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So I dont really watch bball too much but I come back to clips of this guy because he just moves so beautifully. I really love the super bouncy from all angles kind of players and D Rose is the perfect example. I think with my continuing to play ultimate, i want to embody at least a little bit of the spirt of his style. So this is an analysis of what qualities he presents and how I believe one could go about training them.
A - leg flexibility and rebound: think the main things are his ludicrous flexibility of the groin and hamstrings and the ankles (supination and pronation). And then, at those extreme angles of flexibility, his force absorption and rebound is pretty extreme as well.
-as far as hamstrings go, during his accelerations he has this tremendous body lean but his thigh still goes parallel to the ground and often theres a lot of knee extension involved as well. Its like hes able to start his acceleration with top speed mechanics due to his ludicrous bounce. >> training for this would involve hamstring stretching, force production at full hamstring extension, and training hip force absorption rebound at similar angles.
-groin flexibility and very strong force absorption/rebound at that exaggerated side split leg angle. He's able to accelerate hard out of that position. >> training is pretty similar here as with hamstrings -> flexible groin and hip stability/force absorption+rebound at that side split angle.
-ankles!! He often comes to dead stops with this step into the midline of the body and his ankle becomes incredibly pronated at that time >> so ankle flexibility, stability at pronated ankle angles and groin and hip force absorption.
B- balance and this kind of really creative reactive footwork to adjust to many situations. He has some well established movement patterns that he uses frequently BUT he also mixes it up a lot and is seemingly able to generate a lot of force out of so many different positions.
- i think his balance comes partially from his upper body posture being really neutral - shoulders very low and back and his head juts out only a little bit. (EDIT: comparing his posture to others: even amongst those with good upper body posture, his is exceptional, almost like a gymnast) This might allow him to move better multi-directionally because his body isnt weighed down forward because of forward shoulders or forward head posture >> so really thorough upper cross posture correction.
-hes really good at adjusting where he steps so hes never off balance. >> this is tough to train but i think moving through maze-like cone arrangements can improve someones dynamic decision making in regard to how footwork is used. A component to react to to bolster the step decision making could also be helpful.
C- bounce! Hes super tendon dominant and seems to move in a way thats very reliant on stretch reflex.
- so again, extreme hip stability because i think all the movements hes making originate from the hips and before that bounce motion can happen the hips first have to stabilize : absorb momentum before he can redirect it >> glute strengthening, assigning extra priority to glute medius and minimus for stabilizing laterally. Then plyos of all sorts, so the stabilization can happen dynamically.
-and then the bounce component >> plyos of all sorts to be able to explode out of the stable plant generated by the hips.
D redirecting momentum on sharp curves. One second hes moving forward, next second he makes this sharp curve type of movement - but he seems to keep all the momentum as if he were running in a straight line!! >> back to point A about groin and abductor extreme angles, as well as having the balance and step precision to make that follow through possible as well as having muscular strength in undertrained/unconventional areas and correct movement pattern to make it possible ( I feel like this is the toughest part, but I played ultimate with someone with a similar capability so I know its possible), the maze like run-throughs could help here too, adding in a serpentine component.
E - and hes also pretty light i suppose. So only lean muscle with no excess maybe except in areas where there needs to be stability.
So - extreme stability and flexibility in the hips, staying balanced while employing smart and quick footwork adjustments and enough tendon stiffness to explode into the next step. Im going to write up a more specific plan/schedule to achieve these goals. I imagine it would take a while, especially the footwork and building up tendon stiffness. It needs to be done super carefully.