<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Forward Jermaine O'Neal entered the season averaging 2.4 blocks in his career with the Indiana Pacers. That's fine, but he knew he'd have to increase that number if he expected to be named to the league's All-Defensive team for the first time in his career. O'Neal, who spent the summer in Indianapolis working out with the team's training staff, spent part of the offseason looking at a tape of Hakeem Olajuwon, a 12-time All-Star who was a force in the paint, that older brother Clifford gave him. The average basketball fan may not notice the difference, but what caught O'Neal's eye about Olajuwon helped him block more shots. Olajuwon started his shot blocking motion with his hand up. O'Neal routinely started his motion with arm down by his side. "Simple hand placement," O'Neal said. "The difference between a guy getting a shot off and you blocking a shot is merely a second. That's a difference from you having to come from your waist to up high. It makes it easier to block a shot when your hand is already up." O'Neal has stuck by his preseason pledge to shift his focus from offense to defense. He is leading the league in blocks at 3.0 per game. He has had nine games of at least four blocks, including a high of eight at Milwaukee on Nov. 18. "It's nice when you have somebody playing behind you that's going to be there protecting the paint," forward Danny Granger said earlier this season. The Pacers have needed O'Neal's help on the weak side because they've struggled at times stopping dribble penetration. "I'm certainly pleased he's blocking a lot of shots," coach Rick Carlisle said. "If our perimeter defense was better, it would make it easier on him in terms of his responsibilities around the basket and less prone to foul situations." O'Neal said he thinks more than half of his blocks have come from sliding over and helping. "We talk about it all the time, making a guy drive and pick the ball up. When he picks the ball up, that allows me to come over and block the shot because there's no way he can get it off once he picks it up because he doesn't see me," O'Neal said. "The only other thing he can do is try to dump the ball off to a teammate." Shot blockers face two risks when contesting shots: showing up on television highlight reels after being embarrassed by an opponent's strong move and getting into foul trouble. O'Neal can live with getting dunked on because it's part of the game, but picking up fouls is a different story. He has fouled out only once and had just four games where he has had five fouls. O'Neal credits the work he did in the summer to help his conditioning, agility and core strength to avoid foul trouble.</div> Source
That was a good read, especially helpful for me, as I'm trying to work on my shot blocking myself, so i'll try this technique once we get back into our regular season.
Well I got the chance to try this technique out today, let me say, very effective, I was only playing pickup against a couple of my friends, but against one of my friends, he put up about 13 shots (one vs. one), and I blocked about 11 of them (usually only get 1-2) and against my other friend I blocked about 2 of 5. Cant wait to try this in a game situation
