ESPN article about touching the top of the backboard (13ft)

[url]http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-29-24/James-White-vs--a-Jumping-Myth.html[/url]

[U]James White vs a Jumping Myth[/U]

January 8, 2008 5:34 PM

We have heard it a million times. So and so can "make change" off the top of the backboard. But have you ever seen it done? Is it really even possible? I remember back in last year's dunk contest, much was made of the fact that Dwight Howard slapped a sticker 12-and-a-half feet up in the air while dunking. He's enormous, long, and jumps about as high as anyone.

And if it's a big deal to him that he was able to reach a distance well short of the top of the backboard, I wonder if anyone ever really has.

Todd Gallagher wrote the highly entertaining book "Andy Roddick Beat Me With a Frying Pan" that endeavors to answer the questions that burn in the souls of fans, like: Are dart professionals great beer pong players, do athletes really play high, and could Andy Roddick beat an average tennis player playing with a frying pan?

Gallagher and his publishers at Three Rivers Press have nicely agreed to let TrueHoop reproduce a whole chapter of that book that is hell-bent on addressing the question "can basketball players really 'make change' off the top of the backboard?" Super-dunker James White was enlisted to help answer the question.

Gallagher writes:

Earl "The Goat" Manigault is widely regarded as one of the greatest playground basketball players of all time. Although he never played in the NBA and only briefly played in college, the legend of Manigault has spread far and wide and led to his play being glorified in magazines, books, and even a movie starring Don Cheadle called Rebound: The Legend of Earl "The Goat" Manigault. There are a number of tales regarding Manigault's prowess, but the central story that propelled his legend was that he had such extraordinary leaping ability he could pull dollar bills off the top of the backboard and leave change. What made this even more amazing was that Manigault was, depending on who you talk to, somewhere between 5-11 and 6-1. Considering that the top of the backboard is at thirteen feet and the average six-foot-tall man can only touch about eight feet high standing flat-footed, Manigault would have had to jump at least sixty inches to even come close. That would mean the Goat's "making change" was a feat on par with Michael Jordan's game-winning dunk from half court in the film Space Jam. In other words, pure fiction.

The legend of touching the top of the backboard has gone on for years, and it has been excitedly attributed to so many different players that it's commonly assumed any number of guys in the NBA can do it. But in a sport where any individual achievement is promoted ad nauseam, we've never seen any proof of it actually being done.

I went to the epicenter of basketball talent (no, not Greece) to talk to the U.S. national team. Certainly, if it could be done, one of America's basketball stars would be able to do it.

While Coach Mike Krzyzewski had the players practicing cheers to boost team spirit instead of learning how to beat a zone defense or defend a pick and roll, I asked then-general manager of the Denver Nuggets Kiki Vandeweghe, a former all-star, whether he'd ever seen anyone reach the mountaintop.

"No, I've never seen it. That's a long way up there. I don't think it can be done."

What about Kiki's former teammate David Thompson? Presumably the 6-4 guard with what people claimed was a 44-inch vertical could grab a quarter off the top of the backboard.

Kiki shook his head solemnly.

"You hear a lot of stories." He looked up at the top of the backboard. "No, I don't think he could do that."

When Coach K was finally done passing out Amex applications, I talked to Amare Stoudamire, who is 6-10 and was one of the best leapers in the NBA before a major knee injury.

"I've never touched the top of the backboard and I've never seen it done," he said. "Myself, I came close, maybe three or four inches from the top. If you're lookin' for a guy who can do it, talk to LeBron James."

So off to LeBron I went. When asked, he shook his head no as well.

"Everyone says I can, but I can't do it. I've tried. I can get up for sure but that's a long way. Dwight's the only man in the world who could do something like that, you gotta talk to him."

"Dwight" was Dwight Howard, the first pick in the 2004 draft, who stands 6-11 and is an absolute physical freak. Do a search online and you'll see extensive video of Dwight's leaping exploits. His team, the Orlando Magic, has documented some of his more amazing stunts, most famously him literally kissing the rim. In the 2007 Slam Dunk contest, he dunked a ball while slapping a sticker shockingly high on the backboard.

