Why Don't American Coaches Teach About How Damaging Dunking Can Be For Players?

[Euroleague]

The thread about the ACL injuries reminded me about something that I have always wondered about.............

In European basketball they often gauge the impact to the body that dunking does for the players. Often times, guys that are 196 cm or shorter (that's 6'5" and under) are taught NOT to dunk the basketball.

Some players of course that are that height or shorter dunk the ball anyway. It's totally up to the player to do what they want. But it's normal to advise guys that height and shorter not to dunk.

And in guys that are say 192 cm and shorter (6'3" and lower) it's quite often considered stupid for them to dunk the basketball.

The reason for this is because they have done extensive research and testing into the impact the body takes from dunking the basketball and smaller players take a huge amount of physical impact to their bodies when they dunk.

It will basically shorten a career and reduce athletic ability if you keep dunking and are a smaller player.

For an example, Derrick Rose (ACL) fits into this category.

Also, it's been shown that guys that dunk the ball a lot and guys that are power dunkers also have the same negative impact to their bodies.

Amare Stoudemire (micro-fracture) fits into this category.

The general belief in European basketball is that you should only dunk the basketball when it is necessary, because it has a negative effect on your body. Again, it's up to the players themselves to decide what they do.

But when I look at European basketball, I see guards still playing in their mid to late 30s and you don't see blown out knees and micro-fractures and things like that.

And when you look at athletic big men in Europe, it also seems noticeable how many less injuries they seem to have as compared to NBA players of the same type.

You do see athletic big men in Europe starting to have knee problems after age 30, after they have been playing for 12+ years. But you don't see it too often in guys under 30. In the NBA you see it all the time in athletic big men under 30.

And the NBA has so many of those athletic guys that seem to crumble by age 30........like Tracy McGrady, Steve Francis - guys like that. Seemingly unable to keep their body right past age 30. This seems to rarely happen with guys playing in Europe.

But what you will notice if you watch a Euroleague game for example, is some 6-5 guy might steal the ball, get free for an open layup and choose to just softly lay the ball in off the glass, rather than throwing down what would be a relatively easy dunk.

Of course some guys are definitely dunking that and trying to make highlights (especially the American players). But you do see this quite often from players in Europe that almost won't dunk as a rule.

I just wonder why no one in American basketball seems to understand this. A guy like Derrick Rose didn't need to try to dunk the ball every time, but that is exactly what he would do. Westbrook plays the same way.

It's not necessary and it causes unneeded damage to their bodies. But I can't really think of many NBA guards that all through their careers were choosing to not dunk to conserve their bodies.

Maybe Nash when he was younger, maybe Andre Miller?.......that's about all the comes to mind. And guys like Amare are a classic example of over dunking and ruining the knees for no reason.

I don't know, maybe Tim Duncan is a guy that has taken a lot of layups that he could have dunked........

And these guys like Nash, Miller, and Duncan have lasted so much longer in their careers than most other players do. Maybe Kareem is also a good example. He was shooting sky hooks mainly, rather than trying to dunk everything and power around the basket.

Compare that to Yao Ming who was taught by the idiot Jeff Van Gundy to try to power everything around the basket, bully in the low post, and try to dunk everything........his huge body didn't last very long at all.

Basically, a smaller guy puts a lot of pressure and stress on his body when he lands back to the floor after he dunks the ball. A bigger guy puts a lot of force on his knees when he leaps to power dunk the ball.

And the worst damage is done by guys that jump and land on one leg, which is how American basketball, and especially the NBA, teaches the players. Guys that generally jump and land with two legs (like Dominique Wilkins for example) put much less stress on their bodies to dunk the ball.

But in American basketball they are always teaching players from early ages NOT to dunk and jump like Wilkins, but to do everything off one leg, which is hugely damaging to the body.

Do American coaches and trainers not even know this?

[B-Low]

Westbrook's under 6'5, dunks at least once a game with POWER, and he's never missed a game in the NBA or college because of injury. Meanwhile Kyrie who has like 5 dunks in 2 years has missed game after game.

I wouldn't say it's that big a deal whether a smaller player dunks or not

[esiotrot]

Great post Euroleague, some of these Americans and NBA only fans don't know anything about basketball.

[Psycho]

Westbrook's under 6'5, dunks at least once a game with POWER, and he's never missed a game in the NBA or college because of injury. Meanwhile Kyrie who has like 5 dunks in 2 years has missed game after game.

I wouldn't say it's that big a deal whether a smaller player dunks or not

That's two players and there could just be genetic/conditioning reasons outweighing whether they dunk or not.

[NumberSix]

The thread about the ACL injuries reminded me about something that I have always wondered about.............

In European basketball......

