This is episode 10 of the Dunk Talk Podcast and the recap of Utah Dunk Camp 2024. I’m Dylan Haugen, joined by my co-host Hunter Castona. This was my third year at Dunk Camp, Hunter’s second. The short version: I tested 41.5″ vertical (up 4″ from last year), hit three Eastbays in the first session, dunked alongside Jordan Kilganon on a low-rim, didn’t enter the contest, and watched Hunter go through the gauntlet of a real dunk camp week (injury, contest entry, the Thursday show). Long version below.
Day 1: testing 41.5″ and hitting three Eastbays
Day one is always vertical testing day. They measured my standing reach wrong (the campers measuring it had me at 8′), then John remeasured the next day and it came in right. The vertical itself: 41.5″. Four inches up from last year’s 37.5″. (For the full context on the 37.5 → 41.5 climb, here’s the dedicated vertical journey episode.)
I wasn’t supposed to dunk a session right after the vertical test, but I did anyway. Hit three Eastbays. Almost hit some new dunks. Took a long break (probably three hours) for a classroom session, came back, took caffeine, dunked another two hours after the pros’ session. Day one totaled over three hours of jumping. That is too much to do on day one of a four-day camp. I knew it then. I’ll come back to it.
Hunter chose not to test his vertical so he could go straight into the dunking. He’d had an Achilles flare-up about two months before camp that had cleared, but his jumping had felt off for a few weeks leading in. (Achilles tendinopathy and other tendon stuff messes with you mentally even when the physical pain is low. You instinctively limit yourself.) He warmed up, hit a few decent dunks early, and never hit a peak. No Eastbay, which he usually hits in every session. A couple Windmills, a couple Pumps, mostly one-handers. He left the gym with knee pain at a 6/10.
One thing worth flagging from the pro session on day one: most of the pros were battling minor injuries. Jordan Kilganon had an abductor issue. Isaiah Rivera had a rare knee pain flare-up. Jordan Southerland had a sprained ankle (and hadn’t jumped off-one in a while). Jonathan Clark was the one who looked the cleanest. Even with everyone managing something, the pro session was still ridiculous to watch.
Day 2: the Kilganon tandem dunk and the underboth line
I told myself I wasn’t going to jump on day two. Then I walked into the gym and Kilganon was testing out a pair of Li-Ning Gammas (the same shoe Shankar broke down in the best shoes for dunking episode) on 7’6”, doing low-rim stuff. Of course I had to come watch. Of course I started low-rimming with him.
Then Kilganon asked me to try a tandem dunk with him. He throws the ball off the backboard, the ball passes through his hands in a circle, and he dunks. Then a second ball is in motion for me. (You have to watch it on his Instagram. Hard to describe in words.) We tried it for a stretch, got it down (not perfect), and from there I just kept going. Win-BTB off two-foot, a 720 two-hander, a bunch of random stuff. I low-rimmed for about 30 minutes total in that block. Later in the day Kilganon ran a low-rim coaching session and I got more 8′ reps. Probably another 30 minutes.
Hunter also broke his “not jumping” promise on day two. He came in, saw me and Kilganon doing the tandem, and got pulled in. He hit a Windmill-Underboth combo (Windmill into an Underboth on the same jump), which was wild. He spent the rest of day two doing left-right opposite-plant work to save his right-left jumping legs for Thursday: 360 Underboth, Eastbay variations off-lob, all on 8′.
Later in the day, Hooping Nate was low-rimming on his own. Dom Dunks, Hunter, and I were helping him with form. He hit a bunch of new dunks. I had this “name a dunk” collab idea (Chris Staples does this on his channel: someone behind the camera calls out a dunk, two dunkers attempt it). Nate and I filmed it. Post is on Instagram. We also did an Underboth line, eight Underboths in a row on 7’6” or 8′. Silly looking footage, but a clean group bit.
Day 3: actual rest
Day three was the real rest day. Neither of us jumped once. The camp encourages this and runs more classroom content on Wednesday so the campers actually take it. I did Rapid Reboot compression sessions. Hunter didn’t even bring basketball shoes to the gym (was just in Crocs). The notable highlight from day three was Andy hitting his first dunk on 10′. Last year he couldn’t dunk on 9’1.5”. He took the year between camps, lost a meaningful amount of weight, gained muscle, and showed up this year and dunked 10′ unofficially. I want to interview him about his exact protocol because that’s one of the bigger one-year transformations I’ve seen at camp.
