Delfino's dunk was impressive, in large part because Okafor is a very good shotblocker and a much better defender than Turiaf.
that was the rockets play of the year so far. simply awesome. i knew he had it in him from the college highlights i've seen but believe me, his lack of displaying his athleticism has confused me since last season. if he goes back to his meek layups this little taste of what he has is going to confuse me even more. he clearly has hops and he'd be so much more dangerous if he used them more often. he doesn't have the height like t-mac to go for layups in traffic. if he goes up like this on a consistent basis one of his HUGE negatives(not finishing) will be a real positive for him.
That was AWESOME! btw, it's been a long time, could not access this website because of the earthquake last month (year). so good to be back here. and so happy to see Rox keep going w/o Yao.
Does Luther have particularly small hands? He just barely completed that dunk, and I don't think I've ever seen him palm the basketball. That might be why he rarely dunks in games.
The ball slipped out of his hands on that play, too. I'm not sure, but if you're 6-4 i'm guessing it's pretty uncommon not to be able to palm a basketball?? I can palm one and i'm only 6 feet tall. T-Mac's style is pretty useful and I don't see it done that often. He palms it and holds it above him or behind him so the defender can't get to it. Notice how he used it when Kobe really put the pressure on him? Kobe couldn't do sh*t about that.
Hahaha, I love when T-mac does that. But yeah, I could tell Head was something special last year and he has continued to improve as a player and will continue to I'm sure. And to think-some people wanted to trade the guy!
I love when he does that. Reminds me of a bully holding candy away from a little kid or something. It's even sweeter when he zips a one handed pass to a cutting point guard under the basket. It's an incredible advantage to be able to palm the ball and you'd be surprised the amount of NBA players that can't do it. MJ said that the ability to palm the ball is something he looks for when analyzing draft prospects. I remember for the dunk competition a few years ago when the nba had the dumb idea of spinning a wheel and doing a famous dunk from a past competition, Steve Francis' spin landed on Terrance Stansbury's Statue of Liberty dunk. SF couldnt even get close because he couldn't palm the ball. Nevertheless, SF was a stellar dunker in his prime despite his inability to palm it.
Yep. Palming is vital when dunking. I'm only 5'9" and I have hands to match lol. If I can't get a grip on a ball it's pretty hard to dunk unless I go with 2 hands. But if it's a nice ball and I can palm it a little, I can dunk easy, even 360's. Luther and I are similar I think, because we apparently both have small hands and jump off of 2 feet. That combination makes it really hard to dunk in-game. I've only ever come close 1 time and that was on putback. I want big hands
When I was young, I heard rumour that some NBA players would have their "web" (sorry I don't know the exact word, I mean the skin links between your fingers) of their hands cut so that they would have larger hands to palm the ball. Is that true?
Yeah, but like I said it's only when I can really get a good grip on the ball. Otherwise it doesn't stay in my hand during the turn. In high school I had a 36" standing vertical but it's definitely higher now. The last "unofficial" measurement I did was 38" standing (completely flat foot, no step) and somewhere around 43" on the run. People on other forums have doubted me before, so I made a video for such situations . I'll provide it below if you want to look at it. It doesn't show a 360 though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5PgyGqW2zc (yes, the goal is really 10'3.5", and the one on the other end of that park is 10'4". I've dunked the 10'4" goal, but only once) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skFBP7O7eZg (this one is just me screwing around on a 9'6" goal. this was actually recorded at a Clutchfans get together at macalu's old place. I guess it's basically a glimpse into how dunking 10' would be if I were 6'3". Oh how I wish )
So your vertical has actually increased since high school? Crazy! I used to drunk all over the place back then. I cant even walk up stairs anymore...
Well, I'm only 24 and I feel like my body didn't really hit its physical peak until I was about 21 or 22. I guess I'm in my prime pretty much I just dread the day that pain keeps me off the court. Actually I already get some tightness in my lower back because apparently 3 of my vertebrae are misaligned. I go to the chiropractor every few weeks for adjustments, but it doesn't keep me from playing at all...yet.
if it was the back problem, you should know which doctor to consult by now, shouldn't you? Nice clips by the way, you are still young (24?), keep practice perhaps one day you could do the 360 one more time, good luck!
