10 Greatest Athletes of All Time

Off Topic
201

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Basketball players as a whole are the best athletes. There no better combination of speed, quickness, agility, strength, hand-eye coordination, leaping ability, dexterity and stamina. It’s the only sport college standouts can’t make itin the pros and transition to other sports with great success. Pro football is riddled with 'em.[/quote]
[/quote]
Really? Do you know how many first-round draft picks never even MAKE it to the big leagues, let alone do anything significant there?

There are plenty of athletes in many other sports that exhibit better speed than basketball players. I think what basketball does is it DISPLAYS more athletic ability than most sports, but it doesn’t mean that any of the things they do is better than any other athlete. For the most part, baseball players, football players, soccer players and rugby players are faster than basketball players. There’s about a billion sports with stronger athletes, including football, rugby, gymnastics, Olympic lifting, perhaps bobsledding, etc.

Superior quickness and eye-hand coordination can be seen in the highest levels of table tennis. Tennis players are generally far quicker than basketball players. Leaping ability is trumped by gymnasts, long jumpers, high jumpers and maybe even a lot of volleyball players. Dexterity is seen at a higher level by gymnasts and virtually any competitor in the snowboarding or skateboarding halfpipe. The stamina of tennis players, soccer players, most runners regardless of distance, triathletes, cyclists, etc.

There isn’t one thing that you can see on a basketball court that cannot be seen at a higher level in another sport, aside from the actual act of playing basketball. Like I mentioned above, all of those other sports feature whatever the criteria listed previously is, and at a higher level. Basketball is simply the sport where a lot of it is required all at once. They are the athletic jack-of-all-trades and masters of none.

202

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:

[quote]DBCooper wrote:
What about alligator wrestlers?[/quote]

European soccer players?[/quote]
I’m not talking about what should be fed to the alligators.

203

[quote]flipcollar wrote:

[quote]mbdix wrote:
No I was going with their actual size. I see where you are coming from with the lob passes. I can just picture Deon not getting burned to badly on the court, and able to have some success slapping the ball away and breaking away from Jordan for layups…not every play or anything but with some success. I can’t picture Jordan staying with Deon on the football field. And, I see Deon covering Jordan like a blanket on the football field. Oh well we will never really know [/quote]

I think saying “Oh well we will never really know” is a super cop-out after you made some outrageous statements. How in the actual fuck is Deon going to steal the ball for layups “with some success”? NBA professionals, who devoted their careers to being great defenders, had little success defending Jordan. I just can’t understand where you’re coming from. I don’t necessarily believe Deon could steal the ball from Shaq off the dribble. Seriously. You clearly have no idea how good NBA players really are.[/quote]

You can put it under a ‘cop out’ if you want. You can call my opinions on it ‘moronic’ if you want. Those are your opinions. I have my opinions on what I think would happen, so I made my points, you don’t agree and neither does WF…cool man, maybe someone does agree with my points and opinions? I am not going to change your opinions and neither are you going to change mine so far from what you have said. The lob pass comment made earlier does throw a problem with my football theory though.

204

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Basketball players as a whole are the best athletes. There no better combination of speed, quickness, agility, strength, hand-eye coordination, leaping ability, dexterity and stamina. It’s the only sport college standouts can’t make itin the pros and transition to other sports with great success. Pro football is riddled with 'em.[/quote]
[/quote]
Really? Do you know how many first-round draft picks never even MAKE it to the big leagues, let alone do anything significant there?

There are plenty of athletes in many other sports that exhibit better speed than basketball players. I think what basketball does is it DISPLAYS more athletic ability than most sports, but it doesn’t mean that any of the things they do is better than any other athlete. For the most part, baseball players, football players, soccer players and rugby players are faster than basketball players. There’s about a billion sports with stronger athletes, including football, rugby, gymnastics, Olympic lifting, perhaps bobsledding, etc.

