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Since being selected by the Golden State Warriors with the 38th overall pick in this years' draft, former Oregon forward Jordan Bell has constantly been in the headlines for things he has said.
Bell once again made airways with an interesting comparison of shot blocking to a particular popular video game, according to Antony Slater of the Mercury News.
Article Continues BelowNow he just evades screens and tracks down guards on the perimeter, while still maintaining a bruising presence on the interior. Bell averaged double-digit rebounds all three years at Oregon and blocked 233 shots in 105 games, something the 6-foot-8 center credits to timing.
Where does that timing come from? Not football. Not basketball. Guitar Hero, Bell says.
“You ever played?” Bell said. “You got to like try to get it exactly. I hate video games, but that’s the one video game I played every single day. Strumming, hit the button at the same exact time, catch it on the screen. Shot-blocking, to me, is all about timing. I know tall people who can’t block a shot to save their life. That right there really helped to get my timing.”
Despite the strange comparison, the 22-year-old does have a valid point that shot blocking does require precise timing to perform it effectively without drawing a foul. The best defenders and rim protectors in the league have developed a keen sense of when to attempt denying a shot.
That said, every player uses their own technique to get down their timing and this may be what helps Bell do just that on the court. It has proven to be effective up to this point in his basketball career as he is a strong defender in the paint that helped set three of the top five single-season block marks in school history in his three collegiate seasons at Oregon.
If he is able to continue to have success on that end of the floor in his NBA career, don't expect him to stop playing Guitar Hero anytime soon.
