Who is the best NBA player in history who cannot dunk?

[tgan3]

Title. Most of us can't dunk so how much of an impact will such a player be at NBA level.

[Kvnzhangyay]

I do not believe Stockton could dunk

[tgan3]

I do not believe Stockton could dunk

So it's Stockton then, how about Nash?

[SouBeachTalents]

Oscar

[SyRyanYang]

Some haven't dunked in game but I'm sure most of them can pull it off in practice.

Either way, being able to dunk or not is only one measurement of athleticism, guys like JJ Barea is way stronger and quicker than average Joes like you and me.

[tgan3]

Some haven't dunked in game but I'm sure most of them can pull it off in practice.

Either way, being able to dunk or not is only one measurement of athleticism, guys like JJ Barea is way stronger and quicker than average Joes like you and me.

Just to make it a valid discussion make it a dunk in a game. I mean some of us are able to pull off a dunk 1 in 10 tries in practice but you will never try that in a real game..

[Rake2204]

So it's Stockton then, how about Nash?I might be making this up, but I swear I read an interview with Stockton at some point this year where he said he dunked earlier in his NBA career, in-game. Totally don't know if I'm making that up though.

[Marchesk]

Oscar

He could dunk. There's no question.

Cousy

[Proctor]

I completely forgot about this commercial until now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmL3G0LW-Do

[BuffaloBill]

Tiago Splitter

[navy]

I might be making this up, but I swear I read an interview with Stockton at some point this year where he said he dunked earlier in his NBA career, in-game. Totally don't know if I'm making that up though.
He probably could dunk, maybe not with a two step gather though.

[tgan3]

I completely forgot about this commercial until now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmL3G0LW-Do

Thats not even a dunk, more like a power layup, I dont think he even got rim just went up pretty high..

[Cocaine80s]

Can Kemba dunk?

[Proctor]

Thats not even a dunk, more like a power layup, I dont think he even got rim just went up pretty high..
Yeah, I agree with that.

[RoundMoundOfReb]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIkULbZz_V4

[HomieWeMajor]

George Mikan RIP

[Tycriss]

Tony Parker :oldlol:
http://share.gifyoutube.com/KeOBA9.gif

[Noob Saibot]

mark price

[La Frescobaldi]

Earl Monroe.

[hateraid]

Zeke anyone?

[Ramza]

LeBron next season.

[La Frescobaldi]

Zeke anyone?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xhMbebeA2qg

[Bay Area Baller]

I think Muggsy Bogue was a great player without the height in fact at 5'3" smallest player in nba history...


also best small player who could dunk, Spudd Webb dude had crazy hops and was only 5'7" he had crazy hops, and won the dunk contest one year.

[shallehalle]

LeBron next season.
:lol

[bdreason]

I can't think of a single NBA player that couldn't throw it down. I'm a 6'3" nobody white boy and I can throw it down.

Muggsy Bogues was 5'3" and he could dunk.

[KG215]

I might be making this up, but I swear I read an interview with Stockton at some point this year where he said he dunked earlier in his NBA career, in-game. Totally don't know if I'm making that up though.
http://www.tmz.com/videos/0_5y06h8nm/

[WallIn]

Can Kemba dunk?

He can.

Anyway, it's between Stockton and Nash.

[FKAri]

Vincent Lamar Carter

[pudman13]

Earl Monroe. Tiny Archibald. Jeff Hornacek. Steve Nash. (Nash could dunk when he was in college, but not as he got older.)

The first three all stated that they could not. I find it hard to believe with Monroe, who is not only 6' 3" but had amazing hang time, but he said so himself.

Also, and I'm just assuming here because of their size: Gail Goodrich and Bob Cousy. Maybe Lenny Wilkens.

[hawksdreamfan44]

Pistol Pete

[pudman13]

Pistol Pete

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK9qo6LNrtA

0:42

[SHAQisGOAT]

Zeke anyone?

Isiah could dunk and actually did in actual games, here and there...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChA45LsZm7I

[Budadiiii]

Wilt Chamborlen

Bob Coochy

Tiny Arbitract

Gorge Mikin

Steeve Nach

Jerri East

[SHAQisGOAT]

Pistol Pete

6'5'' barefooted with decent ups? He could definitely do it...

http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/11-23-2014/ZcoI4d.gif

http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/12-08-2014/orAbQB.gif

https://33.media.tumblr.com/75367952abe196ad88b9e5d9b9bf65e4/tumblr_n1l465gMBh1s3gys4o1_400.gif

http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/11-23-2014/iPjU2S.gif

[chocolatethunder]

Lots of smaller players/guards who were actually quite athletic could/can dunk but rarely every did in games. Zeke is one example. Hersey Hawkins would be another. Hersey Hawkins was very athletic and literally almost never dunked. Maybe 1-3 times a season when he was young. He dunked on MJ around 1990-92 (can't remember exactly) and it may have been in the playoffs. He actually dunked on him as in faced him up took it to the cup and shit on him. Chris Jackson/Abdul Rauf almost ever dunked in a game but he was really athletic. For the short guys it's not important to dunk so a lot of them don't. When Iverson was young on the Sixers he used to dunk and try to dunk all the time. I guess after realizing he could score without dunking and not get as badly beaten up, he then just used to do it with a clear path mostly (on the break, etc.).

