i for one know that too much mass aka bodyfat holds a bigman back. being that hes 6foot8 (and nearly almost filled out muscle wise) he gets his head partially above the rim while holding a 5 pound basketball..
every pound counts when it comes to how high you will jump, if there were no basketabll hed have around 3-4 more height in inches jumping
try it and see for yourself how every pound of bodyweight is crucial in basketball because a few inches higher and u dominate everyone
i myself am trying to improve my leap to one day be the greatest nba player. i feel i have the knowledge to attain a correct muscle mass (wich i may have possibly filled out more than lebron) and lower my bodyfat (lebron has lower bodyfat than me therefore he jumps much higher, he probably carries about 15 pounds less bodyfat making his height about 12 inches higher than mind currently)
i feel i have 20 pounds of fat to lose wich would make me jump about 16 inches higher giving me a higher "b-ball gameplay" in wich i would dominate him with my 4 inch jumping advantage regardless of his meager 2 inch stationary height advantage
so close in numbers between the falcon and the lebron, but any fool can see for themselves when comparing there vertical leap with a basketball and just a plain old vertical leap that just one pound less you jump 1 inch higher