Charles Barkley never truly had a signature move on the offensive end of the floor. In all fairness, he didn’t need one given his all-around skillset. However, this doesn’t mean that he never tried to incorporate one such move like this into his repertoire. Unfortunately for him, he simply couldn’t grasp the concept of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s iconic ‘skyhook’.
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“I tried that [skyhook] and the jump hook but I could never do it right,” said Chuck in response to Ernie Johnson’s question on ‘The Steam Room’. Perhaps it was his stocky frame that didn’t allow for this level of finesse to truly be imbued within him.
Houston Rockets executive at the time, Carroll Dawson, even tried teaching Barkley the move but to no avail. “I could never get it right. It drove me crazy. I have never shot a jump hook or a skyhook in my life.”
Chuck wasn’t someone who ‘desperately’ needed to learn this move. While it certainly would’ve added another layer to his offensive game, he was more ‘brute force’ and post-work when it came to getting buckets.
He earned the nickname ‘Round Mound of Rebound’ due to the way he played. He was a freight train on the fast break, backed down centers much taller than him leading to an easy bucket at the rim, and if need be, had a 6-foot floater in his bag that he could rely on. Of course, his willingness to grab offensive rebounds for putbacks also helped in him increasing his scoring averages.
Kareem on why others haven’t adopted the skyhook in the modern NBA
The skyhook is perhaps the most iconic signature move across the history of the NBA. The combination of it being incredibly efficient along with it being attached to someone as legendary as Kareem led to it becoming a staple in the league when it came to opposing defenses scouting for what to limit when facing his team.
With how un-guardable that move can be if done accurately, especially by a 7-footer, it’s interesting to see nobody in today’s NBA try to adopt it as their own. Kareem gave his two cents on the matter a couple years ago.
“The way I shot it was peculiar to me. If you learn the drill and get the ambidexterity- when you learn how to use the backboard and learn to use either hand, then you work on how it responds to your physique and your athletic ability. The guys teaching the game to young kids now don’t seem to understand that.”
There’s simply more to mastering he skyhook than just chucking the ball into the air and hoping it swishes through the net. ‘Kap’ understood this and made sure to work tirelessly to perfect it. The modern NBA’s players have so many other offensive skills they can work on that they’ve seen on social media that a move made 50 years ago might just not be enticing enough for them to learn.
