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captmojo
01-21-2009, 07:35 AM
Lay-up? Dunk? Top of the key? From the lane elbow? Baseline corner? Wing 3? Half court? Hah, full court even? Invent your own description.

What is the worst shot an offense can take from the floor? What has the least percentage chance of being successful, regardless of the shooter?


My answer is the baseline corner shot. Without the view of the backboard to aid in depth perception, the flight of the ball must be dead-on. Secondly, the rebounding of a miss on this shot is too unpredictable.



Your turn.........

BlueDevilBaby
01-21-2009, 08:25 AM
Don't know about anyone else, but my best shot was about a 15 foot jumpshot from three or four feet right of the key, about foul line high. Hardest shot was the right side (looking at the hoop) baseline jumper. Mom was always yelling at me not to take that shot. Sigh. . .I miss hooping it up.

OZZIE4DUKE
01-21-2009, 08:29 AM
The hardest shot is one you need to make to tie the game (or win from from 1 point down) with 1 second left on the clock, and I don't care where it is taken from.

DevilWolf
01-21-2009, 08:38 AM
A free throw

weezie
01-21-2009, 08:40 AM
The pull-up jumper in traffic, vision obstructed, bodies in the lane from about 15 ft, defender w/long arms and already planted. Only G seems to have figured that one out...switches on the photon booster and lets it fly!
Shades of Rip Hamilton.

dukelifer
01-21-2009, 08:45 AM
The hardest shot is one you need to make to tie the game (or win from from 1 point down) with 1 second left on the clock, and I don't care where it is taken from.

This is just a tad harder to do when you are flat on your back

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJoxGpEswOI&feature=related

roywhite
01-21-2009, 10:00 AM
My answer is the baseline corner shot. Without the view of the backboard to aid in depth perception, the flight of the ball must be dead-on. Secondly, the rebounding of a miss on this shot is too unpredictable.


Gotta agree with you. That shot is my least favorite part of Kyle Singler's game. He takes a fair amount of jumpers from the deep corner, doesn't make many, and it often leads to a fast break by the opponents.

grossbus
01-21-2009, 10:04 AM
"the baseline corner shot"

personally, i always loved that shot. my most difficult was the drive along the baseline.

but, i think you want to know what is difficult (or what we think is difficult) for the team. the mid-range pull up J in traffic (which i think was cited earlier).

dukestheheat
01-21-2009, 10:15 AM
was running near full speed down the court, getting close to the basket, and then having to pull up and shoot the soft floater over the outstretched arms of some really big and tall dudes.

So, I guess that shot is the 'full speed to stop soft kiss (a smoochie) over biggie for the two'.

dukestheheat.

Flyers52
01-21-2009, 11:55 AM
worst shot: one foot inside the three point line. Rick Pitino always said it. It's not a 3, but should be..and if you're going to shoot from that far, atleast try and get behind the 3pt line.

hardest shot, IMO: a close shot, 2 footer, that you are so wide open, its almost hard to miss, yet you over think, adn you miss it. it happens all too often. The chippie that should be a sure thing, isn't always that.

duketaylor
01-21-2009, 12:00 PM
A 50 yard bunker shot!!

brevity
01-21-2009, 12:10 PM
worst shot: one foot inside the three point line. Rick Pitino always said it. It's not a 3, but should be..and if you're going to shoot from that far, atleast try and get behind the 3pt line.

Ah, the Brian Davis 3-pointer. He'd hit it a lot, but you wondered if he'd be better off taking a step back and scoring us more points. Would he still make it?

The original post had the best answer, if we're talking about any random time in a game. The answer may change if we're looking at end-of-game scenarios.

Devilsfan
01-21-2009, 12:22 PM
This year it's my opinion that it's a power dunk by the big guy.

TheBrianZoubekExperience
01-21-2009, 01:12 PM
I don't think its the worst shot if you learn to shoot it but I've alwas thought the toughest shot was the floater on a drive in traffic. Tony Parker is awesome at it but it seems to be something that a lot of PGs have trouble learning but is extremely effective if you can get it down because you can release it quick over big guys without having to take the time to set up a standard pullup.

I've always had trouble with the corner 3 but I thought I've heard thats usually one of the highest percentage 3 point shots at least in the NBA becuase its the closest 3 you can shoot. If someone has the numbers on that, that would be great. Baseline fadeaway deep 2 is really tough though. Rasheed does that well.

trey
01-21-2009, 01:29 PM
Shades of Rip Hamilton.

