| Saturday 11/27/2010 |
Graphic Illustrating how Horizontal movement can neutralize the height and reach advantage of 7-footers in basketball 'Goliath' represents a 7-foot tall player with his heels on the ground. The quarter-circle cornered at 'A', represents Goliath's reach when his heels are on the ground. The quarter-circle cornered at 'B', represents Goliath's reach when bends his torso to move his shoulder to his left as far as he can without raising his right foot off the ground and losing his balance. The quarter-circle cornered at 'C', represents Goliath's reach if he jumps 36" straight up. The quarter-circle cornered at 'F', represents Goliath's reach If he jumps 9 feet to his left. The quarter-circle cornered at 'E', represents Goliath's reach at the midpoint of the line connecting 'C' and 'F'. 'David' represents a 5'10" tall player, whose heels are 12" above the ground during a jump shot. 'D' shows the position of the ball at the beginning of David's jump shot. The 'David' underneath 'D' closer to Goliath, represents 'David' shooting the shot with his right hand. The 'David' underneath 'D' further from Goliath, represents 'David' shooting the shot with his left hand. 'G' shows the position of the ball at the beginning of David's jump shot, at a point further away from 'Goliath'. The 'David' underneath 'G' closer to Goliath, represents 'David' shooting the shot with his right hand. The 'David' underneath 'G' further from Goliath, represents 'David' shooting the shot with his left hand. If 'Goliath' does not execute a jump upwards or sideways, he is unable to block David's shot using his height and reach, if 'David' is just 2.1 feet from Goliath, and 'David' shoots with his right hand. If 'Goliath' does not execute a jump upwards or sideways, he is unable to block David's shot using his height and reach, if 'David' is just 3.5 feet from 'Goliath', and 'David' shoots with his left hand. If 'Goliath' exercises his herculean jumping ability and jumps 9 feet to his left, even if 'Goliath' moves at the speed of light ('Goliath' moves much slower than the speed of light) he cannot block David's shot if 'David' is 11.2 feet from 'Goliath' and 'David' shoots with his right hand, or if 'David' is 12.9 feet from 'Goliath' and 'David' shoots with his left hand. Scale: each green cross is symbolically 4.2" away from the green crosses that are closest to it.
Discussion of graphic, last updated 5:37 AM 11/27/2010: One point the graphic drives home is the advantage of being able to shoot ambidextrously, in that if one is ambidextrous, one can by using the arm furthest from the menacing defender, significantly reduce the amount of distance one needs to put between oneself and the defender in order to get the shot off. The graphic illustrates how if Goliath jumps in David's direction, Goliath opens himself up to being beaten if David passes to a team-mate, runs in the direction Goliath was before Goliath jumped at him, and then receives the ball back from his team-mate. If Goliath jumps in David's direction and David aborts the shot, Goliath could well end up getting faked out, with David able to get the shot off after Goliath's jump ends and Goliath lands on the floor. If David decides to abort his shot and instead takes a step and a half in the direction of the basket and bumps into Goliath, Goliath could well be called for a foul.
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| @2010 David Virgil Hobbs |
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