Superior quickness and eye-hand coordination can be seen in the highest levels of table tennis. Tennis players are generally far quicker than basketball players. Leaping ability is trumped by gymnasts, long jumpers, high jumpers and maybe even a lot of volleyball players. Dexterity is seen at a higher level by gymnasts and virtually any competitor in the snowboarding or skateboarding halfpipe. The stamina of tennis players, soccer players, most runners regardless of distance, triathletes, cyclists, etc.

There isn’t one thing that you can see on a basketball court that cannot be seen at a higher level in another sport, aside from the actual act of playing basketball. Like I mentioned above, all of those other sports feature whatever the criteria listed previously is, and at a higher level. Basketball is simply the sport where a lot of it is required all at once. They are the athletic jack-of-all-trades and masters of none.[/quote]

This is so off I don’t know where to start, but instead of seething with you and shifting through your essay length response, I’ll just say I disagree and leave it at that.

205

Look, as good as Neon D was in his “prime time jerry-curl” days (LOL), he couldn’t hold Michael Jordan’s jock.

Were talking about the same Deion who couldn’t tackle, wasn’t physical at the line of scrimmage… guarding Jordan? What is the 6’1 Prime gonna do when Jordan back him down? Jordan was actually very strong for him size. I remember reading when former players said Jordan’s most underrated quality was his strength.

And I like Sanders, it’s just that there’s no way in hell he could guard him.

206

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Basketball players as a while are the best athletes. There no better combination of speed, quickness, agility, strength, hand-eye coordination, leaping ability, dexterity and stamina. It’s the only sport college standouts can’t make itin the pros and transition to other sports with great success. Pro football is riddled with 'em.[/quote]

I agree that bball players in the nba are great athletes, some of the best in the world maybe. I had bball players on my top ten greatest ever list. I like the fact the football offences have found a way to use the physical abilities, and size of ‘bball players’ esp at the t.e. pos. It makes me think of another great athlete that hasn’t been mentioned yet. Karl Malone.

207

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Basketball players as a whole are the best athletes. There no better combination of speed, quickness, agility, strength, hand-eye coordination, leaping ability, dexterity and stamina. It’s the only sport college standouts can’t make itin the pros and transition to other sports with great success. Pro football is riddled with 'em.[/quote]
[/quote]
Really? Do you know how many first-round draft picks never even MAKE it to the big leagues, let alone do anything significant there?

There are plenty of athletes in many other sports that exhibit better speed than basketball players. I think what basketball does is it DISPLAYS more athletic ability than most sports, but it doesn’t mean that any of the things they do is better than any other athlete. For the most part, baseball players, football players, soccer players and rugby players are faster than basketball players. There’s about a billion sports with stronger athletes, including football, rugby, gymnastics, Olympic lifting, perhaps bobsledding, etc.

Superior quickness and eye-hand coordination can be seen in the highest levels of table tennis. Tennis players are generally far quicker than basketball players. Leaping ability is trumped by gymnasts, long jumpers, high jumpers and maybe even a lot of volleyball players. Dexterity is seen at a higher level by gymnasts and virtually any competitor in the snowboarding or skateboarding halfpipe. The stamina of tennis players, soccer players, most runners regardless of distance, triathletes, cyclists, etc.

There isn’t one thing that you can see on a basketball court that cannot be seen at a higher level in another sport, aside from the actual act of playing basketball. Like I mentioned above, all of those other sports feature whatever the criteria listed previously is, and at a higher level. Basketball is simply the sport where a lot of it is required all at once. They are the athletic jack-of-all-trades and masters of none.[/quote]

It’s a combination of physical attributes that makes NBA players the top of the food chain. Look at power forwards or point guards. These guys could have played:

  1. football
  2. boxing
  3. soccer
  4. baseball
  5. track
  6. cycling
  7. Rugby

etc etc. etc.

They would only have to develop the SKILL through practice.

Do you know what type of shape you have to be in to play basketball? I played in high school, and can tell you it’s no joke.

208

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Basketball players as a whole are the best athletes. There no better combination of speed, quickness, agility, strength, hand-eye coordination, leaping ability, dexterity and stamina. It’s the only sport college standouts can’t make itin the pros and transition to other sports with great success. Pro football is riddled with 'em.[/quote]
[/quote]
Really? Do you know how many first-round draft picks never even MAKE it to the big leagues, let alone do anything significant there?

