Hard to perfect, but also hard to block. Plus when you roll out of the post, all your passing options remain open until the last split second.

Didn't Akeem have a kinda hook?

Awful Astros announcer Milo Hamilton died at 88 yesterday. Hell be remembered for calling aaron's 715th hr. If you listened to the radio though you never had any idea what was going on, and had to endure stupid sayings like "holy toledo!" Things that make Chris Berman cringe

For those of us who are old enough to remember < cough cough > Lew Alcindor played freshman ball in 1966 as that was the era when all first year basketball players were ineligible to play on the varsity squad. The " Freshmen Rule " ban was lifted in 1972. The NCAA took further action after seeing the inabilities of other freshmen squads stopping Lew's surgeon like dunks. The " Lew Alcindor " rule went into effect and lasted the next nine seasons which effectively banned the use of dunking in the sport. The Wizard of Westwood countered that rule by having Lew work on a new fall away shot that was even more undefenseable due to Lew's 7'2" height. This forced him to become a more complete player which resulted in Lew becoming a dominate force in the pros. With the dunk returning to the NCAA in 1976 there was little incentive for the current crop of centers to learn the skyhook. RIP the skyhook.

Hating on Milo. That's so wrong.

Many players still have jump-hooks. Duncan's is pretty good.

Love Tim Duncan. Love his shot. Don't consider it really a hook.

I may be wrong, it's probably just the camera angle.



Anchor doesn't seem to work but shot starts at ~55 seconds.

Yeah, it's not a real hook. It's a hybrid.

Remember Magic's baby skyhook?

He had a master jump hook off the left block going into the paint. It counterbalanced the Dream Shake to the baseline.
The jump hook or baby hook. Some guys develop it with both hands. The sky hook is too slow a shot these days, and it allows the D to adjust to it. Plus more guys get up to that level.
Plus the sky hook was a travel half the time. And it leaves the shooter out of O rebound range. Shooting is taught going to the basket, not fading away.
The closest I've seen to a true sky hook these days is probably Lebron. He does some funky stuff off the dribble.

Re: Magic
Since this is a RIP thread: I remember Chick Hearn calling that play. Now that was entertainment.

Tim Duncan died?

2015 Playoffs: Game 7 against LA Clippers. His defense died. Kioshk can fill in the details.

He almost blocked it. Duncan is still elite, 2nd team all-defense last year and can still score 20 now and then when they need him to.

Tim Duncan still playing at age 56 is incredible.

Jackie Collins, novelist, dead at 77 on September 19, 2015.

If you watch all the way you get to the Magic baby skyhook. I don't know why you'd skip through though. For me, this was peak basketball.

"Straight as a mackerel going upstream"
lol
Chick was the greatest

If this had occurred 71 years earlier the world in general, and especially the world of literature, would have been better off.

Aww man. Maybe it wasn't tolstoy but people liked it. I think there's something to be said about pleasing the masses.

No matter how true this may be, I'll never admit it. Old guys get to be stubborn this way.

Which is why you don't see the skyhook any more. The great unwashed want to see dunks. How hard is it for freakishly tall people to shove a ball through a hoop? If a shot from further out is three points, a dunk should be maybe a quarter of a point.

RIP Jack Larson aka Jimmy Olsen cub reporter for the Daily Planet. He was 87 when he passed on yesterday in Brentwood, Ca. He finally joins his co-worker Clark Kent and their persnickety boss Perry White on the other side.

Lois Lane (both Phyllis Coates [88] & Noel Neill [94]) is still around.

RIP Yogi Berra

One of the most quotable and funniest guys ever in sports