max vertical : Max 185lb bench reps (for reference.. Kenneth Faried 35" vertical : 16 reps) R. Brewer (2006): 41" : 19 reps Canaan: 40.5" : 15 reps Brooks (2007): 39.5" : 6 reps Beverley: 37" : n/a Harden (2009): 37" : 17 reps R. Williams (2008): 36.5" : 13 reps G. Smith: 35.5" : n/a T. Jones: 34.5" : 12 reps Casspi (2009): 32.5 : 3 reps Garcia (2005): 31.5" : 5 reps Parsons (2011): 31.5" : 4 reps Lin, Asik, DMo, Camby: N/A
I remember back in 2008-2009, the Rockets started Yao, Scola, Artest and Battier, 4 guys who had 40 inches in verticals combined.
lame title... and does anyone think Dwight may have just slightly used the foam part on the bottom of the backboard to get him that extra 1/2 inch?
How did Shaq jump so high? I didn't know Shaq had leaping ability like that... Why wasn't Shaq pulling off any crazy dunks?
Dwight has always struck me as more of a prototypical Superman. Much more so than Shaq. Shaq's more of a Hulk or The Thing from the Fantastic Four. Give me Dwight as Superman any day. Shaq wanted to claim every catchy nickname in the book and then get miffed if anyone else "infringed" on his so-called rights to the name.
Benching and jumping utilize different sets of muscles. Not sure why you'd compare benching reps with vertical. Unless you're judging handstand jumps or something.
The standing reach they reported might be a bit off, since Dwight measured with a 9'3.5 standing reach at the 2004 combine when he was 18yrs old. (meaning it could be even higher! ) In the same combine he also measured with a 35.5 max vert and a 12.3 max vert reach at 18yrs old.
Shaq was more of a freak athlete than Howard. Don't get me wrong, Howard is a specimen but not like Shaquille.
Nice. But I remember my father telling me that he sat court side while Wilt put quarters on top of the backboard and plucked them off. Sorta separates the worlds best athletes from the just great ones.
Speaking of durability, Dwight missed like 7 games in his first 7 seasons as a pro before the back injury. I wonder if he'll get close to that again or if it will be a reoccurring problem for the rest of his career. He played for the lakers way too soon and they pushed him too hard in a throw away season. Hopefully having Asik will allow the rockets to play it safe with him.
It's rare to find statistical outliers in both categories--fast twitch and slow twitch. I think that's the point: Dwight is an athletic FON
Misleading title. Garcia? The guy got dunked on by Lin? <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/QDa7dvf_5Ds" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I always heard that Drexler used to put nickels on the top on the backboard. Also, the greatest leaper and player you have never hear of was Earl Manigault (cocaine is a hell of a drug). Even Kareem called him the greatest player he has ever seen. Oh and he was 6'1'' From Wikipedia: Manigault was particularly famous for his leaping abilities on the basketball court, including his signature move - the double dunk. He would dunk the ball, catch it with his left hand, switch the ball to his right hand, bring it back around to the top of the basket and jam it through again, all done while still in the air on a single jump, and without hanging on the rim.[3] Like other street basketballers of the day such as Jackie Jackson, Earl was reportedly able to touch the top of the backboard to retrieve quarters and dollar bills, part of "elaborate innovations and tricks" elite street players of the era performed before games to help build their reputations.[4] He was only 6'1", but wore ankle weights constantly during practice as a child which helped him to build up tremendous jumping ability. He once dunked two-handed during a game from near the foul line over two players much taller than himself (Sahil Muliyil 6'8", David Urenda 6'9").[4] He once reverse dunked 36 times in a row to win a $60 bet.[5] But to prove dunking was not his only skill, he would practice hundreds of shots each day, making him a deadly long-range shooter as well. Manigault played with some of the best players of his day, such as Earl Monroe, Connie Hawkins, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the latter of whom went as far as calling Manigault the greatest player he had ever seen. When Abdul-Jabbar finished his career with the Los Angeles Lakers and had his number retired at the Los Angeles Forum, he was asked who was the greatest player he had played with or against. After a long silence, he answered, "That would have to be 'The Goat'".[6]
