Slam Dunk! NBA comparisons

[Kabookalu]

For those that have never heard of Slam Dunk!, it's a popular Japanese manga about a basketball team in high school. It's one of the best and most popular mangas ever that single handedly sparked basketball interest in Japan and pays a lot of homage to NBA players during its syndication. With that said a lot of the players were based off of real NBA players.

Hanamichi Sakuragi: Dennis Rodman (there's no doubt about this, insane athleticism, can shut down multiple positions, insane second hop, no offense, it's all there)
http://teamshohoku.tripod.com/images/sakuragiposter.jpg

Shinichi Maki: Magic Johnson (can play multiple positions but above all is a great point guard)
http://teamshohoku.tripod.com/images/makiposter.jpg

Ryota Miyagi: Kevin Johnson (small, quick as hell, great floor general, I would have chosen Isiah Thomas but Miyagi doesn't have that "take over" factor that Isiah had)
http://teamshohoku.tripod.com/images/ryotaposter.jpg

Akira Sendoh: Clyde Drexler (An all around guy who's a great scorer and passer)
http://teamshohoku.tripod.com/images/sendohposter.jpg

Kiccho Fukuda: Bernard King (a monster scorer who can score in multiple ways, plays no defense)
http://teamshohoku.tripod.com/images/fukuda.jpg

Kenji Fujima: John Stockton (protocol point guard that can pass and score when needed)
http://teamshohoku.tripod.com/images/fujimaposter.jpg

Toru Hanagata: Robert Parish (a finesse big man, rainbow jumper)
http://teamshohoku.tripod.com/images/hanagata.jpg

Toyotama High School Team: Run TMC (three excellent scorers who play a running game 80% offense 20% defense)

There's a lot of others too.

[Cafu]

You forgot Rukawa - MJ's clone
Criticized for selfish style and in the end, trusted his teammates for the win

[Kabookalu]

Yeah I missed a lot, there were just too many of them and mostly went off of memory but Rukawa just slipped past me somehow even though he's the second main character lol

The one I have the most problem with is Mitsui. The best 3 point shooter in the nation so it'd be normal to say Reggie Miller but Mitsui is a great defender. Miller was below average at best on defense (unless early on in his career he was better). Mitsui also had stamina issues, Miller could run around screens all day (though maybe the stamina issues were there to be consistent with the plot). Mitsui also has more of an all around game. So I thought perhaps Bird? Though even Bird was way more all around and there's another character that I believe draws more connections to Bird. I can only think of Shane Battier's defense with Ray Allen's offensive game.

[Point forward]

Haha, nerd alert Anyway:

C - Akagi => Patrick Ewing (leader, great D, a bit robotic on O)
PF - Sakuragi => Dennis Rodman (crazy rebounder and arrogant in a good way)
SF - Rukawa => young Michael Jordan (super scorer, egotistic)
SG - Mitsui => Reggie Miller w/o stamina (3pt wonder)
PG - Miyagi => Allen Iverson (small fighter, heart of a lion, questionable character)
6M - Kogure => Toni Kukoc (very versatile, 6th guy, smart)
Coach - Anzai => Phil Jackson (the "Zen master")

Other guys:
Fujima => Stockton (quiet unquestioned leader)
Hanagata => Hakeem (superb post moves)

Maki => Magic (genius do it all)
Kiyota => Sprewell (hot headed scoring machine)
Jin => Pippen/Drexler hybrid (deadly scorer with high bball IQ)
Miyamasu => Muggsy Bogues w/less talent (dwarf but respected)
Coach Takato => Red Auerbach (super successful)

Sendoh => Larry Bird ("the genius", just brillant)
Uozumi => Zo (Ewing's eternal rival)
Fukuda => Adrian Dantley (no-D mentally fragile super scorer)
Ikegami => Michael Cooper (defensive stopper)
Coach Taoka => Pat Riley (Phil Jackson's rival)

Minami => Bruce Bowen ("the ace killer")
Morishige => Shaq (unstoppable force)
Yazawa => Maurice Stokes (great career tragically cut short)
Sawakita => prime Michael Jordan (best player in the game)

[Kabookalu]

What can I say, every thug has a nerdy side to them

Uozumi and Zo is a good one, I was stuck on that one. For that other center on Sannoh, I was thinking Hakeem because he's super athletic but short for a center, but looking at his face again it's obvious who the manga author had in mind when creating him

[Legend 23]

Good topic Choker!

