Defense jumping question

[Jasper]

Most if not all of us has played bball.

When playing defense , and you give space to a shooter, 99% of the defensive plays I see in the pro's as well as everyone else , jumps at the shooter when the shooter is taking a shot.

In the pro's as well as college , these guys are real athlete's with serious vertical hops.

Instead of jumping at or into the shooter , why don't they jump vertically to disrupt or block the shoot ??
Thoughts ...

[CuhGetsBucks]

It's easier to get a hand in the face to disrupt the shot when you jump at, atleast I've found this easier to do. Jumping vertically would make sense in some cases but you'd need a very long standing reach + have some inches on the shooter also. By jumping forward it's easier to place your hand directly in front of the eyes of the shooter to prevent them from being able to see the rim on their shot.
I remember Shane Battier demonstrated this when guarding Kobe. Since then I've made it a priority when defending.

[Annyong!]

It's easier to get a hand in the face to disrupt the shot when you jump at, atleast I've found this easier to do. Jumping vertically would make sense in some cases but you'd need a very long standing reach + have some inches on the shooter also. By jumping forward it's easier to place your hand directly in front of the eyes of the shooter to prevent them from being able to see the rim on their shot.
I remember Shane Battier demonstrated this when guarding Kobe. Since then I've made it a priority when defending.
This. Also to state the obvious, shots have an arc and the easiest place to block a shot is at its lowest point, which would be to go towards the player.

Take this graph for instance:
https://dollecommunicationsblog.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/basketball-3pt-angles-swish-brad.jpg

If you are 4 feet away from the shooter, you have to get your hand at 13 feet to block the shot. Very few players could do that, and then to add timing? Forget it, not happening. You are much better off closing in 4 feet towards the shooter where the shot is going to be released under 8 feet by most shooters, which is easily within blocking range of defenders even if they don't get much elevation. Even if you don't get the block, you are going to force them into the high arcing shot.

[TemporaMutantur]

Jumping forward creates the impression or at least increases the chances that you'll even think (as a shooter) that your shot will be blocked, so depending on how up the defender is on you, it would force you to adjust your shot, just to avoid getting blocked (even if you wouldn't), and in turn will result in the shooter taking a tougher shot.

Some release points are higher, so it's not as impactful. That's why it's good to practice with a defender, just to know how much daylight you have as a shooter to release according to your standard shooting mechanics.

[Jasper]

If you jumped vertically , could you not block the sight of the basket, but not the shot :confusedshrug:

I see so many college as well as pro's jump in and then a foul occurs.. and its for 1 or 3 freebies at the line.

Watched the Cav's game the other day and Jefferson was late on a pickup , and instead of jumping , he reframed from jumping cause his concern was fouling the shooter. Problem was it was a good defensive decision , but the shooter made the shot.
If he would of coordinated his jump to block the sight of the basket, it's possible the shoot would of been off, with no foul.

[feyki]

Foul .