A couple points.
1.) I agree that these guys had no clue how to train before they got to the NBA… that’s why they have collegiate strength coaches. While I’m not saying that every college strength program is good (far from it), the bottom line is that they ARE training in college.
2.) While I agree that there are plenty of freaks that are jumping out of the gym in high school, there are tons of guys who look significantly different 4 years into the league after they start training.
3.) You can’t use one (or a couple) freaks to make a point. There are what, 500ish guys in the NBA (on teams or getting bounced around the league), I GUARANTEE that not all of them are naturally physical freaks and even the ones that do become even better after being in the league. Look at Jermaine O’neal now and look at when he came in the league. He is way stronger and more explosive now, even though he was a freak back in high school.
4.) Velvet Revolver, YOU sir are not getting the point. The cough/cold analogy was perfect, but you used it incorrectly. Just like a cough is an indicator of a cold, a great vert is a great indicator of athleticsm. However, when you treat an illness, you treat the disease, not the symptoms. Getting a higher vertical leap will definitly have a transfer into other aspects of sport, but MAY NOT be the most effective training method at that time.
5.) I’m not knocking the vert, I’m just saying that it is not the end-all, be-all. There is MUCH MORE to any sport, including basketball then just being able to jump out of the gym. You only have limited amount of adaptive reserves and if you spend them all trying to jump higher, you are missing the whole picture. However, I will say that a lot of times training to increase the vertical leap parallels other training demands so they may (and often) are one and the same.
6.) Earthshaker, there are tons of Olympic weightlifters in the 250# range and I guarantee that they are all pushing 40" of vert or more. The standing vertical leap is very much an expression of strength, as opposed to a running vert. I’d be willing to be that there are less than 5 (if any) NBA players that can hit their head on the rim from the standstill. That means that those 6’8" guys who people claim to have a 40" vert are really closer to 30 than 40". The demands of the linebacker position require short bursts of incredible power followed by a rest period, repeated over and over again. The demands of the NBA are far more endurance oriented. An NBA player will be called upon to exert full power maybe once every 3-4 minutes, an NFL linebacker is asked to exert full power on almost every single play. Basketball is not a game of power and starting strenght as much as it is a game of speed-endurance and reactivity. I would bet the average NBA player’s running vert is something like 8-12" higher than their standing vert while the average NFL linebacker is only like 3-5" higher.
This has definitly been an interesting discussion. I’m curious to see what you guys think of the points I’ve made.