Hornets point guard Chris Paul told me, "I think Dwight can. I asked him before practice today and he said he can but I've never seen him do it."

I asked Chris if he could get Dwight to try.

"I don't know. Depends on how he feels. I want to see it, too."

Have you ever seen anyone do it?

"Uh uh."

So that's total crap when people say Earl Manigault could do it, since he was like 6 feet tall?

"I believe it, though. You ain't never seen the movie Rebound?"

You mean the one with Don Cheadle?

"Yeah."

You know that's not a documentary, right?

When Chris and I approached Dwight and asked him, he beamed ear to ear.

"I can. I've never heard of anyone else that can do it but I can get up there. I did it in high school when I was seventeen for the first time. Now, I can't grab stuff off of it but I can get up there."

When we asked to see it, Dwight politely begged off but said he'd do it for me later. He told me to set it up with the Magic. So, a week later, I called the team and they said my trip would be unnecessary; they had all kinds of great video with Howard leaping, including Dwight touching the top of the backboard. For the first time in the history of basketball we were going to have documentation.

Well, the footage ended up being bunk. On the video Dwight ended up touching somewhere just north of the square on the backboard a couple of times. Because Howard seemed like a nice guy and I wanted to take him at his word, I asked the Magic's VP of communications, Joel Glass, when we could coordinate the jump per the original plans Dwight and I discussed. Joel stated that no matter what Dwight told me, he would not be allowed to jump, citing injury concerns.

I pointed out that jumping in the air one time would be less dangerous than most of the things Dwight did in a typical NBA game and I added that I had never heard of anyone, ever, in the history of basketball getting hurt this way. So Joel started giving a variety of other reasons, all bordering on the insane.

Next I contacted Dwight's agency, Goodwin Sports, to let them know that I would be willing to spend my own time and money having someone come to Orlando to document the leap. They said that it sounded good and that they'd check with Dwight and get back to me. The official response came from Mary Ford, Howard's publicist at Goodwin, who said he could do it but it was too time consuming. When I explained that it would literally be one jump after practice, the total time of which would be somewhere in the neighborhood of ten seconds, the agency took two weeks to say no. And this time she hedged. "Well, he can do it but he can't always do it."

You can look at this a couple of different ways:[quote]

1. Dwight can't touch the top of the backboard and the Magic and his agency were covering for him. Alarm bells go off since they have footage of different kinds of leaping stunts but not the most-talked-about one in basketball history. Twice in the 2007 season Dwight tried to impress with his leaping ability, once at the Slam Dunk contest and again when his teammates doubted he could still reach a piece of tape high on the backboard that he had touched when he was a rookie. However, both the sticker and the piece of tape were 12-6 high, which left him a full six inches short of our milestone. Combine this with him not trying to touch the top when the players of the U.S. national team asked, all the different excuses his organization and agency gave, and the historically murky nature of the claims, and there are certainly doubts.

2. Dwight really can touch the top of the backboard but the people surrounding him are awful.
[/quote]
It's a tough call. Dwight is astounding athletically and by all accounts is a nice and honest guy, but pro athletes, even ones with the best intentions, are notoriously bad about overestimating their own abilities. It's very easy for someone to think they're touching the top when really they're 4 or 5 inches below. After years of bulls---, I needed proof.

My next lead was Shawn Marion, who was rumored to be able to pull it off. A call to the Suns led to some internal research followed by them telling me he "used" to be able to do it. The team could produce no documentation, though, and no one who could even vouch for the claim.

But but but ... there was hope! And the hope was in the person of James "Flight" White, James White 6-7 string bean rookie for the San Antonio Spurs. (TrueHoop note: now White's playing for Fenerbache in Turkey.)

