why cant nba players jump higher?

[Knicksfever2010]

It seems its all based on training. In their youth, they do all kinds of excercises to get above the rim. It would seem that if they double or triple that kind of workout, they should be able to jump higher. Instead of having a 36 inch vertical. Why not a 72 inch vertical?

Imagine if you spend every waking minute working on your core and calves.

[ShawkFactory]

Because the human body has limitations. And these are huge men.

Same reason pitchers have never been able to throw harder than 103 or so despite training.

[JohnMax]

NFL players have better verticals

http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=129222

[kshutts1]

NFL players have better verticals

http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=129222
Not as a whole they don't.

But someone else already said it... they're still humans. The human body has limitations, in all things.

Shaq and Curry could both shoot FTs all day, every day, and share tips and tricks with one another (in reality, Curry would be helping Shaq, not vice versa)... and you know what? After 10 years of intense, 16 hours a day, 365 days a year shooting and practicing, they would be nowhere close to one another in percentage.

Same is true for literally everything that humans do. There are floors and ceilings for everyone and they differ from person to person.

[Foster5k]

Not as a whole they don't.

But someone else already said it... they're still humans. The human body has limitations, in all things.

Shaq and Curry could both shoot FTs all day, every day, and share tips and tricks with one another (in reality, Curry would be helping Shaq, not vice versa)... and you know what? After 10 years of intense, 16 hours a day, 365 days a year shooting and practicing, they would be nowhere close to one another in percentage.

Same is true for literally everything that humans do. There are floors and ceilings for everyone and they differ from person to person.
Disagree with the Shaq/Curry analogy.

If all Shaq did was practice shooting like Curry, sooner or later, given enough time, he could reach his percentages, etc.

Shooters aren't born shooters. Curry had to perfect his shot and master it. It took a ton of practice. I remember watching a video where it said Curry missed countless number of shots before being able to shoot like he is capable of now. He pretty much had to disassemble his shot and rebuild it into what it is today.

[kshutts1]

Disagree with the Shaq/Curry analogy.

If all Shaq did was practice shooting like Curry, sooner or later, given enough time, he could reach his percentages, etc.

Shooters aren't born shooters. Curry had to perfect his shot and master it. It took a ton of practice. I remember watching a video where it said Curry missed countless number of shots before being able to shoot like he is capable of now. He pretty much had to disassemble his shot and rebuild it into what it is today.
Not saying Curry doesn't work at it. But every person has strengths and weaknesses. Everything we do, or could do, is limited in some way in both a minimum and maximum extent.

I'll admit that it's more of a theory of mine (one strongly supported by academics and professional athletes, though), but it seems entirely logical.

The essence of it is... Curry without ever shooting a basketball for 5-10 years could still pick up a basketball and hit 60% of his FTs. But no matter how much he practices, he'll never hit 98%.

Shaq, on the other hand, in the same circumstances, might be a 35%/75% guy.

Numbers are entirely hypothetical, and used more to make the point than anything.

[Maga_1]

It seems its all based on training. In their youth, they do all kinds of excercises to get above the rim. It would seem that if they double or triple that kind of workout, they should be able to jump higher. Instead of having a 36 inch vertical. Why not a 72 inch vertical?

Imagine if you spend every waking minute working on your core and calves.

You know that those aren't the main attributes you need to workout to jump higher right? :roll: :roll:

I'm going to leave this year so you can think too...


...genetics.

[theaussieguy]

totally agree OP, Westbrook is a perfect example. Everyone lauds this guy as being some mega dunker but the reality is despite all his new age training and steroids, the only reason he can dunk is because of his long arms. He has a pitiful 36.5 inch vertical that is typical of a high schooler. Pathetic

[iTare]

totally agree OP, Westbrook is a perfect example. Everyone lauds this guy as being some mega dunker but the reality is despite all his new age training and steroids, the only reason he can dunk is because of his long arms. He has a pitiful 36.5 inch vertical that is typical of a high schooler. Pathetic
Pathetic?

[HylianNightmare]

Clearly they're slacking

[FKAri]

Disagree with the Shaq/Curry analogy.

