This is episode 24 of the Dunk Talk Podcast. I’m Dylan Haugen, joined by my co-host Hunter Castona, and our guest is Jason “JaySmoove” McCoy, a 6’1” pro power dunker out of Detroit, Michigan. Jay is one of the most interesting pro arcs in the community: he was a competitive swimmer from age 4 to 21, won 5 medals at NJCAA Nationals, didn’t start basketball until 19, ran the BoingVERT program at 18 (and gained 7 inches of vertical), did three Flight Squad show tours between 2020 and 2022, and won his first paid contest at the Utah Hoopfest halftime show in November 2022 with a Windmill over four people. The story is one of the cleaner case studies of how non-traditional athletic backgrounds translate into pro-level dunking.
Swimming from age 4 to 21 (and 5 medals at NJCAA Nationals)
Jay grew up swimming. Five to six days a week, every week, from age 4 to age 21. He played a little basketball, some tennis his senior year of high school, a bit of baseball, but swimming was the actual sport. He swam at Lincoln College in Lincoln, Illinois and won 5 medals at Nationals.
Swimming is a sport where you do almost no heavy weight lifting. The training is in the water plus pull-ups, dips, and core work to stay strong without bulking up (extra mass slows you in the water). That meant when Jay finally got into the weight room at 18, he was a complete beginner with a lean swimmer’s build.
The thing that pulled him toward dunking specifically was watching high-flyer NBA highlights. Vince Carter. Jason Richardson. T-Dub. Around 16 he started looking up T-Dub videos and watching them all day. He never thought of himself as a basketball player (he played basketball “for cardio”), but the dunking aspect of the sport was what hooked him.
First dunk right before 16, then 18 and BoingVERT
Jay landed his first dunk right before he turned 16, off one foot, at 5’10”, in his school gym before first period. He couldn’t really dunk before that point. He says he wasn’t a natural high jumper at the time. Pretty good athlete genetics, but not the kind of guy who jumps out of the gym without training.
The real training inflection was age 18. He bought BoingVERT (first the bodyweight version, then the Monster Edition with the weight room program). That was the first time he’d ever seen a structured workout written out day by day: what to do, how many sets, how many reps, how to start and end. The Monster Edition included traditional squats, deadlifts, RDLs, hip thrusts, the full lift list.
He gained 7 inches of vertical that year. He calls them “rookie gains.” Going from a complete weight room beginner with a 30-something running vert to actually programmed strength training in the same year was the unlock. Most non-dunkers in their late teens are still leaving inches on the table because nobody’s shown them how to lift.
Jay’s current lifting numbers (no traditional squats or deadlifts)
Jay’s lifting philosophy now is unusual. He doesn’t do traditional back squats or barbell deadlifts. His three main lifts are RDLs, box squats, and hip thrusts. The numbers he’s currently moving:
- RDL: 455 lb for 4 (PR).
- Box squat: 605 lb for 5.
- Hip thrust: 605 lb for 5.
- Bench: 225 for 10, dumbbell press 120s.
- Power clean: 205 lb max (he just started learning power cleans this January).
The reason he doesn’t do traditional barbell squats and deadlifts: form was hard to learn and the alternatives came easily. He admits on the episode that’s probably a gap he should close, since being stuck in “the lifts I like to do” means missing the lifts that would unlock the next jump. He’s working back into back squats this year and learning power cleans for the first time.
Hunter and I both gave Jay some power clean cues during the recording. The biggest one: get the hips through the bar. Most people who start power cleans late try to muscle the bar up with their back instead of triple-extending through the hips, then catching low. Jay’s self-diagnosis was the same: too much back, not enough hip drive. Watch him hit 250+ once the muscle memory locks in.
Dunk Camp 2018: dunking every day, 3-inch test PR by Thursday
Jay’s first Dunk Camp was the very first Dunk Camp ever in 2018. He found out about it through DJ Finley’s Instagram (DJ was running a paid promo for camp at the time). Andy from Dunk Camp DM’d Jay personally and asked for footage to use in the camp launch posts. Jay, Ryan Garis, and a guy named Jake Ferguson got featured in the promo collage.