Dunking, in a way, is an art (in the same way that Boone's Farm is a wine, but I digress), and in that respect it's often a matter of taste and preference as to who the "best" is. But while at the University of Cincinnati, White performed a variety of dunks so improbable that they had never been attempted in competition, let alone completed, before he flushed them down. To give an idea of White's leaping ability, it was mind-blowing when Dr. J took off from the foul line and dunked in 1976; it was jaw dropping the way Michael Jordan took off from the foul line and dunked in 1987; but in 2001 James White took off from the foul line and dunked while putting the ball between his legs!

There is no one -- and I stress, no one -- in the history of professional basketball who can even come close to doing this. Vince Carter, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dr. J, Kenny "Sky" Walker, Dee Brown, Spud Webb, Terence Stansbury, Dominique Wilkins, the entire cast of Slamball -- none of these guys could pull off this dunk. Isaiah Rider won a dunk contest in 1994 just by virtue of the fact that he could go between his legs and dunk at all, and as mentioned, Jordan and Dr. J won dunk contests by being able to dunk from the foul line. It's questionable whether David Thompson or Earl Manigault could do either. James White combined the two.

So when I came across an interview from the Indianapolis Star with White that read:[hr]

Q: Can you touch the top of the backboard?

A: Yeah.
[hr]
I immediately called his agent, Bill McCandless, to set up something.

Bill had his concerns, but was intrigued.

"That's really the biggest old wives' tale out there. If you're around basketball, you grow up hearing all the time about guys being able to do that and it's always nonsense.

"I'll tell you this, though, James does not bulls--- about this kind of stuff. I don't know if you're aware of this but he had thought about becoming a decathlete. The guy has Olympic leaping ability. Jumping off of one leg, he's like no other."

McCandless said that even without training White qualified for the Olympic trials in the high jump by leaping 7-4 and the long jump with a distance of 25-7.

This sounded promising. He called James and quickly got back to me.

"James said he's for sure done it. Now, he might only be able to do it one out of one hundred times, but he said he'd give it a shot if you want to send a camera crew."

White arrived at the court at the University of Cincinnati ready to fly, but first he wanted to clarify something about his top-of-the-backboard exploits.

"I've never actually done it, per se. But doing the vertical test at the University of Cincinnati, I've touched as high as the top of the backboard."

How fitting for this topic. Thinking back to his "Yeah" response to the Indianapolis Star interviewer, I started to wonder whether NBA players saying they've touched the top of the backboard was like kids in junior high saying they've "gone all the way."

But James wanted to show his stuff. Since he jumps off of one foot, we put a yardstick off of the side of the top of the backboard. Not exactly the same thing as touching the top of the backboard, but one step at a time. If he couldn't get the yardstick, then there'd be no reason to go further.

There was no reason to go further.

James was close. Damn close. But his best jump left him more than 2 inches from the yardstick.

Okay, maybe I was being pessimistic when I said there was no reason to go further. There had been rumors of a "busted nut" (is that part of the knee or something?) that took place an hour before the jump, slowing James down, so a month later we tried again, this time after practice with the Spurs in San Antonio.

Again, close but not quite.

As to whether White can do it or not, you can draw your own conclusions. My money says that he can. He was only a few inches off, and I don't think James would have taken the time to jump for us twice, or offered to try again before we ran into a book deadline, if it was something he couldn't do.

But whether James White can or can't reach the top is secondary in this discussion. The point is, if a 6-7 Olympic-caliber high jumper who can do dunks that Vince Carter and Michael Jordan dare not attempt is struggling to reach a yardstick off of the side of the hoop, there is no player in history who has ever touched the top of the backboard. And certainly no one who has ever "made change."

And no, Don Cheadle jumping off of a trampoline doesn't count.

[img]http://datznasty.freepgs.com/james.jpg[/img]

This must be the same guy who keeps having my video flagged, deleted, and then me threatened with litigation everytime I upload the video on youtube.

Like he said, if James White and Dwight Howard can't do it, and we've never seen Michael Wild Thing Wilson do it, I'm not believing anybody can. I'm tired of hearing about Kobe did it in warmups, and I don't have video but I saw Vince do it in high school type testimonies. And don't even talk to me about Manigault and Jumping Jackie Johnson types.

