Kobe's hand size vs Jordan's hand size

[toodles23]

i think it's even plainer to anyone old enough to watch both guys play that hand size takes a pretty far back seat to other advantages such as quickness (that first step is killer), quickness (5'6 agility for a 6'6 body), post game (a spin move that gives the black tornado a run for its money - ask Ewing), etc.

Yeah, hand size is pretty far down on the list when you're asking what made MJ superior. Lebron pretty much never palms the ball but manages to be a much better finisher around the rim than Kobe, and likely superior to MJ as well - I doubt MJ was ever finishing at ~73% like Lebron.

[ahonui06]

Hand size has nothing to do with basketball ability.

There are a ton of waived people in this thread

[KnickelandDime]

Hand size has nothing to do with basketball ability.

There are a ton of waived people in this thread

Of course it does. Big, strong hands are a huge advantage in Basketball.

[GreenHat]

This hands thing is just a way for the Kobe acolytes to explain away his inferiority and base it on god given physical abilities. He just wasn't as good, bigger hands would not have enabled him to play smarter vs Detroit for instance.

Shaq has huge hands. Didn't help him with his shooting.

I don't understand why Jordan acolytes try to ignore Jordan's physical advantages in order to make the reason Jordan was better into some kind of bull intangible (heart, hard work, intensity, mentality, killer instinct). None of those reasons were why Jordan was better.

And yeah Shaq's huge hands didn't help him with shooting, once they get too big, its a detriment, like us shooting a tennis ball. But they did help him with catching. Shaq probably had the best hands on a big man ever.

Just look at how bad some centers with small hands are at catching (Kwame Brown, Joel Anthony). Don't you think it helped that Shaq caught the ball cleanly and could finish right away?

Hand size has nothing to do with basketball ability.

There are a ton of waived people in this thread

You're right, neither does height.

[LakerLegend]

Phil himself said the biggest difference between them is the hands. That said Kobe could still do plenty.

Watch on YouTube

The difference between the 2 guys clearly isn't skill.

Jordan was the smarter player on the court. This isn't a knock on Kobe, because his basketball IQ is tremendous. Michael's shot selection was simply much better, and his ability to read defenses was slightly better as well.

Jordans had size is a pretty big advantage he had on Bryant.

It allowed him to fully extend his arm/elbow when he finished at the rim in a way that Bryant cant. When Bryant takes the ball to the rim and tires to finish, his elbow is bent because hes cant palm the ball off the dribble the way Jordan could. When Jordan took the ball to the rim, at the point of his elevation, his elbow was fully straight meaning he could hold the ball higher over his head than Bryant because of his hand size/palming ability.

Tremendous advantage when finishing around the rim.

Jordans hand size essentially allowed Jordan to be taller than Bryant around the rim.

Interesting stuff.

[Run DLC]

MJ was the original “Klaw”

[picko]

Whatever made Jordan 'better' was sizable. Kobe may have modeled much of his game after Jordan but it is clear that Jordan was more dominant against his peers.

Hand size is perhaps one part of that. Athleticism probably another. Skill and BBIQ important as well. The sheer gap between Jordan and Kobe is sizable enough that it won't be explained by a single factor.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Whatever made Jordan 'better' was sizable. Kobe may have modeled much of his game after Jordan but it is clear that Jordan was more dominant against his peers.

Hand size is perhaps one part of that. Athleticism probably another. Skill and BBIQ important as well. The sheer gap between Jordan and Kobe is sizable enough that it won't be explained by a single factor.

I don't really think that skills played much of a part. I think it was a combination of quickness, strength and those crazy hands.

[D.Brasco]

MJ was the original “Klaw”

No that was Dr. J and you can perhaps say Connie Hawkins before him.