Ivica Zubac excited Lakers fans with his hook shot last season, and he could be the perfect student to learn Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s skyhook.
It was news enough when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar recently told Mark Medina of the Orange County Register that he might return to the Los Angeles Lakers in an unspecified role. Something he hinted at doing in that role is what caught my attention.
The Hall-of-Famer suggested he might work with Ivica Zubac on the skyhook.
*Swoons.*
"“He’s equipped to use it well,” Abdul-Jabbar said of Zubac. “He has the length to begin with. If he can develop his shooting touch and agility, he’ll use it well.”Medina notes that Abdul-Jabbar mastered the skyhook partly because the NCAA temporarily banned the dunk."
The skyhook is not new to Zubac. Lakers fans saw glimpses of it last season. The rookie center, between stints in the D-League, improved the look by working with Lakers consultant Bill Bertka. Taking it to the next level is where hard work and Kareem’s mentorship come in.
No shot in NBA history is more rudimentary and majestic than the skyhook. It starts slow, like the first few movements of a dance, post player and post defender locked in step. The magic comes after the release, the ball arching through the air, teasing outstretched arms below, before parachuting down through the net.
There are a lot of old-fashioned things going on in this video, and if you can, ignore most of them—the short shorts, the ankle socks, the swimming-looking goggles. What this video really shows is a big man with his back to the basket—unheard of in today’s NBA (ask Kelly Oubre about short shorts). As the post-up game is slowly revolutionized out of the game, the hook shot, or the skyhook, offers a link to the past, an efficient shot close to the bucket.
The skyhook starts with an entry pass to the post. Kareem liked to collect the ball with his back to the basket around the block. He would take a few dribbles to find his spot before making his move, like the Nike swoosh, a sweeping motion, his right arm raised high in the air as a trailing mark that the shot had been unleashed.
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Standing a few inches over seven feet tall, it was hard enough to block Kareem; blocking his skyhook was damn near impossible. Which is why it is surprising that we haven’t seen more players over history try to use the shot. Sure, Magic Johnson flashed a famous “baby hook” and a few others have sprinkled their own version of it here and there, but we haven’t seen another player feature it.
Like underhanded free throws, the practicality of the skyhook is outweighed by the appeal for normalcy.
Can Ivica Zubac save the skyhook?
There are several NBA players who currently employ a regular hook shot. Andre Drummond and Karl-Anthony Towns the most notable. Zubac has a long way to go before he can score the basketball like those two, but he does possess a natural skill that makes the hook shot, and particularly the skyhook, an attractive option for him. Just like Kareem, Zubac is ambidextrous. He can shoot the hook with either his right or left hand.
With his right hand:
With his left hand:
Being able to shoot with both hands, Zubac can turn his post game into an efficient enough option for it to work even in today’s threes-and-layups league.
First and foremost, it opens up both sides of the floor for Zubac to receive an entry pass. Defend him on the right block, think you have him covered from driving inside, and he’ll turnaround and swish a bucket from the baseline. Think he can’t do the same thing on the left block, and he’ll prove you wrong; then switch hands to make it even harder to defend.
For Zubac, the key is learning how to turn away from the baseline more often. From the right block, turning toward the baseline, using his right hand, he is very effective (highlighted above in green). I charted each of Zubac’s shot attempts from last season that were categorized as “turnaround hooks” by grouping them in terms of where the play started, which direction he turned, and which hand he used (graphic above).
Considering his dexterity, you would think Zubac would have utilized the left block more often. It seems he doesn’t trust his left hand as much on turnaround hooks, so his patented baseline hook from the right block gets lost on the left side.
This is where the skyhook could help his game.
On both sides of the court, Zubac would benefit from mastering a hook shot that has him turn away from the baseline. As the video highlights (above), the seven-foot rookie gets himself into trouble by favoring the baseline turn. He needs to use his dexterity to turn into the paint and hook with his left hand on the right block; and master the technique for making the same move, shooting with his right hand, on the left block.
In other words, he needs the skyhook!
Excluding dunks, tips and layups, hook shots accounted for nearly one third of Zubac’s shot attempts last season. He shot 50 percent on those shots (24-for-48), including 46.7 percent on turnaround hooks, the skyhook derivative. There is room for improvement there. As a lofty comparison, Karl-Anthony Towns shot nearly 61 percent on hook shots; and relative to the 50 NBA players who attempted at least 45 hooks last season, Zubac ranks right in the middle at 26th.
The shot volume will never be at the level of a star like Towns, but with his ambidexterity, there is no reason why Zubac can’t be at the top of the league in mastering the hook, making him an efficient offensive option in small samples.
Next: 2017 NBA Mock Draft: Post-Lottery edition
It seems like a successful recipe for Zubac and he has the best mentor in the world to help him.