Older ISH'ers who are the reputed leapers and "above basket" dunkers from Wilt's Era?
 

Help me make this list - I'm talkin the "freaks" of Wilt's era - the guys that could dunk on anyone and played against Wilt for at least 2 seasons. The closest things to the Vince Carters and Dwight Howards of that time.

Off the top of my head (with my reasoning):

Guards and Forwards:
Elgin Baylor - reputation + got maybe a dozen dunks on film, two look great
Gus Johnson - reputation + got half a dozen + dunks on film, one is spectacular another is great
Joe Caldwell - reputation + got a few dunks on film, at least two look good
Connie Hawkins - reputation + got a few dunks on film, at least two look spectacular
Johnny Green - reputation + got 3 good dunks on film
Randy Smith - reputation + got one spectacular dunk on film
Greg Smith - reputation + got several great dunks on film
(Maybe Tommy Hawkins?) - reputation... but I've only got maybe 3 dunks on film, unfortunately none look good or special at all
(Maybe Happy Hairston?) - not aware of a reputation but got a few dunks on film that looked better than say, Tommy Hawkins
(Maybe Fred Carter?) - not aware of any reputation but has two good dunks on film
(Maybe Dave Bing?) - not aware of any reputation but has at least one good dunk on film
(Maybe Lou Hudson?) - not aware of any reputation but has at least one good dunk on film

Centers / PF's
Bill Russell - reputation + many dunks on film, many are great at least a few are spectacular
Elvin Hayes - reputation + a few dunks on film, at least one is spectacular
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - reputation + nearly all his dunks from that time look great
Luke Jackson - not aware of any reputation but I have two dunks on film that look powerful / great
Walt Bellamy - not aware of any reputation but at least two of his numerous dunks look great on film
(Maybe young Willis Reed?) - not aware of any reputation but some of his dunks look powerful on film

Obviously more than just these guys "could" or "did" dunk I've prob got footage of at least 1/3rd of the league dunking but I don't want to make a list of people who merely "could" dunk (like say, a Jerry West, Satch Sanders, or John Havlicek) I just want the players who could do it over anyone and built up a reputation for themselves. So if I've got players on here who shouldn't be let me know, and if I'm missing players let me know - all I'm going by right now is footage, or reputation based on testimonial, or both but chances are I'm missing players or possibly even giving too much credit to others based on them getting filmed with a decent dunk (which might otherwise be a rare occurance) in an 60s/early 70's game or documentary.


Once all these above-the-rim players are accounted for I could make a top 10 dunkers of the Wilt-era mix or something :D

Re: Older ISH'ers who are the reputed leapers and "above basket" dunkers from Wilt's Era?
 

Ferøuhasté Murphy

Re: Older ISH'ers who are the reputed leapers and "above basket" dunkers from Wilt's Era?
 

lol... who?

Re: Older ISH'ers who are the reputed leapers and "above basket" dunkers from Wilt's Era?
 

LeRoy Ellis (RIP), had some great hops, seen some spectacular dunks on youtube.

Sweet Lou had some great hops I believe

Cowens was a great athlete and had hops but no really a dunker, plus he started to play in Wilt's last years.

Re: Older ISH'ers who are the reputed leapers and "above basket" dunkers from Wilt's Era?
 

I've only got two dunks of his that look decent (an Elgin rebound putback in the 1963 Finals, and the other that looked good was he receives a pass from Jerry West in 1972 and does a game-ending dunk) - what dunks of his am I missing out on? Gene Wiley almost looked to be a better dunker than Ellis when going by film alone or is the film I've watched misleading?

Re: Older ISH'ers who are the reputed leapers and "above basket" dunkers from Wilt's Era?
 

Lou Hudson?

Re: Older ISH'ers who are the reputed leapers and "above basket" dunkers from Wilt's Era?
 

Hard to be precise and find the dunks right away but I'll try to find it, all I know is that I saw a few putback dunks from him that looked great.
IMO Ellis was a better leaper but that's just me.

Edit: a putback rebound after Elgin's miss was one of them I saw before, yes.

Re: Older ISH'ers who are the reputed leapers and "above basket" dunkers from Wilt's Era?
 

Yeah, Sweet Lou because of his sweet jumper from midrange, he had hops.

Re: Older ISH'ers who are the reputed leapers and "above basket" dunkers from Wilt's Era?
 

A bit towards the end of Wilt's career, but Rowland Garrett played unlike many of his peers.

Re: Older ISH'ers who are the reputed leapers and "above basket" dunkers from Wilt's Era?
 

Yah looks like he only played one season against Wilt, I don't have any footage of him unfortunately, my supply of stock footage ends in 1973 and he isn't even a part of my 1973 footage (that particular season I've only got a few brief playoff clips and the all-star game)

Re: Older ISH'ers who are the reputed leapers and "above basket" dunkers from Wilt's Era?
 

Billy Cunningham should definitely be in. His nick alone is enough to secure reputation points.


I do remember one emphatic tomahawk-like dunk he once gave, and that play does exist. 2 more dunks at 1:07 and 1:31 here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAXc6u_jGVM

Re: Older ISH'ers who are the reputed leapers and "above basket" dunkers from Wilt's Era?
 

Cunninghams nickname might be misleading, Hannum refers to his nickname more along the lines of meaning "offensive punch" (like how boxing Kangaroos punch) in the '67 76ers documentary and I have absolutely zero footage of Billy Cunningham dunking even combing through ABA footage, I have footage of him jumping high on a rebound once - and on a wide open break away in the '72 all star game he elevates but does a soft layup, no dunk, unless you've seen him dunk I'm not sure he was ever considered a dunker

Re: Older ISH'ers who are the reputed leapers and "above basket" dunkers from Wilt's Era?
 

Yeah, what I mean is from the games I've seen, he didn't used to dunk that much, taking his ability into account, because he definitely was a great athlete and had great hops.

Re: Older ISH'ers who are the reputed leapers and "above basket" dunkers from Wilt's Era?
 

Dr. J in the 70s had arguably the greatest leaping ability of anyone.

Re: Older ISH'ers who are the reputed leapers and "above basket" dunkers from Wilt's Era?
 

Clyde Lovellette- 1:07 high flyer :bowdown:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAuQLyeB9mM




according to wilt there was a white guy on the lakers team he played on that could "Jump out the gym"....Dont remember the exact quote or players name but I do remember him talking about a white player who hardly played at all that could really well