John Lennon was a really great musician/songwriter. But it turns out that he wasn't very good at shooting a basketball, as a video of him and Miles Davis reveals. Vulture turned up the clip, which shows the two legends hanging out, shooting hoops, and generally being cool cats. I decided to break down Lennon's shot frame-by-frame so that future generations could learn from the man's mistakes.
Notice Lennon's decision to hold the ball to his chest pre-shot, with one hand on each side. Not exactly a deal-breaker, but pretty close.
Is he getting ready to go granny-style here? Channeling Wilt the Stilt?
Nope! Back to his chest. It's hard to tell, because the video quality isn't great, but it appears he might have a cigarette in his mouth.
Here it comes...
Yeah. It's as bad as we feared: the classic two-handed push-shot. This represents everything that a proper basketball shot isn't: straight arms, no control, no arc.
You can't see the result here, but rest assured: the ball bounces harmlessly off the backboard.
Here's take two, in which Lennon makes most of the same mistakes.
He does that same "out, in" motion, too, which has no real purpose that I can really identify.
Maybe he should just dunk.
Could John Lennon dunk? If he stood on Ringo's shoulders, perhaps?
And there it goes again. Let it soar, John.
Here's the video, so you can see the shot in all its thrusting glory.
