Can you dunk?

[Get a Job]

At my peak (literally and figuratively) I could get 2 knuckles above the rim. Not bad for 5'9", but still not close. Nowadays, I can clip the bottom of the net if I'm warmed up.

 

[Kolumbo]

My best dunks always seemed to happen when I was practicing alone.

My best moves are now on the foosball table.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Was 5’6 going into Soph. year of High School then shot up to 6’3/6’4. Coach made me play center even though I was pretty thin and was a very good passer. Could dunk in HS and into college but got a back injury from soccer that I haven’t quite recovered from now that i’m 2 years out of school. Also haven’t been working out too much the last 6 months or so. If I get into routine I probably can still JUST dunk, but as of now I doubt I can. Was playing ball a lot in the city up until Covid got bad, now obviously haven’t played competitively in almost a year. Can’t wait to get back into it though.

 

[superjohn]

Being 6'4" and having a wingspan of 7ft, yes I could dunk when I was younger, but it is very true that White Men Can't Jump.

When I used to play at Washington Park in Waterbury, I was so good because those rims were like 9'8" maybe and I could jam on anyone. Those were the good old days.

White guys don't have that excuse anymore...

 

[Get a Job]

White guys don't have that excuse anymore...

That's not the NFL kicker, is it?!

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

When I was 16 (and 5’10” 160) I would routinely dunk a volleyball after running 70 minutes at 6:30 mile pace during cross country practice. Hands too small to palm a bball and too short to do it with two hands.

I also broke my ankle at 17 (the day before my drivers test) spiking a volleyball in gym class and coming down on the person on the other side’s foot. Hops were never really the same after that. Possibly psychologically.


16 years and 60 lbs later all those things seem absolutely impossible.

 

[Tenspro2002]

This is like my CYO career. I started at center and worked my way down to point guard when everyone ended up taller than me.

I feel this.

I was always a good shooter.

At 8 I was an OG stretch-4 who could handle a bit.

At 14 I was an undersized shooting guard with so-so handle.

 

[methodology]

I could at 15 years ago I can still touch the rim if I wanted to work on legs and explosion I could probably do it

 

[Minicoop69]

White guys don't have that excuse anymore...

One person, or a couple of people, does not change the perception.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Like many here, at 5'10", no. Not close. I recall being able to just touch the rim and dunk a golf ball in younger, lighter, healthier days. But I may be imagining that. The mind goes along with the body after all. The nurse at my checkups tells me I'm not even 5'10" anymore. Lies! Blasphemy! I shall forever claim my peak height.

I was a legendary nerf hoop dunker though. Had a great one with UConn Huskies backboard.

 

[QDOG5]

so I am much taller than I look.

Was your street ball name The Optical Illusion?

 

[QDOG5]

As a college freshman I had a "legit" alley oop dunk messing around with buddies. No way I could dunk taking the ball up with me. 6'0" 155 at the time. I have movements that weigh as much now.

 

[Mr. French]

I've thrown it down in the past, in my prime, but even then it was barely and it was definitely not consistently. I would never risk trying to dunk even a total breakaway. I'm a 6'1 2G who played HS and college, but "ups" were not my forte.

Right this second, I can barely dunk on my 2 year old's 3 foot rim. And that's not even an exaggeration.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

I almost touched the rim once.

 

[RichZ]

Being 6-3, I was supposed to be able to dunk, right? Unfortunately, my body type is long in the torso, short in the extremities. And my hands are small. I could dunk in practice, but any contact at all and I lost control. I dunked twice in actual (pickup) games. About seven years later, I dunked in an adult rec league game. That was on a putback, one handed, with my 'wrong' hand. I'm left handed. Junior year in HS I damaged my right shoulder. After a few weeks, it didn't hurt any more, and if I lifted my right arm higher than shoulder height, it came out of the socket. (Chronic, recurrent sublocation). End result was a 4 plus inch increase in vertical reach with my off hand. Trade off was sometimes I needed to use my left hand to knock the head of the humerus bone back into the socket. Learned to use the extended reach to my advantage though, and blocked a lot of shots with my right hand, as well as jumping center right handed. But could not come close to controlling the ball with my right hand, so my new, improved reach with the off hand went pretty much for naught as far as dunking is concerned.
The right handed put back dunk in a rec league game was the last time I ever dunked. The next year was the infamous peritonitis/gangrene episode of my life. Tried to play rec league the year after that, but didn't have any bounce, Tried a few times in driveway games, but got older and heavier.
Now, in my old age, I'm paying the price for that shoulder that I damaged nearly 60 years ago.

FWIW, Ricky had the same shoulder issue. But he got his fixed.

 

[uconnfan68]

Like many here, at 5'10", no. Not close. I recall being able to just touch the rim and dunk a golf ball in younger, lighter, healthier days. But I may be imagining that. The mind goes along with the body after all. The nurse at my checkups tells me I'm not even 5'10" anymore. Lies! Blasphemy! I shall forever claim my peak height.

I was a legendary nerf hoop dunker though. Had a great one with UConn Huskies backboard.

Same story... nurse at my physical 2 years ago said “5’11.5, so you’re 5’11 now”. I still go with 6’0” when asked, but feel shorter every year. My 15yo grandson passed me last year (at 14), and the 12yo twins are right behind him. Already taller than their 5’10” mom.

 

[8893]

Absolutely

 

[jibsey]

I just did a test jump. Is your sneaker supposed to leave the ground?

 

[bendm]

6'5 NESCAC walk on (11 years ago) but as long as my legs are in shape i still can

 

[uconnbill]

I know people said back in the day was a no if not 6'3" but I am 6' foot and could dunk from 16 till I was about 26 or so. Then I had knee surgery and that was it. Softball took any hops I did have

 

[Kenny11]

I'm 5'10 (was listed as 6'0). I have a few legitimate dunks out of thousand of attempts but never in a game. But rim-grab layups were my thing as well as slapping the backboard as hard as possible on layups, block attempts, after shots, in warmups, etc.

 

[CL82]

I just did a test jump. Is your sneaker supposed to leave the ground?

This. Maybe 20 years ago I was shooting a outdoor court with a friend and two HS kids challenged us to a game. All good at first after a while though we started running out of gas. At one point the kid on me started to guard me tight so I stopped, looked at him to freeze him and went to elevate and shoot over him and it was like someone has turned up the gravity. Things haven't gotten better since then.

 

[HooperScooper]

With a step ladder I could.

I did dunk a tennis ball in college. But that was a long time ago and 35 pounds lighter.

 

[Kitaman]

'On a good day,'
see? this is called 'a legit answer.' i really dislike those days when it's the rim blocking my attempts. can hurt the shoulder, big time. signed, 'not 6'6'' tall guy, with sore shoulders, messed up wrists, and constant foreboding for getting my legs cut out from under me.' big fun when it works, and well worth the effort. mostly. except those times when you do get clipped, and end up on the ground, on ur tailbone. hardwood is soooo much softer than asphalt.

Many years ago, I actually threw down a monstrous dunk in front of a big crowd, in a big game.

My wife was there and immediately shook me awake, telling me I was flailing my arms in bed.

 

[Fishy]

Of course, I can dunk, but I’m not going to just because you guys want me to.