Who Are the People With the Quickest First Steps?
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Re: Who Are the People With the Quickest First Steps?
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Wade aka flash.
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Michael Jordan, Baron Davis, Iverson, Wade, young Jason Kidd, Jason Williams.
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westbrook has the best 2nd and 3rd step
as a side, I always thought walton in college had the best quick step ever for a 7'er
as a side, I always thought walton in college had the best quick step ever for a 7'er
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Re: Who Are the People With the Quickest First Steps?

So not a first step, and I don't know if he can do this out of triple threat, since his handles kind of suck, but off the dribble his burst is as good as it comes for a guy his height (and weight). If he can get handles to the point he's not losing the ball every other dribble that's going to be scary.
Another guy is Ben Simmons. The guy should not be able to move like that at his height. I couldn't find an appropriate gif because all of them show his defender sagging 20ft away from him. Though back in his rookie year when teams didn't respect him enough to gameplan against him (at least not in the sense they should literally not defend him), his first step and burst off the dribble tore through the league.
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Re: Who Are the People With the Quickest First Steps?
Kabookalu wrote:
So not a first step, and I don't know if he can do this out of triple threat, since his handles kind of suck, but off the dribble his burst is as good as it comes for a guy his height (and weight). If he can get handles to the point he's not losing the ball every other dribble that's going to be scary.
Another guy is Ben Simmons. The guy should not be able to move like that at his height. I couldn't find an appropriate gif because all of them show his defender sagging 20ft away from him. Though back in his rookie year when teams didn't respect him enough to gameplan against him (at least not in the sense they should literally not defend him), his first step and burst off the dribble tore through the league.
Zion's got one of the quickest first steps in the league, especially when he's in perfect shape. It's maybe his most impressive attribute.
Ben Simmons' 3/4 court sprint time was like as fast as D. Wade's. His first step I've seen is blazing and possibly the quickest ever for someone at 6'8" or over.
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Two guys historically who had great first steps that people nowadays might not be very familiar with are Andrew Toney and Donald Royal.
Andrew Toney, known as "The Boston Strangler," was a key member of the Sixers' 1984 championship team, who was often the go-to crunchtime scorer for that team (in the playoffs, he was the team's 2nd leading scorer, just behind Moses Malone and ahead of Julius Erving). He was a 2x All-Star, but only had 5 good years in an injury-shortened career.
Donald Royal was not a very good player, and a very poor shooter (0-14 career from 3pt range as a small forward). But he had a tremendous first step and was therefore very good at drawing fouls (.787 career free throw rate, 9.7 career FTA/100 and 13.9 FTA/100 his rookie year). As I recall, a very high proportion of his foul-drawing, was just beating defenders with his first step and forcing contact.
Andrew Toney, known as "The Boston Strangler," was a key member of the Sixers' 1984 championship team, who was often the go-to crunchtime scorer for that team (in the playoffs, he was the team's 2nd leading scorer, just behind Moses Malone and ahead of Julius Erving). He was a 2x All-Star, but only had 5 good years in an injury-shortened career.
Donald Royal was not a very good player, and a very poor shooter (0-14 career from 3pt range as a small forward). But he had a tremendous first step and was therefore very good at drawing fouls (.787 career free throw rate, 9.7 career FTA/100 and 13.9 FTA/100 his rookie year). As I recall, a very high proportion of his foul-drawing, was just beating defenders with his first step and forcing contact.
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Re: Who Are the People With the Quickest First Steps?
Pelly24 wrote:Kabookalu wrote:
So not a first step, and I don't know if he can do this out of triple threat, since his handles kind of suck, but off the dribble his burst is as good as it comes for a guy his height (and weight). If he can get handles to the point he's not losing the ball every other dribble that's going to be scary.
Another guy is Ben Simmons. The guy should not be able to move like that at his height. I couldn't find an appropriate gif because all of them show his defender sagging 20ft away from him. Though back in his rookie year when teams didn't respect him enough to gameplan against him (at least not in the sense they should literally not defend him), his first step and burst off the dribble tore through the league.
Zion's got one of the quickest first steps in the league, especially when he's in perfect shape. It's maybe his most impressive attribute.
Ben Simmons' 3/4 court sprint time was like as fast as D. Wade's. His first step I've seen is blazing and possibly the quickest ever for someone at 6'8" or over.

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Re: Who Are the People With the Quickest First Steps?
Whenever there's a discussion about the quickest first step, i immediately think of Austin Rivers.
Probably because that's the only thing he's good at.
Probably because that's the only thing he's good at.
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Young Jeremy Lin
In the book, Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey stated that Lin did very well in pre-draft testing. "He lit up our [statistical] model," said Morey. "Our model said take him with, like, the 15th pick in the draft."[253] A year after the Rockets failed to draft Lin, they began to measure the speed of a player's first two steps; Lin had the quickest first move of any player measured, and he was able to change direction far more quickly than most NBA players.
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Iverson's first step was all time with regards to quickness.
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Re: Who Are the People With the Quickest First Steps?
Jzmaxoct wrote:Whenever there's a discussion about the quickest first step, i immediately think of Austin Rivers.
Probably because that's the only thing he's good at.
I was watching him the other day and I thought that. His first step is great and he usually gets his shoulder past his defender, but then they can catch up. I feel like he doesn't have a great second and third step and overall doesn't have the speed to fully take advantage of it.
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i remember watching a young wade vs iverson game once..i used to think iverson was quick, and then i saw flash...holyyyyy this guy was explosive lol
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Re: Who Are the People With the Quickest First Steps?
Guys that come to mind are Wade, Penny and... Andrea Bargnani (I'm not kidding)
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Re: Who Are the People With the Quickest First Steps?
1. Michael Jordan
2. The former mayor of Sacramento
2. The former mayor of Sacramento
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Re: Who Are the People With the Quickest First Steps?
Jcity08 wrote:Young Tony Parker was one of the quickest guard I've seen on the floor period.
I'd throw Prime Wade in the list as well.
Tony Parker might be the fastest player I've ever seen, when he was young.
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