There are plenty of athletes in many other sports that exhibit better speed than basketball players. I think what basketball does is it DISPLAYS more athletic ability than most sports, but it doesn’t mean that any of the things they do is better than any other athlete. For the most part, baseball players, football players, soccer players and rugby players are faster than basketball players. There’s about a billion sports with stronger athletes, including football, rugby, gymnastics, Olympic lifting, perhaps bobsledding, etc.

Superior quickness and eye-hand coordination can be seen in the highest levels of table tennis. Tennis players are generally far quicker than basketball players. Leaping ability is trumped by gymnasts, long jumpers, high jumpers and maybe even a lot of volleyball players. Dexterity is seen at a higher level by gymnasts and virtually any competitor in the snowboarding or skateboarding halfpipe. The stamina of tennis players, soccer players, most runners regardless of distance, triathletes, cyclists, etc.

There isn’t one thing that you can see on a basketball court that cannot be seen at a higher level in another sport, aside from the actual act of playing basketball. Like I mentioned above, all of those other sports feature whatever the criteria listed previously is, and at a higher level. Basketball is simply the sport where a lot of it is required all at once. They are the athletic jack-of-all-trades and masters of none.[/quote]

This is so off I don’t know where to start, but instead of seething with you and shifting through your essay length response, I’ll just say I disagree and leave it at that.
[/quote]
What’s the point of even making a statement as bold and all-encompassing as basketball players are the best athletes if you aren’t even going to have the gumption to respond to a valid argument against that point? All you’re really saying is “you are wrong, I don’t know why, didn’t even read your entire post and have no intention to tell you why you are wrong since I don’t even know why in the first place.”

Don’t come on here and make statements if you aren’t going to back them up. I’m not some dipshit who is incapable of engaging in a rational argument, so there’s no reason why you can’t back up your assertions to me in a civil, productive manner.

By the way, who’s seething? Certainly not me. None of this means anything so I have no emotional investment in this thread. The fact is that EVERYTHING in this thread is entirely arbitrary. There is no way to quantify what makes an athlete “athletic” since there is no way to even decide which aspects of athleticism are more important than others. In many sports, only one aspect is important. In others, like in basketball, many aspects are important. How many different athletic qualities are displayed doesn’t even matter because there are all sorts of different ways to quantify each factor.

Take endurance. A marathon runner has way more endurance than a baseball player does, on the surface. But baseball players have a different kind of stamina since they play on average 6.5 times a week and have the longest season in North American sports, except for NASCAR, I think.

Take speed. A football player probably is faster than a bobsledder. But it’s a different type of speed. A member of the women’s Olympic bobsled team lives in my town and I know her well (Emily Azevedo). She can run pretty fucking fast period, especially considering she’s a bit on the thick side and pretty muscular for a woman. But she has incredible speed when you take into account this is someone whose event only mandates that she run for a few yards pushing a 700+ lb bobsled.

Take eye-hand coordination. The eye-hand coordination in table tennis is fucking insane. But it’s a totally different type of eye-hand coordination required to hit a stationary golf ball. But each activity requires a lot of it.

I could go on and on.

209

[quote]NorCal916 wrote:
Look, as good as Neon D was in his “prime time jerry-curl” days (LOL), he couldn’t hold Michael Jordan’s jock.

Were talking about the same Deion who couldn’t tackle, wasn’t physical at the line of scrimmage… guarding Jordan? What is the 6’1 Prime gonna do when Jordan back him down? Jordan was actually very strong for him size. I remember reading when former players said Jordan’s most underrated quality was his strength.

