Can You Dunk?

Well, some of the "objective" criteria set forth aren't necesssarily taking into account both exceptional arm length and finger length. Tall, lanky fellas that have long arms have an immediate advantage. From what I've seen anectodally, the minimum requirements are over 6' in height, long arms, and the ability to, AT A MINIMUM, at least touch the rim with absolutely no specific training as a base. Actually, one probably needs to be able to grab the rim and hold on. From there, the vertical leap can be improved upon, but not by much in slow-twitch ectomorphs that are most distance runners.

anon_for_reason wrote:

in fact a simple google search reveals this

Average Vertical Leap of NCAA Div. 1 Football player: 29-31 inches.

Average Vertical Leap of NCAA Div. 1 Basketball player: 27-30 inches.

now if I remember correctly a 5'10" guy can reach about 7'4" (maybe a little less memory is getting fuzzy)

so your average DIV I basketabll or football player who is 5'9" can reach 9'10"!!

and these are elite, fast twitch athelets

but again, somehow everyone on letsrun can do it

i appreciate your input on this thread, but this post isn't particularly accurate in its assertions.

your last sentence first - again, of course most people who click on a thread titled "can you dunk" will be people who can answer the question affirmatively. why else would you click on it? the fact that we still have only seen around 20 people saying that they can/could dunk means that very few letsrun posters can/could dunk.

next, your 5'9" example, i commend your use of the google machine, but i am afraid your logic is faulty. the average vertical leap of football players includes lineman as well as running backs, quarterbacks, d-backs and WRs. if you looked only at 5'9" WRs and DBs, you'd have a much higher average than if you included 6'6" offensive lineman.

same for basketball. the average 5'9" guard will have a higher vertical leap than the average 6'10" center. now i don't think that the average 5'9" guard can dunk, but i do think that some can (look at spud webb, nate robinson, for example).

in any event, the example is irrelevant because aside from yourself, i don't think anyone has posted claiming to be at or under 5'10" with the ability to dunk. in fact, most have been 6'1" or above, with several at 6'3" or above. if your example showed that few 6'3" NCAA basketball players can dunk, then i'd be surprised that more than a small handful of runners can. but we both know that the large majority of 6'3" D1 basketball players can dunk, so it's not surprising that several of the runners who visit this board who are that tall can also dunk.

I grew up on the playgrounds at the Coney Island Project in New York City. I'm 5'8 1/2" and was first able to dunk at the age of 19. I was eventually able to do it with both hands backwards. I'm now 55 and was still able to grab the rim through my 40's. Now, one ACL surgey later and much water under the bridge, I think I would rip every muscle in my legs trying to get some rim.

I'm 6' and I can reach up over 8'. I have long arms but most basketball players do also. I would bet that every single 5'10" Division 1 basketball player on scholarship could at least touch rim. To be that short at the division 1 level you have to be very quick and have some hops. Most of the good 5'10" basketball players I know can dunk.

anon_for_reason wrote:

now if I remember correctly a 5'10" guy can reach about 7'4" (maybe a little less memory is getting fuzzy)

i can grab the rim.

20 years old

5'11

427 mile.

Basketball? No

Oreo? Yes

marijuologist wrote:

i last dunked on my 18th birthday, nearly 6 years ago. can't do it anymore.

1:53, 3:52, 15:34

your times are odd..........did u actually mean 15:34. is that 5k or 3mile. how many times have you ran that particular race?

Blaze

anon_for_reason wrote:

in fact a simple google search reveals this

Average Vertical Leap of NCAA Div. 1 Football player: 29-31 inches.

Average Vertical Leap of NCAA Div. 1 Basketball player: 27-30 inches.

now if I remember correctly a 5'10" guy can reach about 7'4" (maybe a little less memory is getting fuzzy)

I had a 32" vertical off of one foot but since I was 5'7", I could just barely touch the rim. I did jump center for us one game as I could outjump everyone but our regular center and he was out sick that day. I quit playing basketball after my soph year and my leaping ability has diminished. I did dunk on a 7 ft rim at the Y the other day, but just barely.

