ESPN: NBA Player Dunk Would Have Won Olympic Medal

While James White is considered a shit player, he is also considered one of the best leapers in the NBA in a very long time for sure. His vertical is reported as 46". One of the highest for sure. Nice guy, awful player.

HardLoper wrote:

Yeah only one major problem... his feat barely clear 6'. Getting your feet over the bar is one of the hard parts of high jumping.

This is the only response needed.

Preposterous clickbaity nonsense that's making idiots out of all of us.

It is a lot different jumping over a bar.

When the jump record was far lower, it was not Wilt Chamberlain, but Bill Russell who was one of the best, within an inch of the WR with relatively little training.

BTW, a mediocre BB player by NBA standards is still very good.

he makes 10000000x more money playing bball, and its more fun. bball athletes are far superior to the niche sport of track and field jumping. the talent pool making it to the top for bball is about ten million times the size of the jumping population - how many kids dream of bball vs jumping into a sand box

with the fosbury flop, wilt's jumps would surely have been far higher.

There are one or two players in the NBA who jump so high they can look into the ring. Gordon and Lavine jump high and are fearsome dunkers, but they aren't the highest jumpers.

By watching the high jumpers try and dunk, the NBA guys have by far more hops than those dudes. Imagine if one of the NBA guys spent a lifetime perfecting HJ technique? Could threaten Sotomayor because those HJs don't have any hops.

He took off with 2 feet.

oab wrote:

He took off with 2 feet.

This was what I was thinking. Wouldn't his jump be illegal in the high jump competition.

I think gymnasts jump way higher than high jumpers but they use a take off technique that allows that. That takeoff is not allowed in the high jump competition. I'm not a field events expert though.

The world's best athletes are in the NBA and NFL, no questions asked. If you took every single NBA and NFL player, groomed them from high school to participate in a different track and field event, then nearly the entire US Olympic roster would be filled with these athletes rather than the current guys. Its a harsh reality, but a true one.

Absolutely true Tron however there are some freakish athletes who don't have the hand eye coordination to play football and basketball. A guy with a 38 inch vertical jump who can catch and shoot will play bball, a guy with a 44 inch vertical but can't catch a ball will not be in the nba or nfl. I wish more HS coaches would be honest and cut the freak Jumpers who can't play ball and sit on the bench and convince them pursue track and field

I think the perfect example of a guy who has the coordination and vert that you're talking about is Pat Connaughton, former ND basketball/baseball standout who is now warming the bench for the Portland Trailblazers. He was also drafted by the Orioles early on in the MLB draft (big time pitching prospect).

Turned a lot of heads at the combine with a 44 inch vertical. This guy's proven dedication (MLB pitching prospect, high 90's fastball-> lot of technique required) and raw athleticism (44 inch vert.) make him a guy who could develop proper HJ technique to augment his giant vertical. I think if he pursued it earlier on, could've been the Oly medalist. Note: higher vert AND lighter than Aaron Gordon

Tron McKnight wrote:

The world's best athletes are in the NBA and NFL,

The World's best athletes are not in the NFL. Maybe some of the USAs best athletes, but outside of our parochial little corner of the world practically nobody plays football.

Mr. Obvious wrote:

Tron McKnight wrote:

The world's best athletes are in the NBA and NFL,

The World's best athletes are not in the NFL. Maybe some of the USAs best athletes, but outside of our parochial little corner of the world practically nobody plays football.

Agreed. The best athletes in the world are playing professional soccer. Because it is played universally, there is a huge population to draw players from. Also, it is a gigantic spectator sport so there is money to be made.

The NBA is probably a distant second.

foo wrote:

Mr. Obvious wrote:

The World's best athletes are not in the NFL. Maybe some of the USAs best athletes, but outside of our parochial little corner of the world practically nobody plays football.

Agreed. The best athletes in the world are playing professional soccer. Because it is played universally, there is a huge population to draw players from. Also, it is a gigantic spectator sport so there is money to be made.

The NBA is probably a distant second.

Honestly I am not sure there is a universally applicable definition of "best athlete" anyway. Every game has a skill component so any definition would necessarily focus on skills that are more utilized in some athletic activities than others.

But yes, Soccer would have a very large pool, as would track and basketball.

pup wrote:

HardLoper wrote:

Yeah only one major problem... his feat barely clear 6'. Getting your feet over the bar is one of the hard parts of high jumping.

This is the only response needed.

Preposterous clickbaity nonsense that's making idiots out of all of us.

haha, um....he also didn't have a mat underneath him ...it was sort of important he didn't land on his back....

coach wrote: I wish more HS coaches would be honest and cut the freak Jumpers who can't play ball and sit on the bench and convince them pursue track and field

I've done that and had a lot of success teaching power forwards the throws and guards the jumps or running. But all too often 6'5" guys languish on the bench when they can be doing indoor track. It's more prestigious to be a baller than a track athlete almost anywhere.

coach wrote:

Absolutely true Tron however there are some freakish athletes who don't have the hand eye coordination to play football and basketball. A guy with a 38 inch vertical jump who can catch and shoot will play bball, a guy with a 44 inch vertical but can't catch a ball will not be in the nba or nfl. I wish more HS coaches would be honest and cut the freak Jumpers who can't play ball and sit on the bench and convince them pursue track and field

Thing is, there's still a bunch of money to be made in the NBA if you are athletic but have no real basketball talent.

How much does de Andre Jordan earn? I don't think he's ever hit more than three free throws in a row, and it's not a surprise when he completely misses the hoop from that range.

Great jumper though - and what he lacks in shooting skills he makes up for in power-dunking off the alley-oop.