I agree with most of these comparisons, but someone needs to find a better comparison for Sendoh!

[Legend 23]

Perhaps Sendoh = Prime Pippen?

[Point forward]

If you go into full nerd mode, some Slam Dunk! scenes remind me of classic NBA scenes:

* Shohoku vs Kainan (Maki, Jin, Miyamasu): when Sakuragi accidentally passes the ball to the Kainan center in the last second, it reminds me of the gaffe when Isiah turned over the ball to Bird

* Ryonan (Sendoh et al.) vs Kainan: when Sendoh suddenly plays PG, he reminds me of Paul Pressey (the original "point forward"), and when Fukuda lights up Kainan and nearly cries, he reminds me of Connie Hawkins (who was also banned for and came back at last)

* Shohoku vs Ryonan => Sendoh vs Rukawa shootout reminds me of the legendary Bird-Wilkins shootout in Game 7, Fukuda's rise and fall vs Sakuragi reminds me of the way that Dirk at first torched and at last was broken by Udonis Haslem in the 2006 Finals

* Shohoku vs Sannoh (end game in manga, not in anime) => Shohoku*s super rally in the last Q reminds me of the late game Lakers comeback in Game 7 vs the Blazers

[Kabookalu]

Good topic Choker!

I agree with most of these comparisons, but someone needs to find a better comparison for Sendoh!

A peak T-Mac could also fit because Sendoh was a stellar playmaker but better scorer. And Sendoh was portrayed to have a really relaxed lifestyle outside of basketball (iirc). Though he doesn't have Sendoh's killer instinct.

[Point forward]

Sendoh was really a relaxed guy, his main hobby was fishing. But in terms of "relaxed lifestyle", Rukawa is GOAT: his ONLY (!) activity off court was sleeping

I still say that Sendoh is mainly Larry Bird, but with a laid back attitude and better foot speed.

PS: Did you know that Slam Dunk! persuaded ex-Grizzlies player JR Henderson to change his name to JR Sakuragi?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JR_Sakuragi

[Kabookalu]

Sendoh was really a relaxed guy, his main hobby was fishing. But in terms of "relaxed lifestyle", Rukawa is GOAT: his ONLY (!) activity off court was sleeping

Oh yeah I forgot all he does is sleep maybe this gives me a good excuse to read over the manga again, been a good minute.

PS: Did you know that Slam Dunk! persuaded ex-Grizzlies player JR Henderson to change his name to JR Sakuragi?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JR_Sakuragi

Epic, I wonder if there's a player named Rukawa in that league.

[Legend 23]

Prime TMAC is a pretty good comparison for Sendoh

How about Jin?

[Kabookalu]

Jin is an odd one because he's just a spot up shooter yet he's the leading scorer of their region (this was said when Sannoh was scouting out Shohoku in their hotel rooms, I can't recall the page nor chapter to reference it). A Jason Kapono that can score 20ppg? :S

[Point forward]

Kainan is a very illogically constructed team, the author Takeshi Inoue did some sloppy characterisation IMHO. Kainan are supposed to be the GOAT team, yet their only notable players are Maki (PG=Magic?), Jin (SG=Drexler?) and rookie Kiyota (SF=Sprewell?). Their C Takasogo is a borderline scrub, and their PF is anonymous. I don't see how Magic/Drexler/Spree core is supposed to be "dominating" with no low post to speak of. Logically seen, Uozumi of Ryonan (=Zo) should torch them for 30 in each game, let alone Sendoh and Fukuda.

[Kabookalu]

I was also under the impression that Takeshi's knowledge on basketball wasn't that great. Some of the scenarios he portrayed would baffle basketball inclined people like us (like when Shohoku quadruple teamed Maki). It's just that other than some suspect basketball stuff, Slam Dunk is just a fine damn manga. Takeshi's ability to create great stories far eclipses his knowledge on basketball.

And other than spot up 3 point shooting, Jin hasn't really shown much outside of his game to really warrant a Drexler comparison imo. IIRC when a team (think it was Shohoku) was able to take away his 3 point shot, he was virtually useless.

[Point forward]

In Inoue's defense, basketball in Japan was practically unknown (compare soccer in the US during the 1980s) until he literally single handedly lifted it into pop culture. His only bball education was playing it himself at Japanese YMCA level and watching rare footage of Magic and Larry.

