Dunk Dictionary - Beginner Level

Part 1 of 5

Introducing the Dunk Dictionary

Hey everyone! It has been a few weeks since I last wrote! Dunk life has not ceased! I am still pushing towards my first dunk off self lob (I have gotten really close several times) and my first two-hand dunk (going to take more time).

In the coming weeks, I will probably keep things relatively short and sweet. You see, while I have not been writing, I have been hard at work creating what I call the Dunk Dictionary! Most people in the world, (that have seen a basketball game), are familiar with what a dunk is. However, when you get to higher levels of dunking you start to get special dunks that the everyday basketball fan will never have heard of.

You have all sorts of crazy dunks- eastbay, inverter, “J-Rich”, scorpion, kamikaze, tomahawk, tomalah, slingshot, venom, and the list goes on and on. My goal here is to catalog these dunks so that you too can know what dunk your favorite dunker just hit in the upcoming 2028 Los Angeles Olympics! (Just kidding, but it would be cool if dunking became an Olympic sport).

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Dunk Levels

In the past I introduced something called “Dunk Levels”. The Dunk Levels were established by The Dunk Camp as a formal progression of dunking as a sport. It catalogs different dunks to complete on different heights of rims that are similar to belts in martial arts. The dunk levels from Beginner to Elite can be seen below:

Beginner and Intermediate level dunks

Advanced and Elite level dunks

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Putting In Some “Foot”work

For clarification, the dunk levels have distinctions that indicate 1H or 2H, or at times designate 1F or 2F. Those translate as follows:

• 1H = 1 Hand Finish

• 2H = 2 Hand Finish

• 1F = 1 Foot Jump

• 2F = 2 Foot Jump

The reason for the distinction is two-fold: 1. dunking with two hands generally requires you to jump higher and can present an additional challenge to any trick dunk, and 2. the jump technique between jumping off of one foot is vastly different than jumping off of two feet.

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Beginner Level Dunks

With all of the preamble out of the way, let’s look at some beginner level dunks!

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Off Dribble

1 Foot 1 Hand Off Dribble

1 foot 1 hand dunk off dribble - Stephen Curry

2 Foot 1 Hand Off Dribble

2 foot 1 hand dunk off dribble - Steven Celi

Off Lob

2 Foot 1 Hand Off Lob¹

2 foot 1 hand dunk off lob - Shaquille O’Neal

1 Foot 1 Hand Off Lob

1 foot 1 hand dunk off lob - Jalen Green

Off Backboard

2 Foot 2 Hand Off Backboard

2 foot 2 hands off backboard - Gerald Green

1 Foot 2 Hand Off Backboard

1 foot 2 hands off backboard - Jordan Bell

Self Bounce

2 foot 2 hands off self bounce - Jahii Carson

1 foot 1 hand off self bounce - Werm

180/Reverse

1 foot 1 hand 180 (Reverse) - Dallon Findlay

2 foot 2 hands 180 (Reverse) - Kobe Bryant

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Training Update

I feel like I am wearing the cone of dunking shame latley.

These last few weeks have been brutal for training. I am patiently working through some load management cycles with low volumes of lifts and tendon-pain guided jump sessions two days a week. It just stinks to still be dealing with my nagging AC joint pain and some lingering knee pain. Add to that the difficulties of being first-time home owner and trying to be a good husband and father, and I feel cooked!

I keep wanting to bring new videos of my jump training to you, the faithful readers, of my journey. I haven’t gotten back to that, and so I want to commit to having something the next time we talk again! Good talk! Happy jumping! How is everyone progressing towards their goals?

1. Lob- a pass thrown high into the air to a receiving player, usually finished with a dunk by the receiving player.