Alright, so I’ve been meaning to share this little escapade of mine for a while now. It all started a few months back. I was watching Klay Thompson just drain threes like it was nothing, and you know, you get these silly ideas. Mine was: could I rig up something, some kind of contraption, to help understand that shooting motion? Not to be Klay, obviously. My jump shot’s more like a confused trebuchet. This was just a weekend warrior kind of project, something I started calling my “fake klay” experiment in my head.
Digging Through the Garage – The ‘Brainstorming’ Phase
First things first, I needed materials. My garage is a treasure trove of stuff I’ve forgotten I even own. I found some old PVC pipes, a few bungee cords that had seen better days, and a slightly lopsided basketball. Figured that was a good enough start. My grand design, sketched on the back of an old envelope, probably looked like a kid’s drawing of a robot falling down stairs.
The initial idea was simple: create a sort of guide arm. Something that could, in theory, mimic a consistent shooting arc. I spent a good afternoon just cutting pipes and trying to fit them together. Let me tell you, PVC glue is potent stuff, and my garage isn’t exactly well-ventilated. There were a few moments I felt a bit light-headed, not sure if it was the fumes or the sheer genius of my (terrible) design.
When Things Go Sideways – Literally
Actually building this “fake klay” thing was where the real fun, and by fun I mean frustration, began. My first prototype was a disaster. It was so wobbly, it looked like it was scared of the ball.
- The bungee cords I used for ‘power’ were either too loose, and the ball would just plop down, or too tight, sending the ball rocketing off in random directions. My shed wall took a few direct hits.
- Then there was the ‘guide arm’. It kept jamming. Or it would swing wildly. One time, it swung back and nearly clocked me in the head. Close call.
- I tried weighting the base with some old bricks I had lying around. That helped a bit with the wobbling, but then the whole thing just became incredibly heavy and awkward to move.
I swear, there were evenings I’d just stare at this pile of junk and think, “What on earth am I doing?” My dog certainly looked at me with a lot of judgment during this period. He’d just sit there, head tilted, as if to say, “You humans are weird.”
A Glimmer of… Something?
After a lot of tinkering, and I mean a LOT, I got it to a state where it wasn’t actively trying to injure me or destroy my property. I adjusted the angles, swapped out some bungee cords for different tensions, and even added a bit of padding (old foam) to the ball holder. It wasn’t pretty, not by a long shot, but it was… functional? Ish?
The ball would launch. Sometimes, it even went in a vaguely hoop-ward direction, if I imagined a hoop was there. It definitely didn’t have Klay’s silky smooth release, more like a clunky catapult, but it was my clunky catapult. I learned a bit about leverage, a bit about projectile motion (mostly what not to do), and a lot about patience. Or my lack thereof.
So, What’s the Deal with ‘Fake Klay’ Now?
Well, the “fake klay” contraption is currently gathering dust in the corner of my garage. It served its purpose, I guess. It was a fun, sometimes infuriating, way to spend a few weekends. Did I unlock the secrets to a perfect jump shot? Absolutely not. Did I create a revolutionary training tool? Definitely not.
But it was a good reminder that sometimes, just messing around with an idea, building something with your hands, even if it turns out to be a bit silly and not very effective, can be its own reward. It’s about the process, the trial and error. And hey, at least I didn’t lose an eye. So, I’ll call that a win for the “fake klay” project.
