[valentine]

you know how some players jump off one foot and some others like to use 2.

lebron is not that good jumping off two feet, and he’s the best dunker.

blake griffin is not that good jumping of one foot, and he’s the best dunker.

westbrook, shabazz muhammad like to use two feet and they’re wings. aaron gordon is not that explosive off one foot

some players have both, like andrew wiggins for example

ETC.

so, is it just how you’re born? or, is just the one you use the most and eventually develop?

 

 

[F_S]

 btw lebron, blake, westbrook, and shabazz can throw it down however but you get the point!?

[For_Never_EverParticipant]

 Vince Carter and Kobe looks to be ambidextrous in the one or two footed dunks. Jason Richardson is one of the best dunkers in competition. And he is likely horrible with a one footed dunk, since I’ve never seen him do it.  Derrick Rose is one of my favorite dunkers, but he looks to be a strickly two footed dunker. I believe its more in the DNA, either your’e born with it or not.

[Chilbert arenasParticipant]

Josh Smith is one of the best one footed dunkers out there. I’ve never seen Nate Rob jump off one. Wade was great off both. Waiters seems to be a one foot wonder. But I beleive it has to do with timing balance and explosive ability. I’ve always been a one foot jumper and could dunk in my prime (6’0 white guy) but my best friend who was a 5’8 brother could 360/windmill off two but couldn’t jump off one to touch the backboard it seemed like.  Sports science really needs to do a study on this.

[TRC1991Participant]

Ive had a hard time jumping with 2 feet, seems like it slows my rhythym down or something, 1 foot just seems more natural to me

[Seamo15Participant]

 I can’t get anywhere near as high jumping off one foot compared to off two feet. I dont know whether it has to do with a lack of cordination on my part but i’ve never been good off one foot. Both are explosive actions so you’d assume that there shouldn’t be a huge amount of difference but there is. 

[tiberiusParticipant]

 That’s a great question, and here’s my oppinion (this is not research based).

I played basketball semi pro, but when I was younger and part of the track team, my athletic disciplines I excelled at gave me muscle memory and basically hardwired how I would be coordinated and how I would move. I was a great long jumper so my jumping style was based a lot on horizontal disctance needed to be covered, not vertical, it thus made my jumping mechanics such that incorporated a one leg take off, to minimize energy loss and to take off at maximum spped… Some of my highjump friends even though they jumped off 1 leg, would take off with two legs when asked to try and dunk, I think it is because the art of high jump is aerial control first, leg power after. They wanted to take off in a controlled manner so relied on 2 legs for the most part. Ofcourse those who tried 1 leg had funny close calls because muscle memory signals their backs to curve backwards and lift their legs when airborne, even when dunking. So you can imagine what could’ve happened… I don’t think it comes down to DNA. I think it comes down to your life experience and genre of physical activity you did when younger. Afterall when people tell us to jump at a young age, we like to just take off statically, and when we say you get a running start, we still tend to do a 2 legged type of hop step and then jump. We’re all born that way pretty much, but its only through your type (not level off) but type of athletic discipline you optimize how you jump. Its all biology. Its not only jumping but when you’re nervous and you start doing rapid ankle raises in class you know? u do it with ur dominant leg. My left leg is bigger than my right and I also think lebron’s is.

[LerinErinParticipant]

 I grew up as an ABA fan before following NBA, Guys like Julius, Thompson and Larry Kenon seemed to dunk off on foot, while Artis Gilmore seemed to do it more of two feet.

 

My guess, and it is nothing more than a guess is that Julius, Kenon and Thompson tended to jump off the fly ie on the run while Artis did it from a standstill..

 

That said, in the 80s I had Hawks season tickets and  Dominique Wilkins  could flat out Dunk off either 2 feet or 1. He made the best dunk I ever saw against the Celtics from a one step ( close to a near standstill)

 

Bill Simmons describes this dunk in THE BOOK OF BASKETBALL as follows, " Nique made the single  most spectacular  play I’ve ever seen: during the 88 playoffs he bricked a jumper off the top of the key, jumped from one step in front of the foul line and rammed home the rebound over Boston’s entire front line. ……. He pulled a Bob Beamon  it seemed like he jumped 30 feet. This was a super human act and I will never forget it as long as I live"

 

this was from a Celtics fan…. I am biased as a hawks fan but Simmons described exactly how I felt.

[cargathusParticipant]

I used to (last year) jump off one foot and was more comfortable doing that as I was also a track athlete. But I sprained my ankle pretty badly and after rehab for some reason decided to jump off twofeet. After awhile it stuck and I jump off two feet now (can barely do the one foot jump anymore). It might just be what your comfortable with?

