Curious what Michael Jordan’s favorite basketball move is? Well, let me give you a hint: it’s nothing flashy or explosive.
TL;DR: Michael Jordan’s go-to move was the post-fadeaway and it was crucial to his game because it was a reliable signature move that didn’t require a lot of athleticism to do.
What is Michael Jordan’s favourite basketball move?
Is it the dunk from the free-throw line?
Is it the tongue sticking out?
How about the dunk-to-layup switch in the air?
Sorry, but neither of those is his go-to move. It’s actually the mid-range fadeaway –one of the top old man game moves.
Jordan is often known as the best finisher in the league. In all of his highlights, 95 percent of it is either him dunking on someone, or him getting hit and somehow spinning in mid-air for an open layup.
The other 5 percent is of him making legendary mid-range shots.
But the move that is done in 5 percent of the clips is what he does most often. It’s the move that he mastered over many years of practice.
And this is the move that allowed him to score in bunches in the later years of his career (and we all know how that story went).
What is Michael Jordan’s Favorite Move?
So, the entire idea for this article came from an ESPN video on Jordan’s fadeaway that I recently watched (it’s actually the video above, so give it a watch).
It talked about why Jordan developed that move, how effective it was, and how it helped him. He also talked about how Jordan evolved the mid-range fadeaway to cater to his athleticism fading away.
See what I did there?
Anywhoo, ESPN analyst Kirk Goldsberry said that in the final two seasons of his time with the Chicago Bulls, Jordan had to up his creativity to make the fadeaway more effective.
He had to add things such as the “windshield wiper” move to keep his defenders off balance.
He simply couldn’t just leap over them for the shot anymore.
But he was only able to add more to the fadeaway because he had already mastered it. And this is what I really wanted to talk about.
Importance of Mastering the Fundamentals of Basketball
If you are new to basketball, you need to practice the fundamentals and need to get really good at it.
All the fancy stuff is fun to do and cool to look at.
But what’s the point of breaking someone’s ankles just to miss a mid-range shot? Or what’s the point of juking someone with the Hakeem shake, just to brick a basic off-hand layup?
Absolutely no reason at all.
This is why you need to master the core fundamentals and then pick a move that you’re comfortable with and evolve it with your abilities and style.
And this isn’t just something you should do in basketball. You should be mastering the fundamentals of anything you want to be great at in life before getting fancy with it.
If you like to draw, master the shapes first. If you like to write, master the sentence first.
This is the only way you can become great.
Final Thoughts
Michael Jordan is one of the best scorers in NBA history (some teams even had to create rules for defending him).
But contrary to popular belief, he didn’t achieve this by posterizing everyone. Rather, he became one of the most prolific scorers by mastering an energy-efficient move –the mid-range fadeaway.
So, if you want to up your skills, learn and get really good at the fundamentals. Then, evolve it.