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Inspired by the best player ever at specific skills/strenghts post - i'm amazed how this season, the majority of DeMar DeRozan's shots have been contested jumpers, and he doesn't really fade away either. Who was the best ever at going straight up - Jerry West? Bob McAdoo? Kevin Durant?

This has Dirk written all over it.

Not sure what the criteria for this is. In my mind, I think of someone who a) always seems to be able to get the shot off when it wouldn't seem possible given their height and not fading away and b) an uncommonly high percentage of these go in the basket. With those two things in mind, the first two names that came to my mind were Bernard King and Adrian Dantley. And a shoutout to Alex English.

First names that came to my mind - Kevin Durant, Bob McAdoo and Dirk Nowitzki.

Samurai wrote:Not sure what the criteria for this is. In my mind, I think of someone who a) always seems to be able to get the shot off when it wouldn't seem possible given their height and not fading away and b) an uncommonly high percentage of these go in the basket. With those two things in mind, the first two names that came to my mind were Bernard King and Adrian Dantley. And a shoutout to Alex English.

I'm looking for perimeter players who would take jumpshots from midrange or farther rather than back-to-basket guys

Kobe

Peregrine01 wrote:This has Dirk written all over it.

With Dirk, the image in my mind is definitely a fadeaway, particularly that uncanny one he does off of one leg. And the thread title specifically states 'no fadeaways'. In that regard, I would think of McAdoo before Dirk because McAdoo rarely shot fadeaways from midrange or beyond.

In terms of a pull-up jumper, the first name to come to mind would be West. He stated that he would intentionally bounce the last dribble especially hard so that the ball accelerating off the ground would add extra speed into his pull-up motion, making it nearly unguardable. Steph Curry is really the only one to rival West's in terms of the speed of the pull-up motion and Curry stated that he patterned his pull-up jumper after watching videos of West. I'm just not mentioning Curry here because he takes a lot of step-back 3's and I'm not sure if some would consider the step-back to be a modern derivative of a fadeaway (similar outcome in terms of creating extra space to get your shot off).

Durant

It would have to be a 60's-80's player as those guys played with the intent of getting the closest shot possible.

Maybe Rick Barry

Statlanta wrote:It would have to be a 60's-80's player as those guys played with the intent of getting the closest shot possible.

Maybe Rick Barry

Oscar better than Barry at it, powering through defenders as he shot, though earlier poster is right that West was faster release.

KD for sure.

KD Oscar Bernard King

I think Reggie and Ray need to be there. Coming off screens, then boom, an immediate catch-and-shoot, the trailing defender's hand just out of reach.

Duncan with the face-up bank shot.

Shout-out to Jamal Crawford. King of 4-point plays. Doesn't get more in-your-face than that on a jumper.

ronnymac2 wrote:I think Reggie and Ray need to be there. Coming off screens, then boom, an immediate catch-and-shoot, the trailing defender's hand just out of reach.

Definitely not what I mean