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    Did Kareem really pick up the sky hook from a Filipino player?

    In an NBA 2K event, the Lakers great speaks about the origin of his unstoppable sky hook
    Aug 20, 2021

    DID Kareem Abdul-Jabbar really pick up his sky hook from a Filipino player before carving out a legendary career of his own?

    Urban legends in the country indicate so, with all signs pointing to former La Salle star and national player Kurt Bachmann, Jr.

    The Iloilo City-born baller suited up for the national team in the 1960 Rome Olympics and was known for his lethal hook shot which rightfully earned him the moniker "Mr. Hookshot."

    Bachmann, of course, is the father of former La Salle center and PBA player Dickie Bachmann, who is currently PBA board treasurer and Alaska team governor.

    The book Legends and Heroes of Philippine Basketball by Christian Bocobo and the late Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist Beth Celis touched on this story.

    "Legend had it that Lew Alcindor (later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), the world-famous American player from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) who would later have an illustrious career in the US National Basketball Association, learned of a Filipino player with the unique hookshot, obviously referring to Bachmann, and decided to make it his top offensive weapon, too," the book read.

    Abdul-Jabbar made the hook shot his biggest weapon on the way to winning six NBA championships, six NBA MVP awards, and becoming the league's career leader in all-time points scored with 38,387.

    In a recent interview organized by NBA 2K, Abdul-Jabbar talked about his patented shot.

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    "I learned how to shoot the skyhook by doing the George Mikan drill while I was still in grade school, starting in grade 5, 6, 7 and 8. That’s all I did, work on the George Mikan drill," said the 74-year-old Lakers great.

    "It gave me a great ability to shoot the ball with either hand around the basket and to use the glass with good footwork. It’s a really solid drill and I would recommend it to anybody who wants to be capable around the basket."

    Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

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    Like Abdul-Jabbar, Bachmann's knowledge of the hookshot also came from his elders.

    If Kareem studied George Mikan, Kurt got it from La Salle coach Rogelio Lao who "earlier viewed a 16mm basketball film featuring Bob Cousy and was impressed by action shots that involved the hookshot."

    Both used it to succeed in their respective basketball careers.

    With the hookshot his main weapon, Abdul-Jabbar enjoyed a 20-year NBA career with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers.

    Bachmann also had a solid career during his time between YCO and Ysmael Steel in the defunct MICAA.

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      That's why Kareem urged players, whether they be bigs or guards, to learn the move, saying, "I can tell them that the skyhook is very useful in countering the double team. When you can get double team and you’re threatening with the skyhook, the quick pass to the man who has been left alone gets that man a wide-open shot. So either you will get a good shot or the man who comes from the double team will get a wide-open shot, and that’s a good way to play the game."

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      Though Abdul-Jabbar's had a different take on the sky hook's origin, he admitted that he has fond memories of his visits in the Philippines back in the 1980s.

      "My trip to the Philippines was great and I got a chance to go up to the Clark Air Force base and the American troops up there and say hi and that was fun," said Abdul-Jabbar, who is one of the featured cover athletes for the NBA 2K22 legend edition alongside Kevin Durant and Dirk Nowitzki.

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      Abdul-Jabbar's image was also featured on a local newspaper advertisement for Magnolia Long Life milk as he got a chance to soak in the atmosphere in his visit in the country four decades back.

      "Just watching the game, I never realized how many people in the Philippines played basketball. And everywhere they put up makeshift baskets if they couldn’t put up official ones. They’d make them out of cardboard and tin cans and wooden frames and put them up in the alleys of the barrios and play basketball there. It’s quite neat to see how that game has caught on," he said.

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