I remember when Hook Mitchell was signing autographs and a kid walked up to him and talked about how he heard Hook could get his head over the rim, and Hook was like, "damn, over the rim? that's what they saying? Nah," even himself being blown away by how tall the tales get when you don't have the burden of proof and it's just hearsay

that's interesting. i swear i heard that kg could do it coming out of high school, but i've never seen it. he sure couldn't do it now.

[QUOTE]There had been rumors of a "busted nut" (is that part of the knee or something?) that took place an hour before the jump, slowing James down, so a month later we tried again, this time after practice with the Spurs in San Antonio.[/QUOTE]
"Or something."

Great article, I remember seeing video of White coming very very close to the top of the backboard, and I remember seeing this other guy dunk really high up there. Not sure if anyone can actually place and grab change from the top of the backboard like that though.

I think it's pretty safe to say that both White and Dwight could both do it at one point.

Dwight put a sticker up at 12'6 with his left and while dunking a basketball. I'm sure he could get up 6 more inches without worrying about the sticker, without having to dunk, and using his right hand.

[QUOTE]Like he said, if James White and Dwight Howard can't do it, and we've never seen Michael Wild Thing Wilson do it, I'm not believing anybody can. I'm tired of hearing about Kobe did it in warmups, and I don't have video but I saw Vince do it in high school type testimonies. And don't even talk to me about Manigault and Jumping Jackie Johnson types.

I remember when Hook Mitchell was signing autographs and a kid walked up to him and talked about how he heard Hook could get his head over the rim, and Hook was like, "damn, over the rim? that's what they saying? Nah," even himself being blown away by how tall the tales get when you don't have the burden of proof and it's just hearsay[/QUOTE]

If anyone among the players I've seen could do it, that would be Wilson. Too bad there's decent footage only from his 12-foot dunk, but even if you watch this video, watch his hand at its apex. It seems to be one foot (or 10 inches, at least) above the 12-foot rim.

Werent most of the playground/gym backboards around that time rounded at the top?

Like this:

[img]http://www.lifetime.com/images/prod_BALL_impact_lg.png[/img]


Touching the top of one of these type of backboards really isnt that big a stretch.

[QUOTE=Penny37]I think it's pretty safe to say that both White and Dwight could both do it at one point.

Dwight put a sticker up at 12'6 with his left and while dunking a basketball. I'm sure he could get up 6 more inches without worrying about the sticker, without having to dunk, and using his right hand.[/QUOTE]
They might be able to do it at their absolute best, but there's still no proof.

First, no one ever grabbed a dollar and left change. It was grabbing a dollar in change. Through years of story telling it got twisted around.

Second, Earl Manigault never did it. Jackie Jackson did but Earl did not.

[QUOTE=Da KO King]First, no one ever grabbed a dollar and left change. It was grabbing a dollar in change. Through years of story telling it got twisted around.

Second, Earl Manigault never did it. Jackie Jackson did but Earl did not.[/QUOTE]
source? if you're telling a joke i'm not getting, please cite the source of the joke and explain the humor. if possible phrase your explanation in rhyming couplets.

Then Vince Carter is a flat out liar...He came to my bball camp and we asked him and he said he could do it...What a freakin liar..

Actually I should have said a dollar; sometimes in changes but my point still stands...

Before he passed I met Earl. He said "No I never grabbed money off the backboard, that was Jackie."

When I met Dean Meminger he told me the exact word for word story on Jackie grabbing the money that I was told by my step pops (well respected but not a big name on the NYC streetball scene of the 60's and 70's) and read in an article on "White Jesus" Billy Rieser.

The fact I was given the same story three times leads me to believe it might have really happened.

[url]http://youtube.com/watch?v=FbVJ1IvYkaI[/url]

The above link shows a former University of Iowa player, Doug Thomas, supposedly touching 13 feet, the height of the top of the backboard. Unfortunately, though, you can't see it very well. I wish they would've zoomed in on his hand or something.