[Kblaze8855]

Im shocked to see some of the names being mentioned by people I think are serious.

The tallest nba player ive heard say themselves that they could not dunk...ever...is Jeff Hornacek.

[pudman13]

Im shocked to see some of the names being mentioned by people I think are serious.

The tallest nba player ive heard say themselves that they could not dunk...ever...is Jeff Hornacek.

Here are a couple of taller guys I wonder about:

Wes Unseld, a center, though only 6' 6". The guy was an amazing rebounder without jumping half a foot off of the floor. There is no footage at all of him ever dunking, and I've seen him on free breakaways just lay the ball in. I wonder if maybe he's a product of that time period when dunking was outlawed in the NCAA so he just didn't bother to do it when he got to the NBA??

Bill Bradley: He was an undersized forward at 6'5" or so, and I think there's a legitimate possibility that he couldn't dunk. Check out this interview at 4:12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoTaSIBrdhY

[Kblaze8855]

I made a Wes Unseld video like 10 years ago and I feel like I had footage of him dunking back when he had the low cut. Pre afro Wes....

Even if not...im sure he could. Ive seem him high enough on blocks to dunk it.

[tontoz]

mark price


This. I remember him saying that he never dunked in a game.

Pretty sure Nash and Stockton could dunk when they were young.

[Milbuck]

Ryan Anderson, easily.

[Dro]

Zeke anyone?
?
Isaiah has plenty of dunks in game, he's caught some off the rim also....

[Harison]

From All-time greats Bird rarely was dunking, and he is 6-9.

[Dro]

From All-time greats Bird rarely was dunking, and he is 6-9.
True, but everybody's seen Larry dunk in game, even during the same few highlights they always show of him...

However, I've never seen Mugsy dunk. Is there any footage of this?

[pudman13]

However, I've never seen Mugsy dunk. Is there any footage of this?

Muggsy could not dunk a basketball. He could dunk a volleyball, but he couldn't palm a basketball, so he couldn't dunk it.

If you can palm a ball, you can dunk it with one hand if you can jump high enough to reach the rim with the lower part of your palm (about where the bottom thumb knuckle is.) If you can't palm it you need to be able to jump high enough to get your whole hand and about two inches of your wrist over it.

[SHAQisGOAT]

From All-time greats Bird rarely was dunking, and he is 6-9.

'Rarely' is too much of a stretch... Most of the time he was finishing fastbreaks with a dunk (uncontested), had some dunks in half-court situations too, including some nice ones, even a few poster dunks (footage not as much as nowadays ofc)...

http://gifsforum.com/images_new/gif/other/grand/4d30893e785d7a82a66b8889195d4a4b.gif

(hard to see it in the gif but he dribbled just before the gather and the 2steps, clear to spot it in the video footage)
http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/12-08-2014/EX70ct.gif

http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/12-08-2014/_AUn8K.gif

http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/12-08-2014/ng1Mm9.gif

http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/12-08-2014/KeXD5F.gif

http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/12-08-2014/8kZ2Lj.gif

http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/12-08-2014/1sSx8_.gif

http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/12-08-2014/TUIFSo.gif

Bird had the same vertical as Karl Malone's, and he was a pretty mobile 6'9, with a 9'1'' standing reach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br8UrvnyO4c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4xMtl3Fulg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX8ipponmSc

[Psileas]

Dolph Schayes had supposedly claimed he couldn't dunk, which I find a bit hard to believe, especially if the stuff like the Steve Nash one can count as dunks.
I believe Unseld could dunk if he cared, but his extra pounds led him to do his job below the basket - which is where the majority of the game has always been played anyway and his rebounding is evidence.

Oscar, that someone mentioned, is completely out of the question - I've seen his hand way above the rim, he just avoided it for safety reasons.

[pudman13]

Oscar, that someone mentioned, is completely out of the question - I've seen his hand way above the rim, he just avoided it for safety reasons.

There's video of Oscar going up for a block and getting his hand up above the square.

In his autobiography he talks about dunking. When he was a kid he used to play outdoors with one of those baskets that was held up by a wooden pole. He went up for a dunk and got slammed into it and it hurt, a lot. He said after that he chose never to dunk in games.

Walt Frazier is another one who purposely never dunked in games. If you watch video of any of his finger-rolls, his entire hand is over the rim. He just thought it was cooler not to dunk.

[La Frescobaldi]

There's video of Oscar going up for a block and getting his hand up above the square.

In his autobiography he talks about dunking. When he was a kid he used to play outdoors with one of those baskets that was held up by a wooden pole. He went up for a dunk and got slammed into it and it hurt, a lot. He said after that he chose never to dunk in games.

Walt Frazier is another one who purposely never dunked in games. If you watch video of any of his finger-rolls, his entire hand is over the rim. He just thought it was cooler not to dunk.

Finger roll was cooler and it still is cooler.

Way cooler.

[G-train]

Im shocked to see some of the names being mentioned by people I think are serious.

The tallest nba player ive heard say themselves that they could not dunk...ever...is Jeff Hornacek.

Hornacek never dunked in a game, but he could definitely dunk in practice.