And I like Sanders, it’s just that there’s no way in hell he could guard him.[/quote]

When in the paint and Jordan has Deon posted up, Deon is in a world of trouble. Out on the edge I think Deon’s athletic skills gets him some steals. Deon could tackle he just made some ‘business decisions’

210

[quote]NorCal916 wrote:

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Basketball players as a whole are the best athletes. There no better combination of speed, quickness, agility, strength, hand-eye coordination, leaping ability, dexterity and stamina. It’s the only sport college standouts can’t make itin the pros and transition to other sports with great success. Pro football is riddled with 'em.[/quote]
[/quote]
Really? Do you know how many first-round draft picks never even MAKE it to the big leagues, let alone do anything significant there?

There are plenty of athletes in many other sports that exhibit better speed than basketball players. I think what basketball does is it DISPLAYS more athletic ability than most sports, but it doesn’t mean that any of the things they do is better than any other athlete. For the most part, baseball players, football players, soccer players and rugby players are faster than basketball players. There’s about a billion sports with stronger athletes, including football, rugby, gymnastics, Olympic lifting, perhaps bobsledding, etc.

Superior quickness and eye-hand coordination can be seen in the highest levels of table tennis. Tennis players are generally far quicker than basketball players. Leaping ability is trumped by gymnasts, long jumpers, high jumpers and maybe even a lot of volleyball players. Dexterity is seen at a higher level by gymnasts and virtually any competitor in the snowboarding or skateboarding halfpipe. The stamina of tennis players, soccer players, most runners regardless of distance, triathletes, cyclists, etc.

There isn’t one thing that you can see on a basketball court that cannot be seen at a higher level in another sport, aside from the actual act of playing basketball. Like I mentioned above, all of those other sports feature whatever the criteria listed previously is, and at a higher level. Basketball is simply the sport where a lot of it is required all at once. They are the athletic jack-of-all-trades and masters of none.[/quote]

It’s a combination of physical attributes that makes NBA players the top of the food chain. Look at power forwards or point guards. These guys could have played:

  1. football
  2. boxing
  3. soccer
  4. baseball
  5. track
  6. cycling
  7. Rugby

etc etc. etc.

They would only have to develop the SKILL through practice.

Do you know what type of shape you have to be in to play basketball? I played in high school, and can tell you it’s no joke.[/quote]
They MIGHT have been able to play those sports. Michael Jordan’s baseball career seriously undermines your argument, but whatever. He didn’t have a lot of time to practice skill.

What sets basketball players apart is not their athletic ability, it’s their height. I’m sorry, but no matter how athletic you are you aren’t playing power forward unless you’re at least 6’9". So height and not athletic ability is typically the ultimate criteria for basketball players.

211

I wonder what Jordan, and Sanders would say about this?

212

The lack of Mario Lemieux in this thread is disturbing. Arguably more talented than Wayne, and the records books would likely have collaborated this if his career wasn’t cut short (twice) by injuries. Even some of the game’s greatest players agree that Mario was perhaps the greatest player the game would ever see.

213

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Basketball players as a while are the best athletes. There no better combination of speed, quickness, agility, strength, hand-eye coordination, leaping ability, dexterity and stamina. It’s the only sport college standouts can’t make itin the pros and transition to other sports with great success. Pro football is riddled with 'em.[/quote]

I thought it was pretty much agreed by most everybody that basketball players are viewed as being the most athletic individuals in ANY sport.

I think the fact that the NFL has the 3 year rule helps greatly with the transition point you make. I look forward to Stern one day getting that same deal done, For every Lebron or Kobe there are far too many Kwame Brown’s, Sebastian Telefair’s or Johnathan Bender’s coming out of high school when they aren’t ready just because of potential.

And for the Jordan vs Deion arguments, i would bet that Deion wouldn’t even get a shot off, people don’t realize just how long NBA players are, they have crazy wingspans and that is what i hear most from people who’ve played at the level is just how hard it is to get a shot off. Its what makes Kevin Durant so deadly, he can get his shot off over anyone and on the flipside its hard getting a shot over him.

214

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Basketball players as a while are the best athletes. There no better combination of speed, quickness, agility, strength, hand-eye coordination, leaping ability, dexterity and stamina. It’s the only sport college standouts can’t make itin the pros and transition to other sports with great success. Pro football is riddled with 'em.[/quote]
Your a basketball guy so of course you believe this, I being a football guy is stronger overall so gives them the edge.

