In case you haven't heard yet - Jason Richardson is a Charlotte Bobcat now! On June 28, 2007, Richardson, along with the draft rights to Golden State's 2007 Draft selection of forward Jermareo Davidson with the 36th pick, were traded to the Charlotte Bobcats for the draft rights to the eighth pick Brandan Wright.

But you probably know that J-Rich is one of two players - along with Michael Jordan - to have won two NBA Slam Dunk Contests. In the 2003 competition, Richardson mesmerized the basketball world with a successful backward, between-the-legs, one-handed dunk.

Actually, Jason Richardson's improbable between-the-legs, behind-his-head dunk to clinch the 2003 Dunk Contest was voted the Best Dunk Contest Dunk by NBA.com users. With 94 percent of the fan-judges giving Richardson a perfect 10 for this flush, J-Rich beat out Michael Jordan, Vince Carter and others for the overall title.

"I really wanted to win the dunk contest. It was something I had been dreaming about since I was a little kid. To actually be there and having to do the "Spin the Wheel" thing, I was hoping that it landed on the Dominique Wilkins dunk because I knew all of them and I could do all of them. I got lucky...I think there was one more pin and it would have landed on someone else's dunk, but it ended up staying on Dominique Wilkins dunk." - Jason Richardson

Although J-Rich always had mad hops - "For me, jumping has always been a given" - it doesn't mean he doesn't work on it at all. For example, J-Rich used to jumprope 1,000 times a day, 2 sets of 300 and a set of 400, 5 times a week! After every week he increased his repetitions per set by 100.

Jumproping is the one of the most efficient exercises that works towards increasing vertical. It works all of the major lower body muscles (calves, quads, hamstring), and to a lower extent the upper body. But be careful - don't jump every day, it will only overwork your legs and you will actually lose vertical.

Here are the other exercises he used to improve his vertical:

Cone Hops:

Place six cones in a straight line at three-foot intervals. With your feet shoulder width apart, jump quickly over the cones, one at a time, on both legs. Do no more than five passes at a time. (Variation: Use just one leg, alternating legs on each pass.)

Depth Jump:

Stand on a two-foot box, step off, land on two feet, and then quickly explode upward to dunk a 12-pound medicine ball. Start with a one-foot box, skip the medicine ball, and see if you can touch the rim. Do 8 to 15 reps.

For more jumping exercises and crucial things to know about vertical jump (f.e. why often what you "don't" do is more important then what you "do" do) please take a look at this page I strongly recommend:

www.howtodunk.org

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