Michael Jordan’s jumpshot was poetry in motion.
Arguably the most deadly shot in basketball history, MJ’s mid-range jumper was an effortless work of art that powered the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships.
‘Air Jordan’ had his signature shot down to an exact science.
Everything, from the positioning of his feet, to the alignment of his body, the extension of his legs, the flick of the wrist, and the arc of the ball was pure perfection, resulting in bucket after bucket.
That, combined with his raw athleticism and slashing ability, made MJ an unstoppable force from anywhere inside the arc.
The ten-time scoring champion averaged 30.1 points per game during his career on an impressive 49.7 percent from the field.
His efficiency and accuracy were near unprecedented, resulting in many an iconic game-winning moment, from ‘The Shot’ against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 1989 playoffs to his final ever shot as a Bull – a 20-foot jumper in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz to clinch his sixth world title.
Jordan wasn’t just blessed with a God-given talent for getting buckets.
His mid-range required hours upon hours of practice and refining so that come game time, it was automatic.
In rare throwback footage, ‘Air Jordan’ revealed that the only reason he took the shot so much was because the opposition defense allowed him to do it.
He described how his shooting only improved because defenses started playing him differently, encouraging him to attack more and go to his patented move.
“My shooting improved mainly because defenders started to play me differently,” the NBA GOAT said.
“Once I created an aggressive driving motion to the basket, the defenders started to play off me, which forced me into taking that shot and being effective with that shot.
“So I started working on it more and more because that’s exactly what the defense was giving me.
“So as an offensive player, sometimes you have to just revert back to just taking what the defense is giving you.
“You don’t always have to force the issue. The defense is going to give you some weak points or some points you have to attack. And when those points show up, you should attack.
“You should attack with confidence that you can force them into doing other things.
“If the defense is going to give me an offensive shot or jump shot, I should take that shot and force the defense to come out and play me a little close, which opens up other options from an offensive standpoint.”
In the same interview, Jordan revealed how a practice of visualization and repetition made him a better shooter.
Specifically, he advised players to practise shooting while laying in bed at night.
“When you’re laying at home at night and you’re really bored, take your basketball which you’re probably sleeping with if you’re a basketball player, and shoot straight up,” he said.
“Lay your head on the pillow, shoot it straight up, and try to have the basketball come back on your nose. If you can do that and do it with some consistency, then you get the current form of a shot, not just a free throw, a shot in general, and the best way to do that is take it and finish it.”
Another secret to Jordan’s scoring prowess was his gigantic hands.
Listed at 6ft 6in, MJ was not especially tall, especially during an era of dominated by veritable 7-footers like Patrick Ewing and Shaquille O’Neal.
But what set Jordan apart from his rivals were his massive hands, which allowed him to manipulate the ball at will on offense and become a certified steal machine on defense.
Jordan’s hand length is listed at 9.75 inches while his hand span is 11.37 inches. To put that into perspective, that would be normal for someone around 7ft 9in. The average hand length for someone Jordan’s size is about 8.7 inches.
NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain, for example, was listed at 7ft 1in and had smaller hands than Jordan, despite the fact he was over seven inches taller.
According to Jordan, his enormous hands and wide thumb gave him a supreme advantage over his contemporaries.
“Well, I have a wide thumb, away from my finger which gives me the grip for grabbing the ball and being able to move the ball,” the Chicago Bulls legend told Gene Siskel in 1996.
“That’s like having a paintbrush and being able to create. If you can move the ball and move your instrument, to the extent that it’s pretty different in this game.
“I have very long fingers. I can sense a good shot and a bad shot. If it comes off these three fingers (thumb, index, and middle fingers) I feel very good about the shot. If it comes off these two, (ring and little finger), then my mechanics got screwed up somewhere.”
