ARE PBA rookies jumping higher than NBA players nowadays?
That question was posed after hoops fans questioned the results of the running vertical jump during the 2024 PBA Draft Combine that saw eventual Terrafirma first-round pick Mark Nonoy leap highest with a 53-inch max vertical.
Fans were quick to notice that his official jump measurement was higher than even that of NBA high-flyers. Unofficial accounts put “His Airness” Michael Jordan on top of that list in the NBA with a 48-inch max vertical.
READ Mark Nonoy turns heads in PBA Combine Day 1
Officially, the NBA Draft Combine record belongs to current Brooklyn Nets guard Keon Johnson, who registered a 48-inch max vertical in 2021, breaking a two-decade-old record held by Kenny Gregory, who had a 45.5 max vertical in 2001.
In the 2024 NBA Draft combine, the max vertical was 42 inches registered by four rookie applicants, including eventual third overall pick by the Houston Rockets in Reed Sheppard, a Kentucky point guard who officially stands 6’1.75”.
Over the years, some rookie aspirants, including noted high-flyers, were absent from the Combine due to different reasons. So there is a chance you can’t tell who the highest leaper really was for a certain year.
After being asked about it, PBA deputy commissioner Eric Castro requested a review of the results tallied by the group from the UP Diliman College of Human Kinetics that conducted the Combine tests.
UP Department of Sports Science assistant professor Emmanuel Papa, the lead coach that conducted the testing, didn’t take long to send a letter admitting an error in the results, saying Nonoy's jump should’ve been 10 inches lower, making it officially 43 inches.
That put Rain or Shine second-round pick Mike Malonzo instead on top of the running vertical jump list with a 51-inch vertical.
Is the error confined to Nonoy measurement?
If the value is confirmed, Malonzo's max vertical is still impressively three inches higher than Johnson's. Papa didn't say.
An apologetic Papa explained in the letter how the UP group comes up with the measurement, explaining that they subtract the standing reach value from the running jump reach value.
So is there a difference in how the measurement is done by the UP College of Human Kinetics and the NBA?
Papa has yet to respond to SPIN.ph when asked to expound on the matter.
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