There's no doubt: Derrick Rose dunks like crazy. The 20-year old Chicago Bulls point guard who is only 6-foot-2½ (not 6'3'' as in this NBA profile), is - arguably - the most athletic point guard in the NBA!
Rose, the #1 NBA Draft Pick of 2008 is a tremendous leaper: he can get his head at rim level with no problem. Rose's athleticism is almost scary: In 2005 he participated at the NIKE Boys Elite Skills Academy in Beaverton, alongside 17 of the nation's finest high school basketball players. There boys underwent a specific test called SPARQ (an acronym for Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction and Quickness). The results were quite interesting:
The, at that time 16-year old Rose finished second behind Brandan Wright (right, who?). Rose recorded the fastest 20-meter dash (2.65 s!), the longest power ball throw (69 feet), shined in the Compass Drill (6.19 s) and also had the highest one-step vertical jump at 38.6 -at 16!
Then, three years later, during the physical testing in the Orlando pre-draft camp in summer of 2008, Rose showed off a 40-inch vertical . So, there is no question Derrick Rose can jump. You might remember his sick reverse-dunk in the 2009 All-Star-Game Skills Challenge that he - by the way - won with ease. How about his alley-oop-dunk against the Sixers? Or his facial on Leandro Barbosa?
Now, if you want to jump higher, it's important to include three important elements in your workout: weight training, plyometrics and stretching. For weight training, try the exercise called Back Squat. The important point here is not the amount of repetitions but how fast you can move the weight. A good plyometric exercise is the Squat Jump: place your hands on the ground, between the legs. Now jump as high as you can and as soon as you land jump back in the air. Then stretch your quads (Google up "standing quad stretch").
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