Other day-three notes: Billy from Dunkademics tried dunking. Logan (around my age) was dunking too. Adam hit his first J-Rich on a real 10′ rim (he’d hit one on 9’10” before, but not on regulation).
Day 4: I skipped the 10′ contest, Hunter entered it
Day four is contest day. Hunter and I were both planning on the 10′ contest going in. I pulled out last-minute. Reasoning: my chance of winning was low, the winner’s FIBA 3×3 invite isn’t something I’d realistically convert at right now, and I had a better use for the jumping budget. I’d rather spend my Thursday volume on a free-form session trying new dunks than burn three jumps in a contest I wasn’t winning. (Also, I won the 9′ contest last year, and entering and losing this year would look worse than not entering. I’ll just say that out loud.)
Andy Nicholson, the camp owner, set up the FIBA 3×3 invite for the 10′ contest winner. Finn ended up winning. He’ll compete in Canada on July 7. Good for him.
Hunter entered. He went in with knee pain at a 4–5 out of 10 and built a one-hour graduated warmup to get it down to a 2. The strategy worked at the start. Walk-through of his three dunks:
- Dunk 1: Pump off the lob. Didn’t finish well.
- Dunk 2: Windmill off the lob. Made it on the second try.
- Dunk 3: One-handed Windmill off the backboard. Back-rimmed three times. The first attempt hit the ceiling on the way up.
He was out. The bigger problem hit when he sat down to take his shoes off. His knee jumped from a 2 to a 6, his Achilles to a 7, his low back to a 4. He was limping out of the gym.
My day four session (no contest)
Skipping the contest worked out. I had a free-form session and hit my regular Eastbay, a Windmill, a Reverse Windmill (which I hadn’t hit in a while), a 360 Cuff Windmill, and a Pump. Later in the day I low-rimmed in Crocs with Hooping Nate, Hunter (lightly), and Luke. Nate hit an Inverted Scorpion off-two and an Eastbay on low rim. I hit a bounce dunk and a 360 kamikaze. Three of us hit bounce dunks. Nate’s low-rim ceiling is absurd. We were all tired and not really trying and still hit some of the best low-rim dunks any of us have done. The full session video is on my main channel.
The Thursday night show: Hunter’s Dubble Up over Billy
The Dunk Camp puts on a Thursday night show. Campers get to dunk in the warmup window. Hunter went out and warmed up. Felt good at first. A clean one-hander, a Windmill, a two-handed Backscratcher. Started attempting an Eastbay (which he can hit in every normal session). He was close on the first few attempts and then the knee pain came in hard. Different than what he’d felt all week, easily a 6 out of 10 mid-jump. He kept jumping. He couldn’t really commit to anything because his body was limiting him.
Then he pivoted. Dubble Up over Billy (from Dunkademics). The push-off gives you that extra inch or two on a compromised jump day. He committed, punched it, and the crowd reaction was the loudest of the warmup. He tried a Dubble Up Reverse next and kept pushing the ball straight down rather than around the rim, but the Dubble Up itself was the moment of his camp. Knee pain after went to a 7 or 8. Worst tendinopathy flare-up he’d had in two years.
Hunter’s recovery (and why he’s feeling better now)
The recovery is moving the right way. The Friday lift at Andy Nicholson’s house was a slow-tempo session with a handful of guys and Hunter said he felt better than he’d expected. Knee pain at recording is at a 1 or 2. Achilles is gone. Back is gone. He’s ramping back up slowly with isometrics (which he’s admitted he’d been inconsistent with) and slow-tempo squats. Wisconsin Dunk Camp is August 5–8, so he has roughly a month to get back to where he wants to be for his home-state camp.
What’s coming up
The next big thing on the schedule is Wisconsin Dunk Camp. I’ll be staying at Hunter’s house for it. Dom Dunks is coming. Hooping Nate might come. Donovan Hawkins is a maybe. Shun looks like a yes. Josh Ruble is confirmed (he’s hit three behind-the-back dunks since his episode aired, one every couple weeks. Insane progression).
If we end up with that crew at Hunter’s house, we’re also planning a low-rim session and a podcast recording while everyone’s in one place. That session could be the best low-rim session of all time outside of an actual pro session.
Big shout-out to Andy Nicholson and the entire pro lineup for running the camp again. The Utah camp is the best week of the year for a real dunker, and even with the way both of our weeks went, we’re already looking forward to next year. Next episode of the show will be the measuring rims debate, and we’ve got a stacked guest pipeline including Finn (the 10′ contest winner). Subscribe on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube. DunkMan League is also coming this summer.