[MalcolmxParticipant]

 Marshall tested with a 37 inch vert and is listed as having an 8 foot standing reach.Maximum vert reach would be 11 feet and 1 inch. I find it hard to believe Marshall gets up that high.It never appeared like it in the game I swear. Last year I heard a few guys numbers were plugged in wrong online also.Do you all think Kendall is that bouncy?

[WizardofOzParticipant]

"Do you all think Kendall is that bouncy?"

No, at least in-game. Just watch the games and you’ll see he’s not.

[MalcolmxParticipant]

 I never felt he was bouncy at all. that is why im so surprised by that testing. I don’t want to hate. but it has to be wrong

[UNCbasketballbumParticipant]

No, Kendall is not that bouncy.  Never seen him dunk in a game before.  Athletic testing in a closed gym are not an accurate indication of game athleticism.  Kendall doesn’t beat you with athleticism, but with his passing and smarts.

[FastAndFuriousParticipant]

 It’s a difference between having athleticism mixed with explosion and being athletic, he probably can jump that high while testing, but he isn’t explosive so in a game it wouldn’t translate.

Look at Nick Young he has a 40 inch Vertical but he rarely dunks on people, Westbrook who is about 3 inches shorter and has 7 inches less on his vert dunks on people all the time….Why? Because he is explosive.

[KDThunder35Participant]

 Exactly, there is in the game athleticism where people are explosive and not AFRAID of contact (ie Westbrook and D Rose). 

I remeber OJ Mayo testing higher on the vertical combine test than D Rose, but how many more highlight dunks does D Rose have compared to Mayo?  It isn’t even close.

[PureshooterParticipant]

Max vert testing allows you a chance to gather and get up as high as you can using your legs and arms to jump as high as possible.  When you go up with the ball in your hands you lose that arm swing, and rarely do you have much time to gather yourself in games. 

[surveParticipant]

 He is not a bad leaper off two feet but as FaF said, he has no explosiveness.  If he did, he would be able to dunk all kinds of ways because he is tall and has decent arm length.  If he dunks in the NBA it likely will be off two feet.  I have seen him do one-handers and two-handers, but always two-footed.

[DolanCareParticipant]

 I agree with everyone above. If you want to dunk in a game you need to be able to leave the ground quickly. Also known as being explosive. 

[Malik-UniversalParticipant]

 no matter what u test in those combines…. if u cant duplicate it in a game then who cares what ur numbers came out to be… now is kendall marshall a bad athlete because he isnt explosive?? of course not… hes in the nba… the guy is a great athlete compared to ur average pick up bball player…. he doesnt have bounce and he doesnt need it…. hes gotten this far due to his skill set

[Malik-UniversalParticipant]

 like i dont get when ppl say steve nash is unathletic….. how?? hes in the nba where hes going against the best athletes in the world…. nba standards hes just an average athlete… but compared to u and me or ur average joe hes superman almost

[TallmanNYCParticipant]

I think he short-armed the standing reach a bit. I think if you are 6′ 4.25" in shoes and have a 6’5.5" wingspan, you should be able to reach 8′ 1" if you really stretch up. Since they measure from your standing reach number to what you touch in the jump test, a lower standing reach helps your hops number. I know some guys are doing that. Kendall’s teammage Tyler Zeller did that because there is no way a 7-footer with a 7-foot wingspan only touches only 8′ 8.5" with a standing reach. He obviously wasn’t stretching up. Who does he think he is fooling? But it got him a respectable 34 inch vert which he wouldn’t have gotten if he had touched 8′ 11".

That’s my explanation. Also maybe Kendall really worked on his jump technique. He is a smart guy. A lot of these players don’t really work on their combine skills, they just figure their athleticism is good enough. But you can improve on any test with practice even athleticism tests. I bet Kendall put in time on jump test, duplicating the whole thing with the vertical test apparatus and everything.

[TallmanNYCParticipant]

I just looked up guys with 6′ 6.5" wingspans and who are around Kendals 6.4.25" in shoes height. I’m seeing guys who reached 8′ 3.5", 8′ 2.5", 8′ 4". Yep, that is making me pretty darn sure he short armed the reach test.

But still a 35" vertical is pretty damn good for a guy who isn’t supposed to be athletic. I guarantee that very few of the PGs in the league who are over the age of 30 can still jump like that.

[TMoney617Participant]

Yea but you also have to account for how long his head and neck are and how wide his shoulders are because that can negate the part of your standing reach that comes from your wingspan.

[Malik-UniversalParticipant]

 im 6’2.5” with shoes on and got a 7’11” standing reach with shoes to with a 6’2” armspan…. 

is that good? lol…. i honestly dont know 

[TallmanNYCParticipant]

Malik, your standing reach is terrible for an NBA player. But your wingspan is also short for an NBA player. Most of them have a wingspan that it is at least 2" wider than their height in shoes. 

TMoney, I guess you are saying that he might have a really long neck and big head, so I shouldn’t be comparing him to the 6′ 4.25" guys, I should be comparing him to the 6′ 2" guys. But really even the 6′ 2" guys seem to all reach higher than 8′. Maybe Marshall has a long neck and big head and super wide shoulders. So he measures taller than one would expect but the reach doesn’t start at the top of your head, it starts at the shoulders and his big wingspan doesn’t translate into a high reach because a lot of that wingspan is due to super wide shoulders which he can’t turn totally vertical to get maximum reach. 

I suspect that it is that he just didn’t go all out stretching on the reach test so he could look more athletic when the vertical jump test came. He knew no one was going to say (at 6′ 4") that he was too short to play PG. He has height to burn for the PG spot and as the college assist leader obviously no need to try to reach for a SG spot. But if he could game the jump test, I think it makes sense that he does. I bet it helped him to throw up a vertical number that got all of our attention and still has us talking about it. I suspect the scouts were talking about it as well. 

[Malik-UniversalParticipant]

ahhahaha i knew it… i have a pretty long neck myself…. but thanks for responding

[JoeWolf1]

 It’s way easier to get off the ground without the ball.  Plain and simple, if your not long armed and can’t palm the ball super well, you’re much more explosive without the ball. 

Malik, you’re pretty much the exact same size as I am.  By NBA standards we are T-Rex’s, but in reality compared to the world population, having the same arm span as your height is normal.

[Author]

Posts