Vince can come close.

In the miami heat charity game he did a self alleyoop in warmup where his head was a LEGIT 1 inch above the rim.

If he was just jumping straight up, VC at his prime, could get around 2-3 inches above rim with his head.

But still he'd be inches off from actually touching the top of the backboard imo.

KOBE? get real.

[QUOTE][url]http://youtube.com/watch?v=FbVJ1IvYkaI[/url]

The above link shows a former University of Iowa player, Doug Thomas, supposedly touching 13 feet, the height of the top of the backboard. Unfortunately, though, you can't see it very well. I wish they would've zoomed in on his hand or something.[/QUOTE]

Thats what I was gonna post(I did once a while back). They measured it at 13 but it wasnt jumping actually with a backboard.

I really wouldnt bet against a guy like Travis Outlaw getting up there. Ive seen him about close as James white was in that video a year ago. I didnt see video but I saw a still image of outlaw riiiiiight next to the white at the top.

*Edit*

Found it.

[IMG]http://nbadraft.net/profiles/largepics/outlaw01.jpg[/IMG]

How far short would you say he is? 4-5 inches?


A guy with a 9'6'' standing reach(Wilt, Andrew Bynum, and a few others) would need to get up 42 inches to do it(maybe a little less with shoes). Wilt was a big ten high jump champ. I gotta believe that even in the 50s a college level high jumper would have to have a vertical in the 35 range or better. Maybe on the highest jump of their lives these crazy long armed lanky bigmen could get there.

Im not buying anyone under 6'9 doing it though.

[QUOTE=VeeCee15]Vince can come close.

In the miami heat charity game he did a self alleyoop in warmup where his head was a LEGIT 1 inch above the rim.

If he was just jumping straight up, VC at his prime, could get around 2-3 inches above rim with his head.

But still he'd be inches off from actually touching the top of the backboard imo.

KOBE? get real.[/QUOTE]

I swear to god at a speech he gave in 2003 at Eastern Invitational Camp in Trenton NJ at College of NJ...Vince said in high school he could jump up with two hands and hand from the top of the back board... He said he couldnt hang anymore but he could still touch it..

I feel so lied to. I wish I taped it because I would put him on blast. Maybe Hoop Group has the tape still

I've heard the "guy grabbing change from the top of the backboard" story so many times one guy said VC did another guy said Mcdyess did it I never believed them though

I don't know why people would be so impressed with someone grabbing anything of the top of the backboard anyway, least of all so much as to spread stories and rumours about it for decades. The best was a few years back when I was still in teaching school doing my practicum, and a 13-year-old tried to convince me that if Vince felt like it, he could go to the Olympics and win the high jump competition. When I asked the kid why he doesn't do it, he said Vince doesn't feel like it. Makes sense, since one could say the same about basketball.

Either way, for those of you impressed by leaping ability, here:

[url]http://youtube.com/watch?v=Jw-mHX_wKM8[/url]

[url]http://youtube.com/watch?v=IclEQA48IOE[/url]

In the last video, the bar is at 8 feet and half an inch. Dirty commies and their insane leaping ability.

[size="4"]holy ****!!!![/size]

This thread periodically comes up ... and I keep mentioning early 70's Milwaukee Bucks - Curtis Perry did it.

Sorry - no youtube back then , and I would be surprised if a telecast was even there.
Any case all I could possibly do is contact one of the Legend web sites and ask them to contact one of the old Bucks and legit. the factoid.

I've seen that vid of James white coming within like an inch or two of the top.

Are people so lame they think it's amazing Dwight Howard can touch the top of the back board. Travis Outlaw can grab a stack of quarters off the top of the back board.

When I try to warm up for my dunks on the 13 foot hoop in my backyard, I usually try to get my head over that top of the 10 foot hoop's backyard. On a good day, I can blow the dust off the top.

And yes, I have a 12 foot hoop and a 10 foot hoop in my backyard. No body wants to play with me unless I have to shoot on a 13 foot hoop so its fair.

