Hanamichi Sakuragi
is the main protagonist of the series. At the beginning of the series, Sakuragi is a slacker, good for nothing other than fighting delinquent, who's the leader of the feared "Sakuragi Legion" (Hanamichi's Army in the English Dub), which consists of his four friendsMito, Noma, Ohkusu and Takamiya. Sakuragi's quest for love is nothing but humiliating. He is always trying to ask girls out, but is rejected constantly, the fiftieth rejection occurring at the start of the series. He then met Haruko Akagi, a lovely and friendly basketball fangirl, whom he fell in love with, immediately. Haruko's encouragement led to him to join the Shohoku basketball team. However, as a complete beginner, he is not able to keep up with the rest of the team at first, despite his physical attributes (great height, athleticism, stamina, speed and leaping ability). With just 4 months, he has become a fully realized basketball player and is now considered a player that Shohoku cannot afford to lose.
Hanamichi's Abilities
At first, he can only do dunks and lay-ups but under Akagi's training, his rebounding prowess became the main support for the team, which earned him another nickname now known throughout all of the Kanagawa prefecture because of this, "The king of Rebounds". Then with Coach Anzai's training, he is able to finish 20,000 shots in a week to further improve his shooting range. Despite this, Mito notes that standing at 45 degrees to the right gives Sakuragi higer suchcess rate at shooting jump shots.
Jumping Power and Rebounding
As seen and witnessed by Haruko and Hikoichi, the skills Sakuragi really excels at is his jumping, speed and power. Masashi Kawata of Sannoh notes that he has never seen a person with that kind of leg power. The height of his jump is incredibly high as noted by Coach Takato of Kainan High, as he was able to jump back to block Sawakita's dunk attempt and stop the alley-oop to Masashi, despite falling to the floor. His jumping ability makes him a formidable rebounder under the tutelage of Akagi. With this, he is more than enough to outrebound strong centers such as Toru Hanagata, Jun Uozomi and Masahiro Nobe of Sannoh. Coach Domoto was even forced to put Masashi Kawata into him just to stop him from rebounding. Despite the obstacle put upon him, he is still able to hold on to his rebounding against the big men of Sannoh, which became as one the key factors that Shohoku made a comeback victory.
Strength/Power
He gained his abnormal strength from his fights as a delinquent and some power training that hardened him before playing basketball. Akagi notes that Sakuragi is much stronger than Jun Uozumi of Ryonan despite being smaller. This was shown when he easily threw Koshino Hiroaki of Ryonan in their practice game, when the latter attempted to take the ball from him. He is also noted for being strong as Akagi says that in a battle of strength, no one can beat him. He is able to hold his own against Mikio Kawatawho weighs 130 kg.
Speed and Stamina
Beside his jumping power and strength, he is also fast as he can catch up to defend, combined with his large amount of stamina. These were tested when Totsuka Tetsuya of Ryokufu High School challenged him in a battle of speed. However Sakuragi's stamina got the best of the latter as he tires out first while Sakuragi continues to run back and forth.
Weakness
Sakuragi has difficulty facing off against a weak opponent as he is unable to show his true skills and abilities. Mito notices this when Yoshinori Miyamasu of Kainan subs in as Sakuragi starts to miss shots. Another weakness of Sakuragi for the majority of the series is that his shooting presence was not highly accurate which changed just before the Nationals. He is also a weak on-ball defender and can easily fall for fakes. His arrogance and daydreaming often cause the ball to hit his face while in a game, leaving him unaware of a pass. This is also the main reason he doesn't succeed in his plots and always end up being an embarrassment for the team.