I’d love to know Javier’s vertical to. Bear in mind though, the high jumpers center of mass is passing lower than the bar, despite them wrapping over the top of it.
I also remember reading once that Clyde Drexler was in a dunk comp where he dunked on an 11’9" ring. That could just be fantacy though. Another one I heard was that there was a comp to see who could pick a dollar will from the drop of the backboard. Im not sure how high that would be but I know Dominique Wilcons, Kenny Walker and Larry Nance could all do it. They were all around 6’8" to 6’10" tall and all were mainly 2 foot leapers so even with a run up thats pretty huge.
The atlanta hawks came to london in 92" and played orlando magic at london arena. We went to see it. Everyone was going on about Shaq before the game and it was only his rookie year I think. I was talking about Dominique before the game started and he proved me right. 42 points and 3 slam dunks. “Nique” was the man!
I’m 5’9 1/2 (1.77cm), my vertical leap was 41 inches in high school (I could reach about 1/3 of the way down my forearm from the wrist above the rim). This was back at my best in mid 1999, I was center of my team (in Venezuela people aren’t very tall, so most opposing “big men” were around 6’0" - 6’2" and I could jump much higher then them). Since then I took an year off sports entirely then spent another full year injured and only since mid 2002 I’ve been able to train for track (the sport I always wanted to do). About 5 months ago I went down to a court and saw I can now barely reach the rim on a good jump … I’ve lost like 10 inches off my vertical leap … I did that test after I was surprised of doing a (poor?) 9 feet 3 inch standing long jump in a jumps trial in training. In theory how much should I be able to do on a standing long jump if I had a 41 inch vertical leap? Is there any standard conversion? How much has anyone with a similar vertical from the forum been able to do in standing LJ? Just curious.
It’s interesting how many of us have migrated from a basketball background to sprinting, I guess it’s the type of thing we always wanted to do?
BTW if you want to see a nice vertical jump, go to Ato’s site (atoboldon.com) and see his video of him jumping onto boxes that are 5’4" high … that must be a low-mid 40’s inches vertical leap at least … man you’ve got to have some mighty coordination and guts to do that and not break your head on the boxes or ground.
Standing vertical of just over 30 inches here.
Hey Kobe2003, good to see someone else read Naruto!
over 30? man, y is there so many people got such good verts? do ya’ll have it genetically or trained from very low like me, 13" natural, now i’m about 25" standing, I wanna make to 35" standing, is that possible?
P.S yea, it’s a good anime, and i like the way naruto acts, never gives up…
If getting onto a 5’4" box is estimated to be 40ish in vertical, how much do you think you need to get onto a 48" box? Because I can do that with ease.
If I had to guess maybe subtract from yoru mid thigh down off 48, but you probably won’t get anything too accurate.
OK- time to make average people feel better.
25inches.
With a few steps I can get one hand to 1-2 inches above the rim at 5’10 (reach 7’6). Naturally I have big plans of adding 6-8 inches to my running two foot vert. but so far very little progress. :mad:
Also, to add to this discussion a bit I would put very little stock in what methods were successfull in high school for adding to vert because:
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most people finish going through their puberty growth spurt early in high school and are relatively weak. You become strong in a hurry, however, so I think most players will gain a lot of vert regaurdless of what kind of training you are doing, if at all. If I had to guess I would say that 80% of 14 year old players at 6ft2 cannot dunk while 80% of 18 year old players can.
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The big gains you get through improvement in jumping mechanics are only going to happen once, probably when you reach close to your adult height and start playing regular ball. Again, all of this happens in high school for most people.
…And to agree with a previous poster jumping ability is only part of basketball! All things being equal leapers win but there are so many skill elements to basketball that all things are rarely equal. Magic, Bird, Kidd, Stockton etc did not “overcome” a lack of vertical to become great players. Instead, they just lacked that one weapon while having so many others.
Young players should remember that there will always be more great leapers than there are spots on Div 1 rosters and to focus on there overall skill level.
36 inches.
If the goal is to dunk, when you have been unable to previously, then there are some basics.
