Longest Hangtime for NBA players?

[OldSchoolBBall]

30+ inches seems like a stretch to me. High 20s is more reasonable.

Yeah, I'd agree, especially for '93 (age 30).

Even that Spurs shot was probably around 33" and it was when he was at his peak athletically. For his AVERAGE to be 30.5"? I can't buy it.

On those sorts of double clutch shots, he's really bending both knees deeply and using both feet to jump near max, though. It wouldn't surprise me if that was 35"+, actually. Compare the type of motion in his legs there to the wind up to the shot from '96, where it's just a super quick jump stop with little knee flexion at all, and he still gets 29"+

The '96 clip is ridiculous too. He's probably reaching close to 30" there, and to put it in perspective, one of the best athletes in this draft (John Wall) maxes out his standing vert at 30". He along with Doctor J were two perimeter guys who retained athletic ability like no others. '98 MJ moves noticeably quicker on the floor than current Kobe for example. I remember a similar freeze frame of his jumpshot vs. Nets in the late 90s too.

Jordan retained a lot of athleticism, but he also lost quite a bit. His one footed leaping suffered the most imo, along with his explosiveness (i.e., first step, change of pace etc.). As for him in '98 as compared to Kobe, it depends on the game/play you watch. I have seen plays/games where he was visibly quicker than current Kobe (who it should also be noted is injured), but then I've also seen games where he didn't look as quick. I think at that age (35), it really depends on how you're feeling that day. For instance, this play from the '98 ECF I don't think Kobe could duplicate at the exact same speed from point A to point B:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhSBTI-txak#t=8m19s

But then you watch other games, particularly later in this series and vs. Utah, and he looks slower. Probably fatigue. There's a game vs. Toronto I have on DVD from '98 where he hits the game winner, and he's incredibly quick that game. Here's some sick point A to point B quickness/acceleration from that game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tblZpFdgqk8#t=7m25s

It's just the way he goes from zero to max speed so quickly that's always amazed me. He never truly lost that, at least not relatively speaking. I think how quick/fast he was later in '97 and '98 depended more on fatigue and how far into the season/postseason he was than anything else.

[Batman]

30+ inches seems like a stretch to me. High 20s is more reasonable. Even that Spurs shot was probably around 33" and it was when he was at his peak athletically. For his AVERAGE to be 30.5"? I can't buy it. Probably got it on some shots but not as an average. I'll have to check out the highlights later and see. He did have that wrist problem though and maybe needed to use his legs more to compensate.

The '96 clip is ridiculous too. He's probably reaching close to 30" there, and to put it in perspective, one of the best athletes in this draft (John Wall) maxes out his standing vert at 30". He along with Doctor J were two perimeter guys who retained athletic ability like no others. '98 MJ moves noticeably quicker on the floor than current Kobe for example. I remember a similar freeze frame of his jumpshot vs. Nets in the late 90s too.

John Wall is more plyometric leaper. That means he needs steps to really being able to explode in the air. I think his max was 39 or 40 inches. 30 inches is a standing is good, but it isn't super elite. Derrick Rose had a 35 standing vertical to put it in perspective.

So it really isn't a stretch if Jordan takes one step and leaps into a jump shot that he is doing about 30 inches.