Wait, in what?

[The Choken One]

[B-Low]

That's two players and there could just be genetic/conditioning reasons outweighing whether they dunk or not.

That's my point exactly though. I can name plenty of players who dunk without injury, and plenty who don't dunk and get injured just as much. There's too many other factors than to say it's all about size/dunking like Euro says. There are injury-plagued players and non injury plagued ones. There's way too many factors to blame dunking, and especially American coaches for the injuries.

It's a professional sport. There's running, jumping, contact, falling...it's just part of the sport. You don't teach players not to use God-given gifts if they can use their athleticism to their advantage

[Euroleague]

That's my point exactly though. I can name plenty of players who dunk without injury, and plenty who don't dunk and get injured just as much. There's too many other factors than to say it's all about size/dunking like Euro says. There are injury-plagued players and non injury plagued ones. There's way too many factors to blame dunking, and especially American coaches for the injuries.

It's a professional sport. There's running, jumping, contact, falling...it's just part of the sport. You don't teach players not to use God-given gifts if they can use their athleticism to their advantage

I didn't make any such claim. I am just saying that it's been proven through testing in sports labs that dunking DOES cause unneeded stress to the body. Obviously some guys are built to take that stress better than others.

Like Shaq for example. But some guys obviously are NOT built to take that stress as well. Like for example, Amare or McDyess that both clearly damaged their knees from too much power dunking.

[Psycho]

That's my point exactly though. I can name plenty of players who dunk without injury, and plenty who don't dunk and get injured just as much. There's too many other factors than to say it's all about size/dunking like Euro says. There are injury-plagued players and non injury plagued ones. There's way too many factors to blame dunking, and especially American coaches for the injuries.

It's a professional sport. There's running, jumping, contact, falling...it's just part of the sport. You don't teach players not to use God-given gifts if they can use their athleticism to their advantage

Yeah, but dunking and overexerting themselves can gradually lead to or encourage in injury-plagued players such as Rose, so you would think that not dunking except in necessary situations would be advantageous (ie in transition you can just lay it in).

[TMac&Luther]

Great post Euroleague, some of these Americans and NBA only fans don't know anything about basketball.

Yeah, we only invented the damn game. GTFO


There's nothing wrong with dunking a damn basketball, most players hang on the rim anyways to protect themselves and you can just as easily tear your knee up while making a cut on the floor (which is what happens a great majority of the time) as you can leaving your feet.

We dunk, because we teach our players to finish strong and not play a pu[COLOR="Black"]s[/COLOR]sy brand of basketball. Seeing how us dumbass "Americans who don't know anything about basketball" have faired in international competition, I'll say it's worked out pretty well.

[ThickassGlasses]

Running is one of the worst things you can do for your knees and ankles.. Which causes hip and back problems.

Maybe we should ask these same coaches why they don't teach players how to power walk down the court rather than run?

[ThaRegul8r]

Kareem is also a good example. He was shooting sky hooks mainly, rather than trying to dunk everything and power around the basket.

He couldn't.

And I mean that completely literally.

While he was at UCLA, dunking was banned, which led to the development of the skyhook.

And thus the irony of the fact that it was the institution of rules designed to reduce his dominance which was directly responsible for the most unstoppable shot in the history of the game.

[esiotrot]

Yeah, we only invented the damn game. GTFO


There's nothing wrong with dunking a damn basketball, most players hang on the rim anyways to protect themselves and you can just as easily tear your knee up while making a cut on the floor (which is what happens a great majority of the time) as you can leaving your feet.

We dunk, because we teach our players to finish strong and not play a pu[COLOR="Black"]s[/COLOR]sy brand of basketball. Seeing how us dumbass "Americans who don't know anything about basketball" have faired in international competition, I'll say it's worked out pretty well.

Didn't you hear? A Canadian invented basketball.

And Stern rigged the Olympics.

[NotYetGreat]

No, you know what? They shouldn't ban hanging on the rims. Why? Because at least hanging gives you a teeny bit of time in order to land safely on your feet instead of just carrying your momentum possibly all the way into the crowd. What difference is the dunking motion from the lay-up? You jump and land in either. What damages players is the landing. Eccentric stress is what hurts muscle, ligaments, bones, etc. If you think jumping the exact same way and grabbing rim and landing the same way as you would on a soft lay-in is gonna increase your chances of getting injured then dayum, son.

It's not dunking that injures them. It's their bodies' incapabilities to withstand the forces that act on them during play that destroys them. Banning dunking isn't the solution. Better strength training, better corrective strengthening of the body, and better injury prevention are the solution.

[LilEddyCurry]

Mabye cause Euroleague players are less athletic, therefore they require more strength and energy to dunk?