First, it really helps to be able to palm the ball. So grip strength is the unspoken thing here. Second, are we talking dunk for the sake of… or dunking in a game? Because you can do all sorts of things to dunk on the playground like use stickum on your hands for grip,
travel (not “legally” handle the ball in route), etc. In a game is a whole-nother thing.
For discussion sake, lets say its just about dunking (non-game)
You have to get the ball over the top of the rim, and with some measure of downward force/direction. While some will stand under the basket and jump squat up, the greater potential for vertical is found in a running/dribbling approach to the hoop.
That being said, the mechanics of jumping apply, that is horizontal kinetic energy generation, a lowering of the center of mass, stretch reflex, limits placed by amount of eccentric strength, etc.
All the conditioning tricks in countless posts apply in some way. The best route to success is specific practice or, if you want to dunk work on trying to dunk. Use a smaller implement such as a tennis ball, to say a volleyball, to a girls basketball, leading to the real deal.
My wife, who I train, dunks a kids kickball (lighter and grippy for her small hand size) You should see the looks she gets from guys in the gym when she does so. But she also gets the same looks when she half squats with 310 lbs.
My experience dunking is years past, but here’s a couple quick dunk stories.
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In college I played hoop. Had to take a PE elective that was taught by a smart ass Eastern MA hockey Grad Assistant. So basketball with the hockey idiot was it. We watched video, went over basic offenses, defenses, etc. and at the end of the course we had to “test” out of class. So we all went in the gym and the Oscar Meyers (short ones, fat ones, kids who climb on rocks,…even kids with chicken pox) all one by one showed “Bobby Orr” all about basketball, dribbling shooting, ending with their best “trick”.
My turn comes and I asked him if he seriously expected me to go through all this and he told me he’d fail me if I didnt. So I took the ball,
(he is standing under the hoop) took about 3 dribbles and threw it down, nailing him in the head, and I walked out saying “Flunk this”
EDITORS NOTE: replace flunked with the actual word used. -
Coaching summer camp for K.C. Jones one summer, the coaches would play pickup after the kids went to bed. Guy from TCU has a break away layup coming down the right sideline and I am on an intercept from the left, closing the angle. He takes off and goes over the top of my head with the ball pinned to his hip til he throws it down. I stand 6’ 3" and his butt goes over my head. As in the first story, I just kept walking, right out the door.
i only have a 34-35" vertical standing
but it is much higher when i runup because im a track jumper (off one leg) its more natural than 2 legged (im getting better at 2foot because of voleyball though)
Mine is a 31 inch jump… but then again, I only weigh 105 pounds, so it’s nothing amazing.
It’s 38 now.
Yes i have finally done it, i slamed a basketball net full size. I have always known that i could do it, just that i di’nt know the technek of slaming.
But i practiced on the smaller nets, then went for the big one. Its a good feeling
I am 5"10 1/2 and i am 17yearsold.
thank You
My Vertical is 32 Inches. I’m 5’10 165lbs. That’s All Natural… I’ve Been Blessed I know…
the first time i ever dunked was in the 9th grade i was 5’7" i could just barely put over the rim and push it in with the tip of my fingers
now i’m 5’11 in the 11th grade and dunking with relative ease, off vertical no running. i figure i’m about 5in away from be able to do a clean windmill.
it really is amazing how many world class athletes there are on these boards . . .
As some of you might know athletics is my main sport, but i do play basketball. I have started playing more regularly and i want to improve as much as i can.
I like to give every sport i do 100%, i had a match for the college the other day and knowing that i could dunk just about.
I was thinking to myself it would be great if i done it in match.
Well anyway, thoughtout the game i had scored two three pointers. But i wanted a clear run on the basket so i could duck it, i had the ball ran past one player and there where two players under the basket.
When i came towards them, they came out to defend. i just jumped and tryed my best to dunk the ball, but the ball bounced off the rim and i feel into the other team,s players.
With luck my team mate was under the basket, he got the ball and scored off the rebound.
In the end we lost the Game, i did’nt come off once because we where short of players.
It was fun, because this was the first time i played basketball properly for a long time.