Kareem of course was probably the only good player who used it regularly, tho his
teammate Magic often used what he called the “baby hook.” Seems like this shot
is very hard to defend against, and would be a pretty high percentage shot, but
since Kareem retired I don’t think anyone has used it. Perhaps it is seen as not
“manly” enough or something…
My guess would be: very, very difficult shot to master. And nowadays everybody wants to slam dunk because that’s what makes the highlights on TV.
Taller defenders also make it even harder to succeed with the hook.
I agree. The sky hook is very hard and is not a high percentage shot given the distance that people usually shoot it from. People still shoot like that in every game, but noone uses it as their “go to” move like Kareem use to do. Centers are getting bigger and bulking up making power moves the move of choice… just my opinion.
The rise of the three-point-shooting big man could be a factor, too.
Takes too long to set up, and is less effective in today’s NBA than a move to the basket (I would say it’s just less effective, period, but obviously there’s at least one guy who would argue with that). That Kareem was such a master at it doesn’t make it a very good strategy for anybody else, you know?
Modern NBA defenses would take away one shoulder and double down on the blind spin to the other shoulder (either the right or the baseline shoulder). At that point it becomes a really, really difficult move to pull off without walking, getting stripped, or committing an offensive foul. And then even if you do all that, your momentum is carrying you either away from or perpendicular to the basket, and you’ve got to get the ball over another 7 footer and make the shot. And if you miss you’re out of rebounding position.
In my opinion, the real puzzler isn’t that more people don’t skyhook, it’s that Kareem did it so much, and was so effective at it.
One of the upsides of the skyhook, though, is that it’s basically unblockable.
IN 6th grade, I was really good at the sky hook, but then, I started growing and developing other parts of my game (like trying to dunk), that I lost practice. I was in a game the other night, and were totally blowing out the other team, that I started practicing it again. Man, this a damn hard shot to do. As a small kid, I could put all my effort into it, and it looked easy. Now, it requires a lot of finesse, which takes a lot of control and practice.
I think a better question would be why (outside of Tim Duncan) doesn’t anyone use the glass when they shoot anymore. I mean seriously think about it. A shot of the glass has a larger margin for error for several reasons.
- The square on the glass presents a bigger target to shoot at.
a. The square it self is perpendicular to the shooters line of sight, whereas the rim is
parallel on a higher plane. - The ball losses some kinetic energy when it makes contact with the glass this:
a. slows the ball down a fraction
b. gives the shooter/rebounder a split second more to reach the basket for a tip
in or rebound
c. Assuming the shot was off line has a higher chance to get a “lucky roll”
because the ball is now closer to the rim with less energy and may drop in.
Now I’m not saying shooting off the glass will change a 10 point a game bench player into a 20 point a game starter, but over a 48 minute 10-20 shot game it could mean 1 or 2 extra shots for that player, and 1 or 2 rebounds/ second chance opportunities for the team.
Consider that a typical game you can see around 9 players on the floor do the math. A simple fundamental playing style change could mean a 20 point swing in total points for one single game. Couple that with an aggressive rebounding and those number could be higher.
Oh yeah, and don’t get me started on defense…
I wonder if zone defense has something to do with it, too? In man-to-man coverage there’s less risk of getting stripped when trying a sky hook, because the off-the-ball defenders are busy with their own marks. In Zone, there’s usually someone behind you just waiting for you to expose the ball so they can swat it away. The sky hook exposes the ball too much.
I seem to have read somewhere that zone D was illegal in Kareem’s day?..
It was illegal up to a few years ago.
Not only that, in Zone there are people clogging the lanes, so the skyhook is a better bet, compared to a drive, than it is in man-to-man. Also, the plays that coaches use have changed, with more emphasis on outside shots and working to the low post.
