This is the second episode of the Dunk Talk Podcast. I’m Dylan Haugen, and instead of having a guest on I used this one to walk through the next chunk of my dunking journey. The first part is in Episode 1, where I covered going from not being able to dunk at all to my first dunk as a 5’8″ 13 year old. This picks up right after that and goes all the way to my first eastbay (between the legs dunk) as a 5’10” 15 year old.
After the first dunk, I had no idea what to do next
I got my first dunk in September of 2021. Right after that I honestly wasn’t sure what to chase next. I just knew I wanted to be a good dunker. I was kind of getting into the dunk community, talking to pro dunkers, and I signed up for Dunk Camp 2022.
Between October and December I got three more dunks. Basically the same as the first one, someone threw it up and I tipped it in. My vertical wasn’t really increasing. I was experimenting with lifting, jumping a ton on low and high rims, and playing a lot of basketball. All of that gave me an overuse injury in my knee. Doctors said I fractured something at first, then later said it might have been a bone bruise. Either way it was somewhere around my MCL, PCL, and meniscus. Out from January to February.
When I came back, the very first session off crutches I went and dunked, because I was not very smart. I got a two-hander. Pretty funny going from one-handed tip-ins to a self-lob two-hander where I hung on the rim. The month of rest honestly helped me a ton.
April 2022: my first trick dunks on 10 feet
Around April was when I started to level up and do some trick dunks on 10 feet. I hit a 360, a self-bounce, maybe an off-the-backboard in there, and an off-the-dribble. Just a lot more stuff. After April I was in full preparation mode for Dunk Camp.
Utah Dunk Camp 2022: meeting the pros and losing on 8 feet
In June I went to Utah for Dunk Camp. I got to meet all the pros, Jordan Kilganon, Isaiah, all those guys. I was one of the youngest people there. I hit a couple dunks at camp, just one-handers and two-handers, but it was still an awesome experience. I met a ton of cool people I’m still talking to today.
On the last day there was an 8-foot dunk contest. I took second to a really good dunker. After losing in that contest, I realized there aren’t a ton of dunkers across the United States, so when you meet up with all of them you figure out pretty quickly that you’re not the best. At home I felt like I was, in Utah I was very obviously not. That pushed me to come back the next year and actually show something.
Summer 2022: AAU all summer, lifting all summer
That summer I was playing AAU and started lifting. I went to a gym near me with basically a personal trainer type situation, learned all the lifts including some Olympic lifts, and built a solid foundation in the weight room. After June I didn’t do a ton on 10 feet because of AAU, but I was dunking a lot on low rims. Started unlocking between the legs, behind the back, and 360 windmill on 9 feet.
November 2022: first in-game dunks and first windmill in the same week
Once November rolled around, I started to see a real spurt in my vertical. Credit the lifting and the jumping, but also just going through puberty even more. I clearly remember this one weekend. It was a fall ball tournament, and in the first game of the day I was in warmups trying dunks like I always do. Fall ball doesn’t really call technicals for that. By the end of warmups I was doing 360s off the dribble. The rims were definitely low, maybe 9’9”, maybe 9’10”, who knows.
During that game I got two in-game dunks. One off the dribble, on the other someone threw me a lob. Zero in-game dunks before that. Then literally two days later I was at the gym and I got my first windmill, kind of my first trick dunk on 10 feet. After that I started trying everything, between the legs, 360 windmill, all of it. Wasn’t really close to anything because there’s a pretty big jump from a windmill to the next big trick dunks.
Basketball season killed my dunking
Between December and February I basically didn’t dunk at all. I dunked in warmups and sometimes out of practice, but I was in season. If you don’t know how this works, in season we get killed. Tons of running, tons of cardio, and cardio is not good for explosive movements. If your coach thinks otherwise they are simply wrong. My central nervous system was destroyed. When I came back into April and May, I was windmilling pretty consistently again. Mind you, I had only windmilled one time before basketball season. Coming back out of season I was windmilling in Crocs. Pretty crazy time.
Dunk Camp 2023: knee pain, a 37.5 vertical, and winning on 9 feet
Dunk Camp 2023 kind of snuck up on me. Because of basketball season I wasn’t feeling super confident. Day one we were testing verticals and I was hoping to hit 40. Right when I was warming up, my knee pain got pretty crazy. During basketball season that year I had developed quad tendinopathy in my left knee, and I wasn’t doing anything to treat it because I didn’t know what to do. I went into the test hurting and still hit 37.5 inches, a one-inch increase from the year before. I touched 11 feet, which was my goal, but my reach also increased so the vertical goal kind of canceled out.
Day one I did windmills on 10 feet and they felt really good, probably my best windmill at the time. I also randomly got really close to a between the legs, which I had honestly never been close to before. Then on Thursday we did the official Dunk Camp 9-foot dunk contest, and I won. Losing on 8 feet the year before and then winning on 9 feet a year later, hitting an inverted scorpion first try (basically dunking upside down) to take it, was pretty meaningful. Honestly pretty shocked I won.
Boston, JumpMaster U, and getting closer in September
After camp I was just jumping on my own. In August I went to Boston and dunked with a guy named Artem. Really cool guy, great session outside, hit a windmill there and got another decently close between the legs attempt.
In September I had my closest between the legs attempt yet. I was with Hunter Castona at the National Sports Center. He was in town and stayed at my house for a couple days. Probably my best session ever at the time. I was super close to between the legs but back-rimmed three or four. Hunter back-rimmed an underboth. We were both really hyped even though we missed. The detail that matters: he back-rimmed an underboth, I back-rimmed an eastbay. Remember that for the next part.
After September I wasn’t really trying between the legs as much. Still attempting it every session, but it just didn’t feel possible. So I started prioritizing other dunks like a 360 windmill, and I hit that in October.
October 21st, 2023: the day I killed the eastbay
About a month after the September session, Hunter and I felt like it was time to do it again. He came back over, we rented out the NSC, brought Gideon and Jason. October 21st, 2023. We started warming up and I hit another 360 windmill. Literally the next jump, Hunter killed an underboth, his first one ever and probably his best dunk at that point. As soon as he hit it I had all this adrenaline. If Hunter was hitting his and I was jumping way higher than a month ago, I had to kill this eastbay too.
I started attempting eastbay. Back-rimmed a few crazy ones, then went up. Lob was perfect, transfer was perfect, punched it. It was insane. I went home and edited the video in basically a day, I was so happy. Rest of the session was crazy too. First Dubble Up windmill, a reverse windmill, a few other new dunks. Since then I’ve hit probably six or seven eastbays including a Dubble Up, so it’s getting more consistent.
What’s next
My goal this year is to kill an eastbay at Dunk Camp and hit some new dunks there. Going for a 360 between the legs and have a ton of stuff lined up.
That’s the story of going from my first dunk to my first eastbay. The part right before this is in Episode 1. For Hunter’s side of those NSC sessions and his own dunk progress, his episode is Episode 3. Thanks for watching, and if you have requests for who I should interview next, drop them in the YouTube comments or leave a review on Spotify or Apple.