09 jul 06
"How can I replicate the supple back post up basketball move you are a master of?"
by studying the tapes.
even though it makes perfect sense to me, i realize that this question might not make sense to everyone (anyone). let me re-work it, and then explain it:
"How do I replicate 'basketball technique x'?" ("supple-back post-up" describes technique x)
"supple-back" describes my back arching unnaturally far, and the term "post-up", even though it's not being used correctly, here refers to the close-in confrontation between two players, when one is taking a shot and the other is defending. in this case, i'm the player taking the shot.
when shooting, to avoid having my lobbed ball swatted away, i'd arch my back, apparently quite severely, thereby moving myself away from the defense. here's a diagram:
before "supple-back post-up" move (above)
after "supple-back post-up" move
it's effectively the same thing as a "fade away", where a player jumps back while shooting to avoid being blocked, except that in my case, only my upper body was "fading away," while my legs remained planted.
i'm not a master of this anymore, for two reasons. first of all, i haven't done basketball in literally years. on a semi-recent vacation i tried to play a friendly game, and i felt like i had cerebral palsy.
second of all, my spine isn't as strong as it used to be, and i'm a lot heavier than i used to be -- arching my back like a contortionist has become dangerous. i tried it somewhat recently, just to see what would happen, and it felt like i was going to break in half. now, when i try to arch over towards the front, it feels like i'm trying to straighten out a crooked iron bar. so, no more supple back moves for me, unless i drop about 80 pounds and do some back-stengthening exercises.
as one gets older, those physical areas that are going to present problems in the autumn years become more apparent. for me, it's the load-bearing joints: ankles, knees, hips, and back; there's simply too much weight on them.
how can you become a master of the supple back move? be born with lordosis (an unnatural curvature of the spine), and be largely unable to employ fakes, jump shots, or other normal ways to increase shot percentage.
my unusual offensive technique became sort of a running joke. when i'd play, others would exclaim "supple back! supple back!", or warn their teammate "when you're defending him, watch out for the supple back!".
i'm not sure if the technique was, by itself, effective. i attempted a few close-in shots, and if they were defended against, then the supple back came into action. some shots were successful, and some weren't. maybe the "supple back" technique worked, or maybe i would have scored those shots that i scored regardless. it's impossible to say, really, because the supple back is gone forever, passed into legend and lore -- no hypotheses can be tested. i was around 20 years old at the height of the supple back.