If all Shaq did was practice shooting like Curry, sooner or later, given enough time, he could reach his percentages, etc.

Shooters aren't born shooters. Curry had to perfect his shot and master it. It took a ton of practice. I remember watching a video where it said Curry missed countless number of shots before being able to shoot like he is capable of now. He pretty much had to disassemble his shot and rebuild it into what it is today.

Practice, ofcourse helps but some people will always be naturally better shooters.


Pathetic?

Yeah I dunno if I'd call a 36.5 inch vert pathetic. I'd go with embarassing, shameful or ignominious instead.

[FireDavidKahn]

Because there are limits on what the human body can do.:rolleyes:

Did you really need that explained to you?

[CTbasketball92]

totally agree OP, Westbrook is a perfect example. Everyone lauds this guy as being some mega dunker but the reality is despite all his new age training and steroids, the only reason he can dunk is because of his long arms. He has a pitiful 36.5 inch vertical that is typical of a high schooler. Pathetic

NFL players usually jump higher. It's because they lift so much that they maximize their legs. They have to because football requires more run/jump athleticism and explosiveness. Tebow has a 38 inch standing vert.

Westbrook was a late bloomer and he clearly jumps over 40 or so inches now.
If him and Rose trained like NFL players they've have 37-38 inch standing verts easy.

[Peteballa]

Because it's a ****ing crapshoot. Look, you can obviously train to jump higher, but I know guys who do years of plyometrics and can't come even close to what I can jump, and I never did any sort of training specifically aimed at jumping higher. Just normal basketball practice shit as a high schooler like suicides, stadiums, etc., and I have a 40-42 inch running vert. I think a lot of it's genetics.

[Beastmode88]

Why are you comparing NFL players to NBA players? They're average heights are totally different. Shorter people have higher vertical jumps.

[TheCorporation]

Why are you comparing NFL players to NBA players? They're average heights are totally different. Shorter people have higher vertical jumps.

Bingo

that's why 7-footers don't have amazing verticals (partly because they don't need to as their closer to the rim).

Take a 6'8 football player and tell me if he has the same vert as LeBron. Or can get up as high as him (obviously including arm length because that's part of getting up and dunking). I'll wait.

[Marchesk]

Cousins only has a 27 inch vertical. Maybe needs some of these:

http://i59.tinypic.com/orkkzm.jpg

Kings are going as far as Cousins can jump.

[Marchesk]

Why not a 72 inch vertical?

Scientists haven't spliced tiger genes into human DNA yet.

[oarabbus]

Yeah why don't we have 50 foot verticals by now? aka OP is mentally retarded

[Collie]

There's something... starts with a "G".. I remember it had something to do with apples.

[ArbitraryWater]

Disagree with the Shaq/Curry analogy.

If all Shaq did was practice shooting like Curry, sooner or later, given enough time, he could reach his percentages, etc.

Shooters aren't born shooters. Curry had to perfect his shot and master it. It took a ton of practice. I remember watching a video where it said Curry missed countless number of shots before being able to shoot like he is capable of now. He pretty much had to disassemble his shot and rebuild it into what it is today.

Alot of fail in here...didnt expect this Kindergarten thinking from you.

[2swift4u]

NBA players don't have higher verticals because:

1) it's more important for them to work on their basketball skills than on jumping. If all they did the whole day would be jump training then some would most likely jump higher.

2) there's a limit. Javier Sotomayor's world record for high jumping has been unbroken for 22 years. Despite better training methods and more knowledge these days, high jumpers have not been abel to jump higher than Sotomayor.

3) A few professional dunkers (who work on their jumping abilities) have reached verticals of about 50 inches +/- a few inches... So that seems to be about the limit. And there's NBA player that have verticals in the high 40s I believe, so there's not that much room for improvement anyway. Most of them probably jumped higher in college too because in the NBA players are supposed to add mass, which obviously doesn't help your vertical.

[Knicksfever2010]

Yeah why don't we have 50 foot verticals by now? aka OP is mentally retarded

Hey, I resemble that remark