The camp had 40 athletes (compared to 60+ now) and was about a fifth of the current price. The pros that year were Jonathan Clark, Isaiah Rivera, CJ Champion, Brody Stevens, Zeus, Nico, and DJ Finley. Connor Barth was also there as a camper that year (with about 200 Instagram followers at the time).
Jay’s actual camp routine that week was insane. He dunked Sunday (broke into the gym for an hour and a half right off the plane), then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and twice on Thursday. John Evans and Tyler Ray watched him jump Monday and bet on each other that he’d burn out by Tuesday. He didn’t burn out. He re-tested his vertical Thursday and it was 3 inches higher than the Monday test. The two of them had never seen that before.
Tyler also gave him a technique adjustment that mattered: Jay was tight in the shoulders on the takeoff and the residual tension was costing him inches. Tyler walked him through relaxation cues and Jay said his next session was the cleanest jumping he’d ever had. (Tyler now coaches at Brody Stevens’ gym and is one of the more underrated dunk-technique guys in the community.)
Flight Squad tours (2020, 2022 spring, 2022 fall)
Jay’s pro arc started in 2018 with the Utah dunk show (top 3 in the camp contest got into the show). 2019 he did two events in Windsor, Canada that Tyler Ray hooked him up with. 2020 he was brought onto Flight Squad as a show dunker.
Flight Squad is a Globetrotters-style basketball show tour. Faculty or sponsor teams play against Flight Squad, the game is structured to be showy not competitive, and the dunkers’ job is to dunk a lot and miss as little as possible. Jay did games, assemblies, and All-Star events (skills challenges, Three-Point Shootouts, dunk contests). He met Cordell on tour.
2020 was cut short by COVID. 2022 he did two tours: spring and fall. The fall 2022 tour (September to November) was his best ever. The pacing, the locations, the team chemistry, all of it clicked. Jay says it was the best chapter of his pro dunking career.
November 2022: first paid contest win at the Utah Hoopfest
The Flight Squad fall 2022 tour wrapped with Jay competing in the Utah Hoopfest halftime show contest. He’d qualified through GIG, an online bracket-style contest where dunkers post videos and the community votes. Top two voted dunkers advance to dunk in Utah for a $1,500 prize.
Jay made the final two. The matchup was him against another dunker (whose name he’s forgotten on the episode) who he says was star-struck by the environment. The opponent missed multiple makeable dunks. Jay won the contest cleanly with his favorite dunk to date: a Windmill over four people. First paid contest win of his career.
Why Jay slowed down on show tours
The honest read Jay gave on why he hasn’t toured as much since: the show-dunker market pays too little for the wear-and-tear of the schedule. Globetrotters pays well. Most other show teams don’t. If a Flight Squad-style tour paid more, Jay would be on it full-time. He loves the work. The economics make it hard to commit to as a primary income.
The broader point I want to underline: the dunking ecosystem is at a transition point. NDL (the National Dunk League Mason Baker was talking about last week) is one path forward. DunkMan League is another. FIBA 3×3 contests are another. The economics have to catch up to the talent pool, and Jay is exactly the kind of dunker who’ll benefit when they do.
What Jay’s working on now
Jay’s current 12-month list:
- Lock in power clean form. The 205 max is going to climb fast once the hip drive locks.
- Add back squats back into rotation. The traditional barbell back squat gap is the obvious next strength input.
- More contests. Jay is in the conversation for FIBA 3×3 and DunkMan League slots.
- Detroit dunk infrastructure. Detroit doesn’t have a real dunk group yet. Jay is in the position to start one.
Where to find Jay
Jay is “jaysmoovee” on Instagram. He posts session content regularly and has some of the best raw power dunks in the community. Go follow. Minnesota Dunk Squad sessions are weekly through fall. Next episode is on dunking as a sport with Donovan Hawkins. Comment with any dunker you want me and Hunter to interview next.