Still, some "facts" from Slam Dunk! are pretty funny:

* High school games regularly sell out the arena (5k seats?)
* Shoyo is the only team to employ sth resembling a pick and roll
* The only players who post up are Cs
* 3pt shots are always wide open
* Cs always guard Cs, PFs always guard PFs, SFs always guard SFs and so on (esp. funny if you see Sakuragi getting clowned by Fukuda, although Mitsui, a tall SG, is far better on D)
* Hanagata and Sendoh are the only guys who can shoot a fadeaway J
* C/PFs cannot shoot the 3 (esp. funny if you consider they play by FIBA rules, short 3pt line)
* It is seemingly impossible to foul in the last seconds to force a Hack a Shaq

But still, I love SD

PS: BTW, I used Jin=Drexler b/c it seems too illogical that a pure spot-up SG can average (!) 30. Call that "fanboy outside the panel characterisation"

[Legend 23]

Great job everyone! Common we need more discussions!!!

[Kabookalu]

In Inoue's defense, basketball in Japan was practically unknown (compare soccer in the US during the 1980s) until he literally single handedly lifted it into pop culture. His only bball education was playing it himself at Japanese YMCA level and watching rare footage of Magic and Larry.

Still, some "facts" from Slam Dunk! are pretty funny:

* High school games regularly sell out the arena (5k seats?)
* Shoyo is the only team to employ sth resembling a pick and roll
* The only players who post up are Cs
* 3pt shots are always wide open
* Cs always guard Cs, PFs always guard PFs, SFs always guard SFs and so on (esp. funny if you see Sakuragi getting clowned by Fukuda, although Mitsui, a tall SG, is far better on D)
* Hanagata and Sendoh are the only guys who can shoot a fadeaway J
* C/PFs cannot shoot the 3 (esp. funny if you consider they play by FIBA rules, short 3pt line)
* It is seemingly impossible to foul in the last seconds to force a Hack a Shaq

But still, I love SD

PS: BTW, I used Jin=Drexler b/c it seems too illogical that a pure spot-up SG can average (!) 30. Call that "fanboy outside the panel characterisation"

Yeah guess I need to give credit to Inuoe for using a concept for his manga that was close to non existent in Japan's popular culture (I remember reading somewhere that Fukuda was really passionate about playing for the team because basketball courts in Japan were very rare and you could only find them in school gyms, I'd say it's safe to assume this was a reflection of how popular basketball was before Slam Dunk). Things could have been a lot worse, I mean another basketball manga called "Crossover" was created after the basketball boom and the basketball related scenarios are so much worse than in Slam Dunk. Still though, those Slam Dunk facts are still quite amusing

[Point forward]

Inoue surely missed some "real" knowledge in his manga, but all in all, he got more points right than wrong IMHO, such as:

* That a captain (Akagi) leads by example, on and off the court
* How you can exude natural authority even if you are not a starter (Kogure)
* How hard it is to build up stamina if you are a big guy (Uozumi)
* How damaging hazing can be (Fukuda)
* Playing isolation vs a bad 1-vs-1 defender (Fukuda x Sakuragi) is legit
* Playing box-and-1 D vs an elite player (Maki) is legit
* How mentally tough playing D becomes if you have foul trouble
* Rebounds = controlling the game
* How hard it is to learn a jump shot (Sakuragi had to do 20k to get it right)
* How hard even a basic layup is
* It is a legal option to shoot FTs underhanded
* Me-first ball seems best for elite guys, but in the end, team workers win (Rukawa)
* 3rd worst thing than can happen to you = seeing your shot swatted into the 10th row
* 2nd worst thing than can happen to you = getting dunked on (Fukuda x Sakuragi, both ways)
* Worst thing than can happen to you = getting ejected after 2 technicals

IMHO the most striking thing about Slam Dunk! is the atypical Sakuragi: a guy who is childish, arrogant and short tempered on the outside but deep inside a honorable, honest hard worker who just wants to help. He is so untypically for manga characters (either totally emo or totally perfect) and comics in general, I love that guy.

[Kabookalu]

Yeah I really grow tired of the middle school protagonists that are weak willed and apologetic yet somehow stumble upon a harem, emos, or the clumsy hotblooded kids always yelling. Sakuragi is a nice change.

Another scenario to add: the pressure of making free throws. I believe there was an entire chapter dedicated to Sakuragi at the free throw line and the pressure gets to him so much that he starts hallucinating. This the type of stuff I love about Slam Dunk.