Who watches baseball any more anyway?

215

[quote]Eazy wrote:

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Basketball players as a while are the best athletes. There no better combination of speed, quickness, agility, strength, hand-eye coordination, leaping ability, dexterity and stamina. It’s the only sport college standouts can’t make itin the pros and transition to other sports with great success. Pro football is riddled with 'em.[/quote]

I thought it was pretty much agreed by most everybody that basketball players are viewed as being the most athletic individuals in ANY sport.

I think the fact that the NFL has the 3 year rule helps greatly with the transition point you make. I look forward to Stern one day getting that same deal done, For every Lebron or Kobe there are far too many Kwame Brown’s, Sebastian Telefair’s or Johnathan Bender’s coming out of high school when they aren’t ready just because of potential.

And for the Jordan vs Deion arguments, i would bet that Deion wouldn’t even get a shot off, people don’t realize just how long NBA players are, they have crazy wingspans and that is what i hear most from people who’ve played at the level is just how hard it is to get a shot off. Its what makes Kevin Durant so deadly, he can get his shot off over anyone and on the flipside its hard getting a shot over him.
[/quote]
The discussion turned to Deon playing basketball of course he could not dominate against a GOAT, deon played football and baseball while Jordan just dominated Basketball. Two pro sports beats one pro sport every time cause if Jordan was better athlete he should dominate MLB

216

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

[quote]NorCal916 wrote:

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Basketball players as a whole are the best athletes. There no better combination of speed, quickness, agility, strength, hand-eye coordination, leaping ability, dexterity and stamina. It’s the only sport college standouts can’t make itin the pros and transition to other sports with great success. Pro football is riddled with 'em.[/quote]
[/quote]
Really? Do you know how many first-round draft picks never even MAKE it to the big leagues, let alone do anything significant there?

There are plenty of athletes in many other sports that exhibit better speed than basketball players. I think what basketball does is it DISPLAYS more athletic ability than most sports, but it doesn’t mean that any of the things they do is better than any other athlete. For the most part, baseball players, football players, soccer players and rugby players are faster than basketball players. There’s about a billion sports with stronger athletes, including football, rugby, gymnastics, Olympic lifting, perhaps bobsledding, etc.

Superior quickness and eye-hand coordination can be seen in the highest levels of table tennis. Tennis players are generally far quicker than basketball players. Leaping ability is trumped by gymnasts, long jumpers, high jumpers and maybe even a lot of volleyball players. Dexterity is seen at a higher level by gymnasts and virtually any competitor in the snowboarding or skateboarding halfpipe. The stamina of tennis players, soccer players, most runners regardless of distance, triathletes, cyclists, etc.

There isn’t one thing that you can see on a basketball court that cannot be seen at a higher level in another sport, aside from the actual act of playing basketball. Like I mentioned above, all of those other sports feature whatever the criteria listed previously is, and at a higher level. Basketball is simply the sport where a lot of it is required all at once. They are the athletic jack-of-all-trades and masters of none.[/quote]

It’s a combination of physical attributes that makes NBA players the top of the food chain. Look at power forwards or point guards. These guys could have played:

  1. football
  2. boxing
  3. soccer
  4. baseball
  5. track
  6. cycling
  7. Rugby

etc etc. etc.

They would only have to develop the SKILL through practice.

Do you know what type of shape you have to be in to play basketball? I played in high school, and can tell you it’s no joke.[/quote]
They MIGHT have been able to play those sports. Michael Jordan’s baseball career seriously undermines your argument, but whatever. He didn’t have a lot of time to practice skill.

[/quote]

He wasn’t the failure that people made it out to be, he did play a stint with scottsdale where i believe he hit .252 or so against a lot of top prospects. You should watch the 30 for 30 “Jordan rides the bus” for a better perspective on just how difficult what he did was. After that season with the Barons he showed signs of improvement.

But i mean the dude up and left the game he dominated to pick up an entirely different sport he hadn’t played since a kid, in a years time did you expect him to be Ken Griffey Jr??

