Why don't more players catch the ball instead of swatting it on defense?

[Xover]

feck posteed in the wrong thread

[DMV2]

A jumpshot is near impossible to grab as a defender. A lay-up is still like 8-12 feet high and it goes up vertically, you gotta time your jump perfectly if you wanna catch that ball.

If we rarely see interceptions in a football game then don't expect "interceptions" in a basketball.

[iamgine]

I think this is a valid question because catching the ball or at least try to swat it to a teammate provides obvious advantage.

However, just look at what Howard says:

[QUOTE][I]

[ThaRegul8r]

Does Howard not understand the obvious value of grabbing the shot instead? Of course he does. But he finds that swatting it gives his team more advantage psychologically. Hey, who are we to argue, he's the NBA superstar right?

So, essentially, no one should ever question any decision an NBA player makes on the court because they're NBA players and we're not, is what you're saying?

[iamgine]

So, essentially, no one should ever question any decision an NBA player makes on the court because they're NBA players and we're not, is what you're saying?

Not quite. More it's been questioned and answered. We can disagree all we want but we're not the ones out there doing it.

[knightfall88]

Do you actually play basketball? If you go for a full speed swing at the shot, you'll get to the shot quicker as opposed to a timed 'catch' or 'pat' to a team mate

I don't see any choice in this, you do whatever you can at the time to stop the shot.

[Rake2204]

I've seen this topic before, and with respect, I'm still curious as to how one can believe this type of play should be happening so much more frequently than it already does. I see comparisons to catches made in football. And truthfully, if goaltending was legal, meaning players like McGee and Howard (and Garnett) could attempt to catch the ball with one hand whenever the hell they wanted, then yes, we'd be seeing a lot of plays that'd remind us of the one-handed catch in football. So, in football, how many one handed interceptions do we see when the ball is only on its way up?

As it stands, there is only a split second during a shot at which time a player may attempt to complete a block. It's a bang-bang play for which the defender must reach and extend instantaneously to see if they're able to get a fingertip on the ball before it begins its downward descent. And for the most part, defenders are not going to be able to dictate which type of block they're going to be able to perform. The goal is to block the shot, period.

As KevinNYC mentioned, actively attempting to catch a shot takes a different approach than simply trying to block the shot. And in my experience, a blocked shot in most cases is way too quick of a sequence for a defender to rise into the air only then to decide he wants to catch it. However, there are certain "catching" hotspots, where a player may be able to play the percentages and know quite well that a catch is a possibility before takeoff. I'd say the most common scenario I've seen for a pre-determined catch is when an offensive player is attempting to finish a one-on-one fast break with a low-vert, contested layup attempt (essentially, just tossing it up there). Often, if a bigger defender is trailing the one-on-one fast break battle, that's where an opportunity may arise (like the Dang highlight, and Wizards' Jordan).

Otherwise, catches seem to have to be more or less happenstance, where a defender happens to have their arm so far above the shot attempt, they're able to only semi-intentionally cuff the ball and reel it in (McGee on Matthews or LaPhonso Ellis on Brian Davis).

The truth, really, is exactly as KevinNYC put it. Players struggle and scrape for all the blocks they can get to begin with (2.4 bpg to be exact). They can't afford to decide how they want their blocks to be. They're just going to do whatever they can to get their hands on it, period. To constantly attempt to catch a shot would lower a player's likelihood of blocking shots at all.

I know you may think KevinNYC's tone was poor (from a 3rd person point of view I didn't think it was) and I say this with respect, but I honestly think he's been exactly on point on every post he's laid down thus far.

Do you actually play basketball? If you go for a full speed swing at the shot, you'll get to the shot quicker as opposed to a timed 'catch' or 'pat' to a team mate

I don't see any choice in this, you do whatever you can at the time to stop the shot.

I think that's the long and short of it. Under most circumstances, players are just going to do what they can to get to the ball. I think it'd help to think about playing the game ourselves, and what we do when we go to block a shot. A lot of shot-blocking is about going and getting, in which case, our arms are not going to be in catching positions. Personally, I'm not a big shot blocker, even among local crews, but when the opportunity arises, I don't really have time to decide whether I want to extend my hand toward the shot slowly in order to tap it to a teammate (let alone catching it). If I block it hard, it's because I attacked the offensive player aggressively, and was able to get a lot of my hand on the ball. If I block it softly, where it ends up in the hands of my teammates just a few feet away, it means I attacked the offensive player aggressively, and was able to only get a little bit of my hand on the ball. And if I caught the shot, it's because I'm dreaming.

I think this is a valid question because catching the ball or at least try to swat it to a teammate provides obvious advantage.

However, just look at what Howard says:

Does Howard not understand the obvious value of grabbing the shot instead? Of course he does. But he finds that swatting it gives his team more advantage psychologically. Hey, who are we to argue, he's the NBA superstar right?

I know I have no idea what Howard's really thinking, but from that quote, it sort of feels like he's feeding the media a line. I feel if he could catch more shots, he would. To be truthful, that quote also sounded a little bit like he may want people to believe he's good enough to do it more often, but then just chooses not to. Of course, I'm not saying it's definitive. Rather, I am just not ready to accept every line that comes from a player to be gospel. I don't mean this negatively, but I've heard Dwight giddily insist he could do things before that he could not follow through on.

Regarding touching the top of the backboard:

"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.

