I have a love/hate relationship with Cooney's dunks

[edowd26]

Cooney ready to ball out vs. Pitt.

 

[Eric15]

The dry humping marsh. Its just weird.

My understanding is that Marsh invented dry humping in the 80s with a poster of Elisabeth Shue.

 

[sufandu]

If anything, IMHO, jumping off one foot leaves you more exposed because all your weight is on one leg on takeoff, and then all your weight is on the other leg when you land. If you get hit when you are planting, all the stabilization is on one set of joints (the leg on the ground), not on two. And when you use two, more and stronger stabilization and balance muscles come into play (more core and upper body muscles).

Just think, do you have better balance on one leg or on two?

Going up for a lay-up/dunk, I think you usually land on the foot you jump off of, at least that's what I do. Regardless, your basic premise of having less stability on one leg is what I was thinking too. I think it's also important to consider when jumping off of one leg there is usually more forward momentum than jumping off of two, so there are multiple vectors affecting stability.

 

[orange79]

My understanding is that Marsh invented dry humping in the 80s with a poster of Elisabeth Shue.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

If anything, IMHO, jumping off one foot leaves you more exposed because all your weight is on one leg on takeoff, and then all your weight is on the other leg when you land. If you get hit when you are planting, all the stabilization is on one set of joints (the leg on the ground), not on two. And when you use two, more and stronger stabilization and balance muscles come into play (more core and upper body muscles).

Just think, do you have better balance on one leg or on two?

While probably correct in terms of the physio aspect, you rarely see a guy dunk and land on one foot. More often than not they grab the rim and land again on both feet. Especially guys like MCW and the way he would attack the rim at high speed, grab the rim and hold on for dear life and propel his body nearly parallel to the floor. Those always scared the crap out of me with the fear he would lose his grip and just tumble end over end and do something terrible to his back or neck.

 

[edowd26]

My understanding is that Marsh invented dry humping in the 80s with a poster of Elisabeth Shue.

I get it...

"The Saint" was awesome.

 

[Dave85]

I don't have anything scientific to base it on, it's just my feeling that leaving both feet at the same time makes your body more dangerously exposed to contact as opposed to if you left just one foot which would leave your other foot closer to the ground for stabilization.

Jay Bilas comment on one of Gran'ts dunks, "I'm surprised he did not burn up on re-entry!"

 

[Eric15]

Whatever, it's basketball. I don't want guys not being aggressive because they are afraid of getting hurt. Sometimes that's what gets you hurt.

But isn't that same mentality in football why players like Mike Vick and RG3 aren't going to last very long? I think sometimes you just have to be smart and conservative with your body. Obviously football is 100x as violent, but conceptually it's the same idea.

 

[sufandu]

While probably correct in terms of the physio aspect, you rarely see a guy dunk and land on one foot. More often than not they grab the rim and land again on both feet. Especially guys like MCW and the way he would attack the rim at high speed, grab the rim and hold on for dear life and propel his body nearly parallel to the floor. Those always scared the crap out of me with the fear he would lose his grip and just tumble end over end and do something terrible to his back or neck.

True, I thought about that. I was thinking about the times that someone might go up and never get rim because they were fouled on the way up. The dunks where a guys legs fly out from under him and he loses his grip on the rim have always made me nervous.

 

[HarrisonJBounel]

True, I thought about that. I was thinking about the times that someone might go up and never get rim because they were fouled on the way up. The dunks where a guys legs fly out from under him and he loses his grip on the rim have always made me nervous.

Warning: Not for the squeamish.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

True, I thought about that. I was thinking about the times that someone might go up and never get rim because they were fouled on the way up. The dunks where a guys legs fly out from under him and he loses his grip on the rim have always made me nervous.

Either way, I really wish this was a problem I had to worry about in my own pickup games. I'm afraid this nearly 45 year old body might never get up high enough to grab rim again let alone worry about how many feet to jump off of.

I was actually encouraged on the one dunk Cooney had where he slowed down enough to get contact with the defender yesterday. It was much more controlled than the one earlier this year where he slowed up at the last second and nearly got killed by the sprinting defender. Having the guy on his hip was dangerous but not nearly as bad as getting steam rolled like the last time.

What game was that again?

 

[shandeezy7]

But isn't that same mentality in football why players like Mike Vick and RG3 aren't going to last very long? I think sometimes you just have to be smart and conservative with your body. Obviously football is 100x as violent, but conceptually it's the same idea.

Sure but that's a little different. How is going up for a fast break dunk any different than a fast break layup? He could get shoved or hit from behind either way, land awkwardly, and his season could be over. I'm not gonna fret over guys going out there and making basketball plays. If they get hurt, then so be it. Taking the aggressiveness out of their games isn't the solution.