point guards. He had an ability to drive to the basket and use acrobatics to score or pass. His twisting layup wowed competitors, Elgin Baylor describing it as "tricky". He was one of the few players of his time to have a jump shot instead of a set shot (a habit from his grammar school's low ceiling), and to emphasize transitional offense. He invented the "spin move", the 360-degree spin with the ball switching hands. An advocate for skill-based play, he once posited that "a basketball team composed of little men up to 6 feet 5 inches could beat a team of tall men 6 feet 5 inches and over." As a coach Throughout his coaching career, Shue was known for his mix of fundamental basketball and unconventional strategies, many of which went against the norms of the time, but were sometimes adopted in future generations. His infamous playbooks were both celebrated for their innovation and maligned for their heftiness. In 1988, Gerald Henderson declared, "Gene Shue's teams always control the tempo." NBA.com stated that Shue was one of the only coaches that embraced set plays for the then-controversial three-point shots when the line was first introduced, stating that Shue "gave the shot the green light and red carpet." At times, he had his team's center bring up the ball. George McGinnis in describing the merits of Shue's coaching philosophy, said, "He has a lot of plays that use my individual talent and a lot of plays for the team." Earl Monroe noted Shue's ability to get star players, like Monroe himself, to adapt their flashy skills to sound, fundamental team play (noting the perceived racial segregation in styles of play of the time). Spencer Haywood described Shue's ability to instill confidence "My guy was Gene Shue, and still is Gene Shue, who had the faith in me to say, "Take this team, and let's go." Bill Walton wrote in his autobiography that Shue "was awesome, always so positive, upbeat, imaginative, and extremely creative." In 1980, Sports Illustrated suggested that Shue "might be the reigning expert on the rehabilitation of players, judging from his penchant for taking in the league's rejects and wayward souls." In 2009, Fox Sports listed him as one of ten great players who became great coaches, noting that Shue "specialized in improving the fortunes of bad ball clubs, which is the only reason why he lost