I'm 6'2, 160 and I'm nowhere close to dunking. I've got longer arms for my height and can barely touch the rim. When I was a HS sophmore I could almost grab the rim, but once I started running my vertical went down a lot, my senior year I was running 80mi/wk and I could barely nick the rim with my fingers.

I play at the gym a few times a week with a lot of good players and only a couple of them under six feet can dunk, and even then they are the quickest(read:fast twitch) players on the court. What soem of you distance runners can do sure is amazing...

I'm just over 6 feet, and could dunk in high school and college, but haven't tried in maybe 3 years. I dunked routinely in intramural games.

1:54, 15:08, 25:46 8k

anon_for_reason wrote:

in fact a simple google search reveals this

Average Vertical Leap of NCAA Div. 1 Football player: 29-31 inches.

Average Vertical Leap of NCAA Div. 1 Basketball player: 27-30 inches.

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe the vertical leap test is standing (you may get one step?). I'm almost positive they do not test football and basketball players with a running start.

I'm 5'9'' and can get my palm over the rim, however I can't even touch the rim with taking one step.

i don't want to argue about this as there isn't enough empirics out there to make any real head way convincing either side...i just know what I have seen - i have been around a lot of tall people who could jump my whole life (as I said volleyball and basketball) and dunking is way more rare than this... i agree there is a selection bias of course but i am still am in doubt of manydunking on a playground rim that is probably bent and 8 inches short does not countand i agree with the football but the basketball - dude some tall guys can jump and no most guys who are under 6' in d I basketball cannot dunkas i said bobby hurley was a good example (as I saw him try), there are many othersand to your last pointhere is a quote from someone on here"Could dunk in highschool and college, 5'9 140lbs.Havent tried for awhile, but if warmed up I still think I could...biggest problem was palming the ball. Oooping the ball was easier. PR's 1:49, 3:45."

Could dunk a tennis ball when I was 18. 6ft. The long miles in college turned me into the average white man. I can still touch the net.

I'm 5'9" (actually 5'9.5") and was able to dunk in high school (age 17, skinny white farm boy). I became obsessed with street basketball when I was a HS sophomore, and made dunking a goal of mine. I bought some plyometric videos, did calf raises in my sleep, and played hoops almost daily in the summer.

The first time I stuck it on a 10' rim was pretty spectacular. I jump off two feet, and really had to get my arms swinging to get a good leap, so I kept trying to bounce-oop to ball to myself. On a perfect bounce, the ball reached it's peak just in front of the rim. I swung myself into the air, grabbed it with one hand, and slammed it in. I felt like a celebrity.

Eventually I got to where I could dunk two-handed backwards, but only with an oop or bounce. I could stick it one-handed off the dribble about half the time, but two-handed dunks were pretty rare for me.

My vertical was measured by two coaches at 38 and 40". I was mainly a distance runner in high school (4:40 mile, 10:20 two mile), but also performed well in high jump (5'11") and triple jump (42'6"). Unfortunately, our school was stacked with jumpers, and the coach rarely let me compete in the jumps. 3 of our triple jumpers placed at state, and my PR would have placed 5th. I was once DQ'd from the high jump for jumping off both feet.

I've seen guys as short as 5'7" dunk. You can get there, but it has to be something you're obsessed with.

I myself can't dunk. I did see Don sage 5'7" dunk two handed in high school, and he ran 8:42 3200m as well as a 4:00 mile. One on the coolest thing I've ever seen.

>20 years ago I was a 5'10" center on my HS basketball team. Maybe my fingertips caressed the rim a time or two. I never dreamed of dunking, but got dunked on plenty of times. Still I managed to be top 3 in the conference in rebounding 3 years.

college PR for the mile, 4:07

Mm-kay wrote:

I myself can't dunk. I did see Don sage 5'7" dunk two handed in high school, and he ran 8:42 3200m as well as a 4:00 mile. One on the coolest thing I've ever seen.

I need video proof to believe that one.

when I was 17 years old and 5'6" could grab the rim...I ran the 2 mile (10:12), mile (4:56), 800 (2:09) and did the highjump (5'10") and ran a 15:45 5k in college...

so hooray for me for being mediocre in so many different ways

Sorry indycar, can't go back 8 years and have don sage dunk for you.