217

[quote]Derek542 wrote:

[quote]Eazy wrote:

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Basketball players as a while are the best athletes. There no better combination of speed, quickness, agility, strength, hand-eye coordination, leaping ability, dexterity and stamina. It’s the only sport college standouts can’t make itin the pros and transition to other sports with great success. Pro football is riddled with 'em.[/quote]

I thought it was pretty much agreed by most everybody that basketball players are viewed as being the most athletic individuals in ANY sport.

I think the fact that the NFL has the 3 year rule helps greatly with the transition point you make. I look forward to Stern one day getting that same deal done, For every Lebron or Kobe there are far too many Kwame Brown’s, Sebastian Telefair’s or Johnathan Bender’s coming out of high school when they aren’t ready just because of potential.

And for the Jordan vs Deion arguments, i would bet that Deion wouldn’t even get a shot off, people don’t realize just how long NBA players are, they have crazy wingspans and that is what i hear most from people who’ve played at the level is just how hard it is to get a shot off. Its what makes Kevin Durant so deadly, he can get his shot off over anyone and on the flipside its hard getting a shot over him.
[/quote]
The discussion turned to Deon playing basketball of course he could not dominate against a GOAT, deon played football and baseball while Jordan just dominated Basketball. Two pro sports beats one pro sport every time cause if Jordan was better athlete he should dominate MLB [/quote]

And i fully believe that if Jordan would have been able to split his time like Deion did with both sports he could have been at that level. Remember it wasn’t a real popular thing for Deion to do back in the day and he caught a lot of flack and i think everyone would agree he was still a far superior football player than he was a baseball player, his base running ability was what was coveted most about his baseball game.

And for the record those two are a few of my all time favorite athletes and i loved when Deion got to Cincy as i was able to see play.

218

[quote]Eazy wrote:

[quote]Derek542 wrote:

[quote]Eazy wrote:

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Basketball players as a while are the best athletes. There no better combination of speed, quickness, agility, strength, hand-eye coordination, leaping ability, dexterity and stamina. It’s the only sport college standouts can’t make itin the pros and transition to other sports with great success. Pro football is riddled with 'em.[/quote]

I thought it was pretty much agreed by most everybody that basketball players are viewed as being the most athletic individuals in ANY sport.

I think the fact that the NFL has the 3 year rule helps greatly with the transition point you make. I look forward to Stern one day getting that same deal done, For every Lebron or Kobe there are far too many Kwame Brown’s, Sebastian Telefair’s or Johnathan Bender’s coming out of high school when they aren’t ready just because of potential.

And for the Jordan vs Deion arguments, i would bet that Deion wouldn’t even get a shot off, people don’t realize just how long NBA players are, they have crazy wingspans and that is what i hear most from people who’ve played at the level is just how hard it is to get a shot off. Its what makes Kevin Durant so deadly, he can get his shot off over anyone and on the flipside its hard getting a shot over him.
[/quote]
The discussion turned to Deon playing basketball of course he could not dominate against a GOAT, deon played football and baseball while Jordan just dominated Basketball. Two pro sports beats one pro sport every time cause if Jordan was better athlete he should dominate MLB [/quote]

And i fully believe that if Jordan would have been able to split his time like Deion did with both sports he could have been at that level. Remember it wasn’t a real popular thing for Deion to do back in the day and he caught a lot of flack and i think everyone would agree he was still a far superior football player than he was a baseball player, his base running ability wast one of what was coveted most about his baseball game.

And for the record those two are a few of my all time favorite athletes and i loved when Deion got to Cincy as i was able to see play.[/quote]
Again we were talking athlete in the discussion, Jordan = Goat Jerry Rice = Goat for the sports they played, I hated both growing up cause they were kicking my teams ass every year.