That was a great description of G's shot...until you brought HIM into the equation. The only thing I want them to have in common is a National Championship ring :)

Carlos
01-21-2009, 01:37 PM
This is just a tad harder to do when you are flat on your back

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJoxGpEswOI&feature=related

Yep, that shot was much tougher than this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u51znupszPw

Same dude, two incredible buzzer beaters.

shadowfax336
01-21-2009, 03:36 PM
Dang I'd seen both of those clips before but I didn't realize they were the same guy....

weezie
01-21-2009, 03:43 PM
That was a great description of G's shot...until you brought HIM into the equation. The only thing I want them to have in common is a National Championship ring :)


You're right trey, but I'm a Detroiter, too, and as much as I loathed Rip during his college experience, he did bring my city a title. And plenty of people have busted me here for being a homer. But even JJ said he "larned" a few things from watching Rip and I would venture a guess that G may have taken a few notes. ;)

jv001
01-21-2009, 03:43 PM
Brian Zoubek dunk and Lance Thomas free throw. Go Duke!

greybeard
01-21-2009, 05:10 PM
3/4 way up the lane, on the side, when you pivot into the lane, your shooting arm turns to the middle. Not possible, except maybe with an Earl Monroe spin, fake, fade and shoot. Nope, even then, not possible. One out of ten, maybe. Shot angle, line of sight is like an optical illusion, rotational force? Whatever, it is impossible and nobody with any sense even tries.

The other side of the lane, a piece of cake.

BlueintheFace
01-21-2009, 05:10 PM
The hardest shot is one you need to make to tie the game (or win from from 1 point down) with 1 second left on the clock, and I don't care where it is taken from.

just ask darius washington, formerly of memphis

Edouble
01-21-2009, 05:11 PM
I think the hardest shot is the post-up turn-around fadeaway that was Jordan's bread and butter his second go round.

OldSchool
01-21-2009, 05:52 PM
I think the hardest shot is the post-up turn-around fadeaway that was Jordan's bread and butter his second go round.

That is a very difficult shot. On Monday night Kobe hit one of those fadeaways over Lebron which can be seen in the 4th quarter ESPN highlight here:

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=290119013

However, for me the type of shot that Kobe hits next on that highlight is the hardest shot: moving laterally fairly rapidly and at the same time hitting a long jumper over a defender in your face, in this case Lebron again.

brevity
01-21-2009, 06:39 PM
Oh, I thought of one.

"Off the expressway, over the river, off the billboard, through the window, off the wall, nothing but net." (link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oACRt-Qp-s))

RainingThrees
01-21-2009, 07:10 PM
Turn around fading 3 while being double teamed in the corner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_KOPjhYQS8

or these 2 clutch shots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfB3d1FjhCc

ice-9
01-21-2009, 10:12 PM
The hardest shot is one you need to make to tie the game (or win from from 1 point down) with 1 second left on the clock, and I don't care where it is taken from.

Hmm, I'm the opposite. Those shots tend to be easiest for me...I'm so jacked to be in those situations, I feel like I run faster, jump higher, and the basket looks bigger. But maybe because I'm psycho. :cool:

For my money, the most difficult "realistic" shot is the drive to the weakside whose momentum causes you to do semi-fade away then jumpshot. Kobe makes these on a regular basis, but for everyone else, I consider it an automatic bad shot. (Especially if that person is me. :D)

trey
01-22-2009, 12:58 PM
You're right trey, but I'm a Detroiter, too, and as much as I loathed Rip during his college experience, he did bring my city a title. And plenty of people have busted me here for being a homer. But even JJ said he "larned" a few things from watching Rip and I would venture a guess that G may have taken a few notes. ;)

I don't blame you weezie, and actually, Hamilton is at least a tolerable member of the 99 UCONN team (thieves). At least you didn't compare one of our players to Khalid El-Amin.

greybeard
01-22-2009, 04:13 PM
I think the hardest shot is the post-up turn-around fadeaway that was Jordan's bread and butter his second go round.

Actually, exactly the opposite is true. It is easy and repeatable. Now, can the average player cover as much ground, get as much clearance as either of Jordan or Kobe, of course not. And, might some of us lack the overall strength to do the shot from the distance that they do, obviously yes.

But, if a shot is repeatable and reliable if performed by them it is do to the mechanics of it, the physics of it, and not to some special aptitude or skill. And, if that is so, you need only watch them, imagine what is going on in their bodies, where the weight shifts when they fake to the left, how it spins and what function the fallaway serves to steady the shot and provides a floor (if you will) to push against, and experiment. You'll figure it out sooner than you think.

By the way, I don't think that it is a coincidence that both MJ and Kobe played for the same coach in the Triangle, which was run in a manner to create room for both to maneuver off of catches in the high post, with the entire side cleared out through to the baseline. As a consequence, both had the room and many opportunities to make that go left with back to the basket, step back right, spin back left and fade away with no help impeding the move. The move takes space that is predictable. The Triangle, as the coach called for it to be utilized to post up both his stars, provides that space routinely or someone is wide open, usually at or attacking the basket.