Because “nothing but net” is keeeeeeeewl! :rolleyes:
That’s it, essentially, same with the under-hand or granny freethrow (see Rick Barry). Back in the olden days lots of players used it, but eventually it became just not as cool as driving the lane, etc. As far as being hard to master, it isn’t. Spend as much time on it as you do other areas of the game and it should come to you like anything else. Up to a few years ago I had a great hook and was able to use it against college players on the playground who were bigger and quicker than I. Plus, when you have a good hook, the defenders will tend to overcompensate for it and you can get them off the ground easier and drive past, FWIW.
Not saying its not, but lets face it if you’re going to take 20 shots a game banking in half of them and scoring 30 points a night with a 65% field goal percentage has to be cooler then droping 40 points on 30 shots and shooting under 50%.
Nope, it’s not. See Allen Iverson.
I did a few sessions of Never Too Late basketball instruction many years ago, since I only got into playing basketball in my early 20s just after graduating from any school that might have had instructional basketball available as part of my tuition (d’oh).
It was great; I highly recommend it to anybody who wants coaching and drillwork on the basics, and one of the basics covered was “basic post moves”. Steve Bzomowski being the old school b-baller that he is, one of the basic post moves he taught was the “start between the two lowest blocks, take one step into the lane, make a hook shot with the outside arm” move. Follow through correctly from the right distance and it’s not much harder than a layup. Since I was generally a post player and was rarely guarded by someone more than maybe an inch or two taller than me (I’m 6’2"), this was my go-to move.
Sure if you do it as far away as the free throw line (like Kareem did) you’d have to (a) have very long arms and (b) practice a lot to get the shot down consistently. But as others have pointed out, it’s a basically unblockable shot unless you get double teamed from an outside defender, in which case you can pass it to the open man.
And if your defender starts favoring your outside arm to block you from the lane, you can use the complementary move of driving the baseline to attack the basket.
In order for AI to get 40 point he takes close to 50 shots, a bit more then the average player I was refering too.
My point is, for regular guys adding a bank shot to their game could add around 10 points to the team, and then maybe maybe super stars like Iverson don’t have to put the entire team on their shoulders and score 900 points a game so they can lose by 2.
Also, there was a point where he woudn’t pass the ball if it was on fire. Whats does that have to do with anything? I dunno Just felt it needed saying.
I think the baby hook is the standard because it is easier to master and nearly effective.
I think you can trace Shaq’s transition from a dunk-only monster to one of the ten greatest players ever (personal opinion, natch) by looking at when he developed that baby hook.
When he could score 8-10 feet out nearly as well as when he muscled into the paint he became unstoppable.
There’s really two major reasons in my view.
The first and most important is the change in the way teams play defense. The skyhook and the baby hook were very successful in an era where man-to-man defense was employed almost exclusively. The rarity of double teams and zone defenses made back-to-the-basket post play very effective. Nowadays it’s almost impossible for a big man to dribble near the basket because of the way defenses collapse and attack from the backside. In the earlier days of the NBA the illegal defense rule was much more rigidly enforced and reaching in was almost always greeted with a foul call. Today, it’s almost impossible to for a center to make a move with his back to the basket without getting double teamed from the front and back. Even though the illegal defense rule was still in place a decade ago, it was only very loosely enforced.
The second reason, and it’s basically a symptom of the first, is that the center position has morphed away from the days where a slow, deliberate 7-footer could be successful. Guys like Rik Smits, Mark Eaton, Arvydas Sabonis, old-Moses Malone and a bunch of other guys made a living camping out beneath the rim waiting for a inside pass and making one move to get a shot off, that move was often the skyhook. Today big guys need to be more athletic and better able to move away from the rim. That motion creates more dunks and open jump shots and there are fewer occasions for the deliberate set up that a skyhook requires.
Centers today have the ability to get higher percentage shots than the skyhook, and because of the new defenses they need it.
Plus, most seven footers don’t want to be centers anymore. They want to be SFs.
Also, the skyhooks is a midrange shot. A lot of NBA players seem to have fallen in love with the 3pt shot. The only way to get on Sportscenter is the 3ptr or the dunk.
All but the most efficient players seemed to have abandoned the midrange shot.