Best First Step You've Seen

[Charlie Sheen]

Grant Hill. He was something special. The guy had it all. He was a wizard at changing direction with the ball and that made his first step even deadlier.

[bdreason]

LOL at this thread. If anyone seriously thinks MJ was in the same conversation as AI as far as quickness they weren't around to watch. MJ was 100x the player but he wasn't nearly the blur AI was.

Having a good first step isn't only about raw quickness. Footwork, body positioning, fluidity of motion, and bball IQ all play a part in having a good first step.

[Elosha]

Grant Hill. He was something special. The guy had it all. He was a wizard at changing direction with the ball and that made his first step even deadlier.

Absolutely right and I forgot to mention him in my post. Very possibly the quickest first step for a SF that I've ever seen. Great crossovers/ball control too, as you alluded to.

[Bless Mathews]

Tim hardaway is up there.

[Pointguard]

Good points here. I think it's a good distinction to see that the OP asked who had the best first step, rather than merely the quickest. MJ set up so many of his lightning-fast first steps with getting his defender off balance with jab steps and just their general fear that he was going to drain a jumper in their face.

In terms of quickest first steps I've seen, I'd put Iverson above Jordan, and perhaps Wade and Rose, given their smaller size. But Jordan was the quickest of the true elite SG and SF's although Kobe gets criminally underrated here. Kobe wasn't just about crossovers, he had a lethal first step, especially on the baseline.

Last in response to your points about Iverson and how he would have had so many scoring titles if he was Jordan's size/shooting skill level. Possibly, but since the point of this thread is elite first steps, let's not forget that a 6'6" 210 Iverson would not have the same first step as he did at 6'0, 165 pounds. He would have still been elite but slower. And as fast as he was, he was less of a leaper than Jordan, or other modern pg's like Rose or Westbrook. Obviously he was shorter, but it's pretty clear that his vertical wasn't quite as good as those guys.

Good points Elosha.

[Timmy D for MVP]

Jordan's first step was so ludicrous that defenders would play so far off him and still get beat like nothing. With him you'd think the strategy would be to have him catch the ball as far away from the basket as possible, not on the baseline, and stay back and make him make 3's or long 2's but it never happened because it was impossible to beat his first step.

[JimmyMcAdocious]

Having a good first step isn't only about raw quickness. Footwork, body positioning, fluidity of motion, and bball IQ all play a part in having a good first step.

Yep. It's like when people only relate vertical leap to athleticism. It's much broader than that.

[Pointguard]

Jordan would beat his initial defender via first step more often than Iverson.

Oh so they have the games in Braille now? Your hater glasses are foggy.

I don't feel the need to respond to the rest of your gibberish.

Yeah you know I'm right.

Its obvious as day. If Iverson had Jordan's shooting ability this whole thing is a big joke. Jordan, according to you, 10 of the 11 athletic advantages, the big three physical advantages at a very huge margin, and Jordan shoots better yet only averaged like 2 more baskets per game in their primes. After awhile the nonsense just gets stupid. I could see all of this if Jordan was some great underachiever. And you same guys won't even call AI the most athletic PG.

[triangleoffense]

MJ.. and then honestly Kobe.. his explosiveness off his first pivot foot driving to the rim or getting position on isolation is some of the best I've seen.. mind you Kobe is a SG so his whole job is to get open and make shots.

[VeeCee15]

Vince carter has a way better first step than kobe bryant.
way more explosive than kobe lol

Kobe has handles, VC has first step explosion. Just look at rookie vince carter..he limited handles all he did was first step blow by

[dannywpt]

Carmelo Anthony

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psXgVL8iapo&t=2m01s

He sure gets a lot of hate for being one of the most talented scorers of this generation

[3ball]

SMH at MJ needing a full court sprint to beat a defender

35-year old MJ blows by Bowen fair-and-square and you're complaining?..

[VeeCee15]

Kobe has:
above average first step,
above average hops,
smaller hands than me (i'm only 6'1.5)
narrow shoulders

above average athlete.

[SamuraiSWISH]

Jordan, Iverson, and Rose spring to mind ability wise. Kobe off his skillful foot work.