HoopDreams said:
Love watching Dai Dai Ames. Best handle since Randle.
One of the reasons he's so shifty and difficult to defend is how low he gets. This is high difficulty and requires a lot of strength and flexibility. If you think otherwise, just try it yourself without a ball.
This is one of the secrets of players like Kyrie, maybe the best ball handle ever
https://instagr.am/p/DVmYXvlEsFQ
HD, your thread seems to have drifted away from your original intent, which was to praise and discuss the handle of Dai Dai Ames.
I will try to troll up some responses to get back to Dai Dai's handle, and I apologize in advance if I offend anyone, because we all have our favorite players, at Cal, in the NBA, and elsewhere.
The best ball handlers I have seen at Cal would include Jason Kidd (the strongest handle), KJ of course, Bob Matheny from a little before my time, Bobby Wendell (Newell's best), Al Buch. Dick Smith and Denny Lewis(Rene's best), Charlie Johnson and Phil Chenier of the Jim Padgett era.
In the NBA, I liked the handles of Bob Cousy, KC Jones, Jerry West, Guy Rodgers, John Stockton, and Steve Nash.
Overall the best I ever saw in person were two Harlem Globetrotters, Marques Haynes, and Leon Hilliard. Attended the free SF Examiner Basketball School for kids, and Hank Luisetti (who my dad said was the best player he ever saw. Hank told introduced Leon Hilliard and challenged us kids to chase Hilliard as he put on a dribbling exhibition. He ran about 25 of us all over the gym, dribbling that basketball straight up and down, while lying on his back rolling over, and taking off, bouncing the ball between our legs, catching it and taking off again. None of us ever touched that ball. I did see the best Trotter dribbler before Leon, who was Marques Haynes, and he was every bit as good as Leon.
All of these players played in eras prior to the major rule change which changed basketball from dribbling to handling. Dribbling the ball had been controlled by requiring players when bouncing a ball off the floor, must keep their hand on top of the ball at all times. If a player put his hand below the equator of the ball, it was called carrying or palming, and was a violation, and the game was stopped and the ball was awarded to opposing team, a turnover.
That rule against palming was made to keep the dribbler from having an advantage on the defender. With the rule changed now, it makes for a more exciting game, perhaps. More scoring, and more fans buying tickets. I think the most extreme incident I have seen was Kevin Durant with the Warriors, where I saw him during a dribble, put his right hand under the ball, passed the ball behind his back to his left hand, and drove to the basket for a layup, leaving his defender in the dust.
I guess Tim Hardaway was the first or best example of using the new rule, or rather having no rule about palming anymore. He was high skilled in developing new crossover moves. Now everyone does it. I've little kids barely able to reach the rim with a shot practicing their handles. It is a new world. I wonder how Jorge the defender was able to defend these handlers, but he did.
I don't watch modern basketball much now, but I would say Dai Dai has an excellent handle, as good as we have seen at Cal, IMO. I don't much like the way he plays, because the game stops when he gets the ball in the key. He dribbles right and left, forward and backward, until he finally gets an edge. He is very effective. He has a great fade away shot, and a very good three point shot. But when he gets the ball, it slows the game down. His teammates stand around and watch, while he works his magic. I don't know if Madsen coaches the team this way, for his teammates to get him the ball and then stand around and watch his magic. I prefer a faster moving game, or at least a game where more players get involved. Ames is a very capable passer, and I'd like to see Madsen let him do more of that. Run some two man plays, at least. We have other skilled one-on-one players on this team. But I think they would have been a more dangerous team if they ran less one-on-one. Madsen needs to recruit some facilitators. He has not landed one yet. Jaylon Tyson could have been that guy, but we needed his scoring.
SFCityBear
