PGA~
Wow, I just got home from the fields, and this thread has exploded. I am honestly inclined to not even respond to your ignorance because it somehow gives it some merit. Just kidding, you are a golf tool, so I must reply. (Oh, and I was a North Florida Junior Golf Champ a few times since my mother and stepdad were club pros, so please don’t try to explain about golf… I played, then my testicles finally dropped, so I started to play SPORTS. I still play golf, but lets leave it as a tier 7,857 sport, like it is in collegiate athletics, shall we?)
First off, we should define athleticism based on positional needs, since most all of your examples were so amazingly athletic, yes freaks, that you basically made my argument for me.
Big players: strength, explosion, the ability to post up against another man who is amazingly strong, and is amazingly quick for his size. If you are discussing centers / power forwards, then Carl Malone is a great choice. He runs the floor, he posts up against other men, and any awkwardness he has is mostly due to the fact that his body angles are so different than a 5’10" guy… he has far less leverage.
Now, is a Center going to move like Jet Li? Um, nope. Save for Hakeem, there have never been big men who move that fluidly. So, when we look at all of the centers in colleges, and all of the centers hangin out at the recs across America, what is the difference? Athleticism.
Hell, I can stand at the low block, post Mr. Invisible up, create space with my shoulder, drop step into the lane while slowly lining up my shot, jump a little, and make 9 out of 10… but to get this shot off in the NBA or high college level, it requires amazing athleticism.
First off, I need to be strong enough to post a guy up, second I need to then catch an inlet pass while being mauled, third, I need to lean with power to create space, feel what area behind me has the least resistance, turn that way very quickly, fade and jump to a height where the ball won’t be blocked, then shoot. Making the shot is skill, but the ability to get the shot off… again, athleticism.
The other issue not addressed here is the biggest thing that hold many guys back: defense. Heck, your primary example, Larry Bird was a staggering defender: quick, strong in the legs, moved very agile for a man his size. I guess that isn’t athleticism. A friend of mine went to a BBall camp that Larry Bird hosted. The first thing he did was to come out and dunk the crap out of the ball… I mean he beasted the rim… Just because he chose to play a certain way doesn’t mean he wasn’t a freak.
The issue here has been addressed before on this thread: you are comparing NBA guys to other NBA guys.
Take a power forward off the streets and stick him into an NBA game. A) The game is moving way to fast for him. 2) He cannot post up, because he is a rec player, weak, slow, not able to carve out, not able to keep an NBA player pinned, and the NBA player would simply front him, and thus nullify any chance of ever receiving the pass.
Now, the shot goes up, and your rec guy tries to get position to rebound. Remember, he currently resides wherever our NBA guy has allowed him to stand (note what I just said, allowed)… not in some strategic position. So he moves to his right, but he is a slow weak joke, so the NBA guy pins him. He spins back to his left, but the NBA guy (who is now laughing so hard he pees a little) pins him harder, lower his hips, and gives rec boy a ride on his hip into the stands. No strength.
Now NBA guy goes on offense. He carves out as deep as he likes because rec boy spends most of his time watching golf on TV and the only thing he ever ran was his pie hole, and squatting invloves a magazine and a toilet bowl. So NBA guy carves out deep, pins the rec guy, catches the pass, drop steps, since he is quicker and stronger, and either dunks, or elevates and shoots. I personally go straight at weak guys, but that is my preference since I like contact.
Next time down the court, rec guy moves out on the perimeter, gets the ball, and does all of his fancy (aka gay) And-1 dribbling nonsense. Only problem is that the NBA guy, not being dim as a 10 watt bulb, simply watches rec boy’s hips as he spins and bobs, and convulses his head, and basically does a whole bunch of crap he learned instead of lifting weights… so rec guy has no power to explode to the hole. Basically, rec boy is the basketball equivalent of a hackey sack player vs a World Cup player… all that crap is cute, but guess what, you aren’t fast enough to go anywhere I DON’T LET YOU.
Rec guy, you are a joke, that is why you play pick up, and work at Circle K… your lack of discipline to do the things that were hard, ie. lift weights when other guys wanted to play an X-Box tourney and smoke up, and your ability to make excuses for not working on your speed, and not squatting has amazingly carried over to the rest of your life, and as a total shocker to everyone, you now get to wash out the slurpee machine, and restock the snickers. I know, we are all shocked also.
Next let’s address the WNBA, where the best night is “your second mother gets in free night”.
The first issue is first step quickness. The human eye and mind can only react to a visual stimulus so fast. This is partly why men have to play off of each other. Because they have such amazing first step explosion, a defender literally cannot react with his feet fast enough to stay in front of him if he plays as close as women do… it is impossible. This is enhanced by the fact that women play much higher in the hips than men offensively. So, when they try to drive with the ball, they first lower their hips, then drive… or they never truly get the huge forward lean men do… think of Jordan driving with his huge forward lean… ever seen that with women? Umm…nope.
So, a women telegraph it when they drive more than men since they play upright more, and B) they never achieve true “drive phase” angles. So, a female defender never faces the first step explosion, and therefore can play tighter.
Secondly, a male player, whose hips are lower, and has a much higher vertical, can play off because he can block a shot by jumping.
Women cannot block this way, because they frankly cannot jump.
(This is why my wife, when recruited as a BBall, VBall, and High Jumper for college didn’t choose BBall. She could grab the rim at 5’10" (10’5" vball approach touch), but all the BBall colleges wanted her to do was put on weight… what!? Why?! As a side note, Penn State wanted her to lose 25 pounds and high jump, so she chose VBall because she was just right… wimp.)
Now, how many women do you know who have a 31" vertical? The only athletes I know who hit this mark regularly are track athletes, who understand that gravy isn’t a beverage, and training is an everyday thing.
If we were to go on PGA, we could then examine the disappearance of the female style set shot in the NBA game due to the shot-blocking ability of the NBA defenders… but is it necessary?
PGA, I would go on to explain the athleticism of the other positions, and how your examples display those traits on a freakish level when compared to most HS and lower college kids, but it isn’t really necessary. Honestly, it is too similar to talking with my sister’s kids. This usually involves me talking about biomechanics and force vector relationships to center of mass,… and then they start to cry and run away. This is fine really, because I am sure when they decide to be good athletes in ten years, I will hear from them all the time…
I need to go to bed…
If you choose to disagree PGA, that is fine. Keep working on your jumper and dreaming about the 50’s. BTW, can we get Mickelson a sports bra, please? Good lord, have some self respect.
J