I wonder if people realize how big a regulation backboard is, 72inches wide by 42 inches tall. In this case the height is all that matters, but I have been in plenty of gyms where the backboards were not regulation and the top was only 12'6 or sometimes even 12ft like on those sucky half circular ones.

If this rim ws made to be regulation height, the top of this backboard would be 12'6
[img]http://hoopschicago.com/pstyle_select_big.jpg[/img]

Still, to put that in perspective James White has a 8'9 standing reach. 13ft-8'9=51 inches.

Yeah that Doug Thomas video is the only real proof I have ever seen of someone legitimately touching 13 feet. Since he's a one footed jumper he'd probably collide with the backboard and seriously hurt himself if he tried to jump and grab at the top of an actual one. Too bad the Suns released him!

Tell you what, I think Dwight is telling the truth. Sometimes you just feel great, your adrenaline is pumping, your legs are ready yet rested, and you just do one of those freak jumps where everything is perfect - one where you get a few inches higher than normal, but is extremely difficult to do again. One where conditions are absolutely perfect and you fluke that balance of muscle twitch coordination. That's pretty much what high jumpers aim for, is it not? Seeing how close he can come, I think he's telling the truth about maybe just getting a nail up to 13 feet.

Wilt I think you could make a case for. In the vids I've seen of him, he does seem to have some decent leaping ability but I've never seen him with his head at the rim. I think he's downright spewing **** when he claims he has a higher vert than Jordan - but looking at his freakishly long arms and legs, and his amazingly high reach, I think he had the potential to touch the top.

PS Kblaze, his hand is like 9 or more inches from wrist to tip so you can kinda get some perspective on that. He's probably around 8 inches from the top imo

[QUOTE=3stat2]Yeah that Doug Thomas video is the only real proof I have ever seen of someone legitimately touching 13 feet. Since he's a one footed jumper he'd probably collide with the backboard and seriously hurt himself if he tried to jump and grab at the top of an actual one. Too bad the Suns released him!

Tell you what, I think Dwight is telling the truth. Sometimes you just feel great, your adrenaline is pumping, your legs are ready yet rested, and you just do one of those freak jumps where everything is perfect - one where you get a few inches higher than normal, but is extremely difficult to do again. One where conditions are absolutely perfect and you fluke that balance of muscle twitch coordination. That's pretty much what high jumpers aim for, is it not? Seeing how close he can come, I think he's telling the truth about maybe just getting a nail up to 13 feet.

Wilt I think you could make a case for. In the vids I've seen of him, he does seem to have some decent leaping ability but I've never seen him with his head at the rim. I think he's downright spewing **** when he claims he has a higher vert than Jordan - but looking at his freakishly long arms and legs, and his amazingly high reach, I think he had the potential to touch the top.[/QUOTE]
Slam claimed Wilt would put a ball in his armpit, jump up and get so high over the rim he'd punch the ball in with the opposite hand and called it the hammer dunk. Nate McMillan claims he's seen LeBron and Travis Outlaw do it, both deny they can. David Thompson claims he can, as always no proof. I've heard Ralph Sampson claim he can do it.

I'm not gonna upload the clip of James White trying it, that this article is based on because like I said someone keeps threatening to sue me, but here is James White missing an alleyoop

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-uXAThYKnI[/url]

[QUOTE=DatZNasty]Slam claimed Wilt would put a ball in his armpit, jump up and get so high over the rim he'd punch the ball in with the opposite hand and called it the hammer dunk. Nate McMillan claims he's seen LeBron and Travis Outlaw do it, both deny they can. David Thompson claims he can, as always no proof. I've heard Ralph Sampson claim he can do it.

I'm not gonna upload the clip of James White trying it, that this article is based on because like I said someone keeps threatening to sue me, but here is James White missing an alleyoop

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-uXAThYKnI[/url][/QUOTE]
It wouldn't suprise me if Ralph Sampson would be able to do it, he was 7'4" or 7'5" and very good leaping ability, some of the block he made in his best days definitely make it look like it was at least possible.

