Hey, Ballers: Your Hair Is In the Way

Time to head to the barber? A recently posted YouTube video shows plenty of examples of NBA players with big hair struggling to shoot the ball.

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Complex Original

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Dylan Ward was just a regular basketball fan when he was watching Duke win the NCAA Tournament last year.

As the Blue Devils made their run to the national championship, he noticed what he felt was an awkward motion in swingman Justise Winslow’s shot. All of a sudden, he came to a startling realization: Winslow’s afro might be in the way, causing a less-than-desirable form.

“I saw that he shot over his afro, and I saw how he extended his arms high,” says the 24-year-old Ward. “It’s a really unnatural motion for shooting. And I thought he wouldn’t be able to shoot well from a deeper line, and this year [In the NBA with the Heat] he shot horribly.”

Ward’s took his hypothesis to YouTube on Tuesday by debuting his first video, sparking over 240 comments on the site.

 

In the nearly 12-minute video, Ward shows film of several NBA and college players shooting, and argues that proper shooting form requires most players to shoot from their hairline. This, according to Ward, is difficult with larger hairstyles.

The video cites players like Marcus Smart, who have experienced a downtick in shooting percentage since growing out their hair. When he had shorter hair as a rookie, Smart shot 36.7 percent from the field and 33.5 percent from 3-point range. But once he sported a mohawk this year, those percentages fell to 34.8 and 25.3, respectively.

“I’ve gotten a lot of responses, because when something is so plain, common sense is right in your face, and you don’t see it, you’re like ‘no way,’” says Ward. “You want to deny it. But sometimes that happens."

Ward, a Lakers fan, said the goal of this video was to bring his hypothesis to Duke star Brandon Ingram’s attention ahead of his Tuesday workout with the Lakers. Los Angeles has the second overall pick in this year’s draft, and barring a breakdown of Laremy Tunsil-esque proportions, he is expected be taken after Ben Simmons.

“I’ve been noticing how low [Ingram’s] form is,” says Ward. “He’s [6’9”] and he has problems shooting over people sometimes. So I had this theory and I wanted to get it out as soon as possible, so I played around with [the video] for a week.”

Despite this general rule, Ward said there are some exceptions. James Harden, for example, made the third-most threes in the NBA this year despite having rather large hair.

“The thing about it is there are some workarounds,” says Ward. “And I didn’t want to make the video 15 or 20 minutes, but there is a group of players, a minority who can work around it, but they still have some technical issues with their shot. James Harden has a head tilt. I have videos of his head tilt and he uses this tilt to get out of the way of the ball. It’s a bad technique that you wouldn’t want to teach to anyone else, but he does it. And that’s what enables him.”

In order to avoid this type of form, Ward said he would implement a military-style haircut policy on any team that he coached.

“I think that’s the right way to go,” says Ward. “I mean I know today’s such a vain type of world where everyone wants to look their best, but NBA players got millions still want to look the best with their hair? That’s why I just say grow a beard then.”

Ward said he played high school ball at John Burroughs High School in Burbank, Calif. before playing briefly at Glendale Community College in the Golden State. He said he works with high school players on a part-time basis, ironing out the fundamentals of their jump shots. And if his viral video brings him attention to the NBA as a shot coach, he’ll be one step closer to his dream job.

“I definitely think I can do it,” says Ward. “I mean I have a few tricks up my sleeve actually.”

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