- I dreamt of getting paid to play basketball.
This is not what I was thinking.
My name is Chris, I'm a big basketball fan
and today I am gonna try to learn
how to spin a basketball on my finger
no matter how long it takes.
I feel like in the past when I've tried
to spin a ball on my fingers it doesn't really go well.
I can get it started and it kinda just veers off.
I wanna do at least three consecutive seconds
of the ball just smoothly spinning.
I don't mean like me veering around
trying to keep up.
I just wanna be able to stand here casually
and just have the ball right here spinning.
I know what you're thinking at home
is that three seconds is not very long,
but let's just see right now.
Let's just time out three seconds right now.
(clock ticking)
(bell ringing) See that was a long time.
All right, I'm ready to go.
This is the first attempt, no help.
Here we go.
(upbeat music)
That was a solid .5 seconds, probably.
Remember I'm trying to not move, that's why I'm so stiff.
But I just wanna.
Nope.
Hit myself in the face.
Here we go, this is the one.
I'm not frustrated at all, either.
So, this is fine.
Not bothered that I can't get this.
Ya'll see that?
Potential.
Oh my god.
I have absolutely no say in what happens, I just spin it,
and then I hope that it stays there.
And I think that's probably why it's not working out well.
People don't understand either, like seconds move slower
when you're doing this.
Ooh.
So irritating.
I admit it, now.
It's frustrating.
All right, I'ma use Google.
I feel like I'm doing something incorrectly
that's probably a simple fix.
All right, I'm quickly just gonna hit up the office
and see if there's anyone who knows how to do this.
So, in the meantime I'm just gonna
search Google for some tips.
How to spin a basketball.
Find a basketball.
Obviously.
Trim your nails.
I have trimmed nails, so we're good.
Two for two.
Stretch your fingers and arms.
I didn't do that.
Spinning a basketball too hard or too quickly
can strain your wrists or even fracture your finger.
I've been out here risking it all, I didn't even know.
You pick up your ball and and you find the point
where the grooves in the ball meet at the bottom.
Oh, I was not doin' that.
That seems very important.
You can palm it in one hand and use a flick
of the wrist to pop it up.
Okay, so I wasn't doing it incorrectly, I just sucked at it.
Hold the ball up with your elbow
a little above your hip.
I think I was probably all out everywhere.
Start with your fingertips pointing toward your body.
That doesn't make sense, 'cause then I'd be like this.
By the time you finish the twist of your wrist.
Oh, oh, okay so they're saying start with your fingertips
facing and the by the time you're,
you do the wrist flip to spin the ball,
they'll be facing away from your body.
Okay.
Everyone seems to be using one finger,
so I'm gonna try that.
If I suck this time, I don't know what the next step is.
Used Google, feelin' pretty confident.
We're gonna give this another try.
There are a couple things I notice immediately
I was doin' wrong.
I was goin' from this side, it said you wanna go
from the bottom, I believe.
So, I'ma try to just start right at this bottom point.
One finger.
That was not any better or any worse
than I was doing before.
I feel like we're taking a step back, here.
Nope.
This should not be that hard.
It got me lookin' at this (beep)
like it's a Rubik's Cube, now.
I'm like, focused on it.
Oh, oh, oh, oh.
Gonna ruin the equipment.
Oh.
Most promising spin so far.
I'm actually sweating, now.
Like, actual sweat has formed on my face
trying to spin a basketball.
Wait, did it say where all of 'em meet?
I feel like that would make more sense.
Yeah, when he does throw it,
it's meeting at this point of the ball.
So, I'm gonna try something like that.
Ooh.
Not the worst.
Oh.
That was by far the not worst one.
When you run it back, it's probably gonna be like
0.7 seconds, but it felt good.
Been hit in the face like 50 times by this.
Ooh.
It gets a little better and then I'm like,
"Oh, I got this."
And the next one is a (beep) spin.
When the ball hits me in the face it feels
a little bit disrespectful, honestly.
Here we go.
Oh, that had to be like a full second.
Oh, (beep) I'm bleeding, we drew blood.
All that to learn how to spin a ball.
Oh, oh, ooh.
I dreamt of getting paid to play basketball,
this is not what I was thinking.
We had a little stretch where I felt like
I was getting better and then I don't know what happened.
Hey, please.
Got some assistance, please come save me.
- All right. - Okay.
- Toss it up, spin.
- Okay, well look.
Here's the thing.
Just toss it up and spin?
(laughing) Oh, I didn't realize
we were just supposed to spin it.
Oh, okay.
So, I got some help.
She responded to my email.
Thank you for saving me today.
- Okay.
- Do you see some stuff? - I see something, yeah.
When I do it, my finger kinda bends right here.
Your hand is like, boink!
So, let me show you.
Kinda how like, the top of my finger
kinda softens when. - Oh, there's
a little give, okay. - Yeah, it's a little give.
There we go.
- Oh, she gonna slap it, okay.
- You don't have to use this part.
- No? - Yeah,
you get a little more. - Where do you start it?
- I like to be on the grip of it.
Like, not the lines, it's a little slippery.
- Okay.
Let's see how far we can get.
I'm gonna follow your pointers.
Ooh, well that's already better.
- It's tough, its like, there you go.
- See, that was the other thing, is it's supposed to.
- Closer!
- Is it supposed to land on your finger?
- Mine kinda lands on this part of my nail.
I'd like to say that that was 'cause of my coaching.
- It helps to see someone do it.
- Another thing I forgot to mention
is kinda move with it.
Like if your ball is moving, you can kinda like,
save it a little bit. - Oh.
See, I've been not movin'
'cause I wanted to look cool. - Yeah, no.
- I wanted to just. - Go with it.
Like, if your ball is fallin'. - Okay.
- Just like. - Go with it?
That helps? - Yeah.
See how I'm moving with it?
Like, yeah. - Magic.
- I just went all around here.
So, I'll leave you to it.
- Wow, casual. - Good luck.
- All right, thank you
for that. - Good luck.
- We've used Google, we've used a person
who knows what they're doing.
I think it's time to put all that together
and spin this thing real quick.
It's gonna be easy.
Jumped the gun, there.
That was not the worst.
My name is LeBron James,
this is how to spin a basketball.
You said everything was gonna click
and I feel like we're gettin' there.
It's tough to balance like, where to move
but then the momentum dies.
Ooh.
Wow.
We're gettin' so close, okay.
Oh!
Nope.
Definitely not that.
Definitely not that either.
Maybe a little?
Close?
I'm gonna have nightmares about this.
Oh, oh!
That was, that's gotta be it, I mean.
Oh, oh!
Let's see it. - Wanna take a look?
- Oh, oh!
That's per, I'm good with that.
That's success. - You got it?
- That's what we set out to do.
I feel good about that progress.
It only took three hours,
which is a good lesson that if you just wanna dedicate
the day to something, you would probably be surprised
what you could learn.
This was just a few hours outside messing around
with a basketball but, I don't know maybe I might
go practice some other hobbies and see what I can get into.
(upbeat music)