In my eyes Athlete = physical abilities that can transcend more than just sport specifics. Just one of those guys that could pick up anything and beat 99% of the population from ping pong to horse shoes. IMO

219

[quote]Eazy wrote:

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

[quote]NorCal916 wrote:

[quote]DBCooper wrote:

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Basketball players as a whole are the best athletes. There no better combination of speed, quickness, agility, strength, hand-eye coordination, leaping ability, dexterity and stamina. It’s the only sport college standouts can’t make itin the pros and transition to other sports with great success. Pro football is riddled with 'em.[/quote]
[/quote]
Really? Do you know how many first-round draft picks never even MAKE it to the big leagues, let alone do anything significant there?

There are plenty of athletes in many other sports that exhibit better speed than basketball players. I think what basketball does is it DISPLAYS more athletic ability than most sports, but it doesn’t mean that any of the things they do is better than any other athlete. For the most part, baseball players, football players, soccer players and rugby players are faster than basketball players. There’s about a billion sports with stronger athletes, including football, rugby, gymnastics, Olympic lifting, perhaps bobsledding, etc.

Superior quickness and eye-hand coordination can be seen in the highest levels of table tennis. Tennis players are generally far quicker than basketball players. Leaping ability is trumped by gymnasts, long jumpers, high jumpers and maybe even a lot of volleyball players. Dexterity is seen at a higher level by gymnasts and virtually any competitor in the snowboarding or skateboarding halfpipe. The stamina of tennis players, soccer players, most runners regardless of distance, triathletes, cyclists, etc.

There isn’t one thing that you can see on a basketball court that cannot be seen at a higher level in another sport, aside from the actual act of playing basketball. Like I mentioned above, all of those other sports feature whatever the criteria listed previously is, and at a higher level. Basketball is simply the sport where a lot of it is required all at once. They are the athletic jack-of-all-trades and masters of none.[/quote]

It’s a combination of physical attributes that makes NBA players the top of the food chain. Look at power forwards or point guards. These guys could have played:

  1. football
  2. boxing
  3. soccer
  4. baseball
  5. track
  6. cycling
  7. Rugby

etc etc. etc.

They would only have to develop the SKILL through practice.

Do you know what type of shape you have to be in to play basketball? I played in high school, and can tell you it’s no joke.[/quote]
They MIGHT have been able to play those sports. Michael Jordan’s baseball career seriously undermines your argument, but whatever. He didn’t have a lot of time to practice skill.

[/quote]

He wasn’t the failure that people made it out to be, he did play a stint with scottsdale where i believe he hit .252 or so against a lot of top prospects. You should watch the 30 for 30 “Jordan rides the bus” for a better perspective on just how difficult what he did was. After that season with the Barons he showed signs of improvement.

But i mean the dude up and left the game he dominated to pick up an entirely different sport he hadn’t played since a kid, in a years time did you expect him to be Ken Griffey Jr??
[/quote]
Top prospects? Where’d you get that from? Wikipedia or some other bullshit site you had to go to look for things to support your argument with? The guy was in the Arizona Fall League. That may be for SOME top prospects, but it’s filled mostly with guys who were dogshit the year prior and need more work or players who were drafted and signed late, so they didn’t get a lot of work in the minors. Most of the players who are in a fall league were also drafted the same year, so he was basically playing against guys with about as much professional experience as him.

I didn’t expect him to be Ken Griffey, Jr., but I did expect him to look like a halfway decent athlete when he swung the bat. I haven’t played in several years and when I DID play I was a pitcher, but I have a better swing than he does. If basketball players are automatically the best athletes out there I would at least expect them to look athletic when they swing a bat, especially since most people on here don’t even consider baseball very hard to play at all.

220

[quote]Derek542 wrote:

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Basketball players as a while are the best athletes. There no better combination of speed, quickness, agility, strength, hand-eye coordination, leaping ability, dexterity and stamina. It’s the only sport college standouts can’t make itin the pros and transition to other sports with great success. Pro football is riddled with 'em.[/quote]
Your a basketball guy so of course you believe this, I being a football guy is stronger overall so gives them the edge.

Who watches baseball any more anyway?[/quote]

Baseball is a more technical sport of skill. But you can add a guy like Ricky Henderson or Ozzie Smith in the discussion easily.