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

I think it’s all about comfort. Some people start off being more comfortable jumping off of one foot and some people start off being more comfortable jumping off of two. Some players just stick with what they’ve been comfortable with, while others become great all around.

There was an article a long time ago about Kobe… I tried searching for it, but couldn’t find it. He said that he started off being comfortable only jumping off of his left foot. Then he became great jumping off of his right foot, which wasn’t natural for him. Then he said he started working on jumping off of two feet because he gave him more strength when taking contact.

I really just think it’s how much work you put into it. You can just look at LeBron and tell he was a powerful left foot jumper to start and just stuck with it. Jason Richardson was a powerful two foot jumper and just stuck with it.

 

[joecheck88Participant]

 Lebron is still beast of 2 feet haha. I can grab rim off of one foot at 5’8" but I’m about 3 inches short off of 2 feet. It’s like a 6 inch difference. I do feel like I’m a better finisher off 2 feet though but without the explosion I get blocked a lot. I think you just need to work on it. Also, I feel more comfortable jumping with my right foot forward and using my left hand off two feet. Rather than left foot forward right hand off two feet. It just a weird thing to me. 

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

I’ve seen Dominique Wilkins, Michael Jordan, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant, Blake Griffin, Derrick Rose and a lot of other great jumpers/dunkers jump off of two feet and just posterize somebody, but I’ve NEVER seen LeBron James do it. I’ve never seen him just go down the middle of the lane, go off of two feet and posterize somebody.

The only time I’ve seen him dunk on someone off of two feet, was when he posterized Damon Jones in a fastbreak situation. Every other time I’ve seen LeBron go off of two feet and take contact, he’s laid the ball up.

[FritzParticipant]

Basically jumping off one foot or two is basically like being left handed or right handed, Im not sure whether its literally a genetic thing or just something that your body just adapts to do one or the other since you start jumping. I have heard, that being left handed or right handed has a lot to do with your actions in the womb, such as sucking your left thumb or your right thumb, Im not positive that is true but maybe it is the same with jumping. As your neurons are developing when you are young they just adapt to whatever actions you performed first.

[joecheck88Participant]

I’m just saying the dude can jump off one foot or 2 better than most people. He may not be Dominique or Jordan but he is well above average off 2 feet. People get out of his way when he catches a pas in the lane and goes off 2 feet

[JNixonParticipant]

 2 footed leaper are usually SUPER explosive. It takes more explosion to jump off 2 feet than one, and usually guys who jump off 2 feet dont have to get a running start to generate sudden burst and explosion off the ground.

[FastAndFuriousParticipant]

 I prefer jumping off one foot better tho, you get up way quicker, two foot jumpers may get more power but they give the defense a chance to catch up while gathering, also I think you get a little more explosion off of one foot, you’ve never seen anyone jump from the free throw line off two feet, but you’ve seen people do it off one.

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

My first dunk was off of my left foot. I felt like when I learned how to jump off of one foot, I entered a new world lol. It was so easy and I could get up so high.

But then I started realizing I couldn’t always get a running start to dunk off of one foot in the half court setting, so I started working on jumping off of two. It became my favorite way to jump. Just felt like it didn’t require me to gather and I could jump with more strength/power, especially if I could get one step.

[moochieeParticipant]

Yeah I agree with IndianaBasketball. I learned to jump off one foot but in a half court setting it requires really good timing and a solid run up. Two foot jumping didn’t come naturally to me, but now I way prefer it to jumping off one foot. I think anyone can do it with enough practice, just getting the motion built into your muscle memory.

[TallmanNYCParticipant]

I can jump (badly) both ways to about the same height. I two foot jump when I’m testing my vertical on the basket. But one foot jumps I get just about the same height, it is just a little harder to make sure the peak of my jump is at the point where I can go against the basket to see how high I’ve gotten my hand. 

One thing that has always puzzeled me. It seems obvious that one’s legs and the muscles in those legs are majorly responsible for jumping. I’ve never understood my having only one leg heavily involved in the jump as compared to using both legs at the same time, could ever result in an equally high jump. But I can see for myself that I can get just as high off of one foot. And as I said above, I feel really even on this. For vertical tests I would two step jump. But to dunk (or attempt to dunk as it often would rim out) I would always do a one step approach since it seemed easier to get the ball up there in rythm with me with a one step approach that was more like a layup. 

[sittinseneParticipant]

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[sittinseneParticipant]

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