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/pos...a-jumping-myth

Again, not saying anything for sure, but sometimes there does to seem a little craving for validation there.

[clipps]

Attempting to catch a lay-up is not a natural basketball skill. Your reach is higher when you jump with one hand than 2 hands and when you are contesting the ball, you want your reach to be as high as possible and going up with 2 hands is taking away from that. And also, even with the quickness, athleticism, coordination, etc. that these professional athletes have, it's still extremely difficult to catch a layup. It's like a successful 4 point play. Sure, it's possible, and it sounds practical because 4>3/2, but you don't see players go for 4 point play attempts on every possession. You might see one successful 4 point shot per season, just like "catchblocks". Clipperfan86: Go to the rec and start a pick-up game with people that are shorter than you and maybe you'll answer your own question.

[COLOR="White"]You're also making a really bad name for Clipper fans you fakkit[/COLOR]

[nathanjizzle]

I was just thinking about how we always see guys swat shots.. or block them in general... but half of the time.. they could of probably just grabbed and held onto the ball and controlled it rather than sending it out of bounds to the other team. Why don't more players just catch the ball? I know super athletic bigs like DJ, McGee and Dwight could easily do this. DeAndre got good this year at swatting it to teammates but why not just catch it?

I understand swatting into the 10th row gets the crowd and team going.. but it's also not a really smart basketball play.

you must not have played basketball. its easier to block a shot with one arm then try to jump with both arms trying to catch a basketball.

[pauk]

1. because you get better reach with one hand and priority #1 is to stop the shot......
2. because if you gamble going for a steal of the shot with two hands (its much easier to catch it with two hands)... you might regret it because you failed to even touch it as the ball went a little higher than u expected and u know u could have touched it/deflected it with one hand....
3. because its better to be on the safe side and get maximum reach... you have a higher reach with one hand at specific direction...
4. because you need to time it...
5. because grabbing it with one hand is hard to do and control afterwards, especially with opponents around u , its better to just get rid of it...
6. because you want a block on your statsheet and not a steal maybe lol...
7. because blocking looks more kewler....

[clipps]

1. because you get better reach with one hand and priority #1 is to stop the shot......
2. because if you gamble going for a steal of the shot with two hands (its much easier to catch it with two hands)... you might regret it because you failed to even touch it as the ball went a little higher than u expected and u know u could have touched it/deflected it with one hand....
3. because its better to be on the safe side and get maximum reach... you have a higher reach with one hand at specific direction...
4. because you need to time it...
5. because grabbing it with one hand is hard to do and control afterwards, especially with opponents around u , its better to just get rid of it...
6. because you want a block on your statsheet and not a steal maybe lol...
7. because blocking looks more kewler....

Um... This? [COLOR="White"]I'm freaking out to the fact that I'm agreeing with this fakkit[/COLOR]

[G.O.A.T]

I was just thinking about how we always see guys swat shots.. or block them in general... but half of the time.. they could of probably just grabbed and held onto the ball and controlled it rather than sending it out of bounds to the other team. Why don't more players just catch the ball? I know super athletic bigs like DJ, McGee and Dwight could easily do this.

Nobody can easily do that. I am plenty tall, jumped plenty high in my youth and we used to practice that, with people letting us try and grab it out of the air, catching it 1-10 times is an accomplishment.

What players should try to do is what Russell did and not hit it as hard and push it in the direction of a teammate.

[Clippersfan86]

Nobody can easily do that. I am plenty tall, jumped plenty high in my youth and we used to practice that, with people letting us try and grab it out of the air, catching it 1-10 times is an accomplishment.

What players should try to do is what Russell did and not hit it as hard and push it in the direction of a teammate.

I think using words like easily led people to misunderstand me and it's my fault for poor wording. In a following post I mentioned even one every 4 or 5 games. That's not unrealistic. I posted multiple block videos showing you guys times when players got the ball clearly with their entire hand and they were in a position to grab it with one hand. BTW the people saying stupid crap like "Did you ever play basketball?" need to suck it. I was a pretty damn good player and this isn't rocket science.

It's the same concept as grabbing a board with 1 hand and bringing it to the second hand to secure it. It's fundamentals. You do this in any sport that requires catching. I used a football example earlier because it's valid. I understand the NFL probably has better athletes than the NBA but if they can jump 3+ feet off the ground and catch a 70 MPH ball with 1 hand while off balance and secure it before hitting the floor... NBA players can catch something much easier. I altered the original OP which was an exaggeration... because one a game is unrealistic. Why don't we even see 10 of these over the entire NBA season though???

[iamgine]

Ask a football player, would his rate of success gone up dramatically if he's just required to swat the ball instead of catching it?

[Clippersfan86]

Ask a football player, would his rate of success gone up dramatically if he's just required to swat the ball instead of catching it?

Well I'm talking about on offense... but yes. Swatting a ball is easier on defense than intercepting it. Thing is interceptions in the NFL are way more common than catch blocks in the NBA and the NBA is a much more uptempo sport with WAY more total possessions of the ball. Think about it. Some games a team may only be on defense 10 times or less. So if they get 2 interceptions... that's the 1 out of every 5 ratio I mentioned in my subsequent post.

Like I said before... people are going all over the place with such a simple concept. Catch the ball or control it to yourself once in a while... rather than smashing it out of bounds.