[BillyMac]

When I was a young lefthanded basketball player, back in the 20th century, Bill Russell, of the Boston Celtics, was my favorite player. Some claim that he revolutionized the blocked shot. Previous to Russell, shot blockers, and their fans, were pleased if the shot was simply blocked, even if it was blocked out of bounds, and went back to the opponents for a throwin, or even if it was blocked into the hands of an opponent, who scored. Russell always tried to block the shot so that he, as Snaqwells pointed out, would get the ball, or he would block the ball to a teammate, which would initiate the famous Celtic fast break attack. He hated it when he blocked a shot out of bounds. Russell claimed that because he was lefthanded, and because most opponents were righthanded shooters, he could easily mirror his opponent's movements and stay out of foul trouble. This knowledge would carryover into my coaching career (yes, I was on the dark side at one time), when I would teach my players to try to block shots coming from the right side with their left hand, and try to block shots coming from the left side with their right hand.