[QUOTE=DatZNasty]Slam claimed Wilt would put a ball in his armpit, jump up and get so high over the rim he'd punch the ball in with the opposite hand and called it the hammer dunk. Nate McMillan claims he's seen LeBron and Travis Outlaw do it, both deny they can. David Thompson claims he can, as always no proof. I've heard Ralph Sampson claim he can do it.

I'm not gonna upload the clip of James White trying it, that this article is based on because like I said someone keeps threatening to sue me, but here is James White missing an alleyoop

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-uXAThYKnI[/url][/QUOTE]

Why would you get sued for posting the video?

Im wondering the same thing. The NBA has sent letters to sites hosting my videos but that stopped years ago and was only when someone talked about selling them.

Why would you be sued over a video thats already online?

[QUOTE=Kblaze8855]Im wondering the same thing. The NBA has sent letters to sites hosting my videos but that stopped years ago and was only when someone talked about selling them.

Why would you be sued over a video thats already online?[/QUOTE]
Because dude took it offline for some reason. It was only one youtube for like an hour, and I just happened to have downloaded it to my phone so I kept reupping it and kept getting copyright infringement letters from Youtube and they were removing it and threatening me with litigation.

I guess you don't post in OTC much so you didn't see it, but last week some SportsWriter who [allegedly] works for ESPN wanted to use the video and was going to pay me 500$ to send it to him, until he found out it's not mine and I don't "own" it.

If yall really want to see it though, I'll just put it in Dailymotion or Rude. They don't give a f[I]u[/I]ck

I saw it when it was up. It isnt the NBA trying to sue? Just some company who filmed it?

My guess is ESPN or the guy who write the initial article I posted, since it seems to be his taping. Video really has nothing to do with the NBA, except that it was after a Spurs practice, but it wasn't even on an NBA court and James had on his Cincy gear and not his Spurs.

It doesn't say exactly, it just says the owner of the video.

Yeah, Doug Thomas did touch the top of the backboard basically. And you can see that his neck is over the freaking rim. Crazy.

[QUOTE=VeeCee15]Vince can come close.

In the miami heat charity game he did a self alleyoop in warmup where his head was a LEGIT 1 inch above the rim.

If he was just jumping straight up, VC at his prime, could get around 2-3 inches above rim with his head.

But still he'd be inches off from actually touching the top of the backboard imo.

KOBE? get real.[/QUOTE]

i double that

[QUOTE=Kblaze8855]
I really wouldnt bet against a guy like Travis Outlaw getting up there. Ive seen him about close as James white was in that video a year ago. I didnt see video but I saw a still image of outlaw riiiiiight next to the white at the top.
[/QUOTE]

At the Blazers fan night at the beginning of the season Outlaw and Brent Petway had a dunk contest. Then they both tried touching as high as they could on the backboard. Pentway's fingers were higher than Outlaw's but still about 8 inches from the top. Outlaw was just barely above the square.

i remember reading a number of years ago that people witnessed [B]spencer haywood and wilt[/B] touching the top of the backboard

sorry i dont have the source...

Spencer Haywood? I doubt it. He wasn't really that tall/long and he was athletic, but I doubt he was so freakishly gifted to touch it.
Wilt's standing reach was said to be 9'6 or 9'8, which would mean he'd need 40 or 42 inches to do it. I don't believe the 48-50 inch claims unless I see hard evidence, but 40-42 inches might be possible.

Here's a rare video of 1971 Game 6 between the Bulls and the Lakers, concentrating on Wilt. Look at the play at 1:48. His head is pretty close to rim level-I say he jumped around 33 inches here. Remember, he's closer to being 35 here and has already bulked up to 300+ lbs, after having suffered his serious injury in 1970:

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tt13a6b_uA[/url]

Well the only players that i've heard that could do it, were old David Thompson and Lebron. Though some earlier poster put up a decent bid for wilt the stilt. That previous vid put up a good bet for him.