Would Michael Jordan dominate the AFL?

[Falchoon]

How tall is the best sprinter in the world?

6'4" from memory

 

[TheBloods]

I'd agree with that

On that basis then, a 6'6" Franklin is one of the best players in the comp, so imagine how good a 6'6" Jordan would be!

 

[Falchoon]

So a 6'8" 100kg Al Thornton being about as fast as 6" 75kg Zaharakis proves your point?

Damn right, you watch Al Thornton play and he beats his opponents on a quick first step and quick hops time after time, what does Zaharakis do athletically that stands out in the AFL.

My argument is not that these guys aren't athletic, it's

a)that people hold them in too higher a regard athletically because of what they are able to do against stiffs like Hawes and Gray.

b)vertical leap is not the be all and end all of athleticism

c)being taller and equally as athletic does not equal being greater athletically.

d) on average NBA players are probably the poorest athletes amongst the major sports, the average being brought down by the incredible amount of non-athletic stiffs who play the sport at the highest level.

 

[Zeke]

Kicking would obviously need work, but he is a natural athlete and I'd back him to have the motor skills and desire to master the skill.

Didn't work for his baseball career...

 

[TheBloods]

d) on average NBA players are probably the poorest athletes amongst the major sports, the average being brought down by the incredible amount of non-athletic stiffs who play the sport at the highest level.

This is really an amazingly uninformed comment.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Didn't work for his baseball career...

I think baseball is a bit different though. I think being able to hit a 95mph fastball is something that a person has either got, or they don't. Reaction times can't be taught. Also, I think baseball differs in that it is more of a static sport, players are rarely required to perform more than one skill at a time.

 

[Falchoon]

This is really an amazingly uninformed comment.

Uninformed my arse, I love my basketball

Name me one athlete from any sport less athletic than the 7'+ stiffs that clog the basketball benches.

Name me one sport where a Dikembe Mutombo can play and contribute until he's 43.

They're everywhere, at least 2 to a team and significantly bring the average athleticism down.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

FFS if you say so.

Name me one athlete from any sport less athletic than the 7'+ stiffs that clog the basketball benches.

Name me one sport where a Dikembe Mutombo can play and contribute until he's 43.

They're everywhere, at least 2 to a team and significantly bring the average athleticism down.

Fair point...I guess I'd bring up the two other sports that Jordan has shown an interest in: baseball and golf. Some of the designated hitters and pitchers getting big coin in America don't look too mobile to me. As for golf, it seems that the ones that actually take care of their body are the exception, not the rule.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Give me another reason Muresan played or Bradley was drafted no.1, Manute Bol etc Watch the Alan Iverson of old, Spud Webber, the guy in my avatar, they make the average 6'7"+ NBA player look like the stiffs they are.

Interesting call...especially since Spud Webb and Earl Boykins were never anything more than role players in the NBA. Allen Iverson was a star, but he was another guy who was just an athletic freak. Plus, he has the added "bonus" that he has absolutely no regard for his body, which is why he hardly ever makes it through a season injury-free. I've read U.S. sportswriters, spruiking a similar to this thread, that if soccer was the national sport in the U.S, Iverson would have been the greatest soccer player ever.

 

[gbatman]

Depends what's above his shoulders.

 

[Damon_3388]

There's no 7-footers in the AFL, and increasing less of them each season in the NBA, so I don't really think they are relevant to this argument. Even so, picking out the most unathletic 7'0" white stiffs in the NBA isn't the way to construct a proper oppositional argument. Try picking out guys like Dwight Howard, Steven Hunter, Kevin Garnett, Rasheed Wallace, Nene and Chris Andersen (examples off the top of my head), who are as big as Aaron Sandilands, but would make him look foolish in a comparison of pure athletic ability.

When comparing those between 6'3" (191cm) and 6'8" (203cm) in both sports (generally the heights required to play a key position or ruck in the AFL, and generally the height of most players in the NBA), the NBA players are clearly superior athletically - in strength, explosive power, speed, quickness, agility, jumping, co-ordination. Endurance might be the only area that AFL players are consistently superior athletically, but even then, NBA players aren't unfit.

I said it earlier in the thread, but Lance Franklin is not a special athlete for his size by professional basketball standards, yet we consider him a freak here. There are countless NBA role players past and present of the same size or bigger than him who are more athletic than he is, but don't or didn't have the skills to be superstars of basketball. It's not just the stars of the NBA that are more athletic than our big men.

 

[Falchoon]

There's no 7-footers in the AFL, and increasing less of them each season in the NBA, so I don't really think they are relevant to this argument. Even so, picking out the most unathletic 7'0" white stiffs in the NBA isn't the way to construct a proper oppositional argument. Try picking out guys like Dwight Howard, Steven Hunter, Kevin Garnett, Rasheed Wallace, Nene and Chris Andersen (examples off the top of my head), who are as big as Aaron Sandilands, but would make him look foolish in a comparison of pure athletic ability.

It is when comparing average athleticism. There's a massive amount of stiffs that lower the NBA's average and make players of average athleticism look athletic. On a size by size basis no doubt the NBA players are more athletic, they have the cream of athletic talent in the supersize category, not my argument, on a man to man basis they are not.

There's no doubt guys like LeBron are athletic freaks, "for their size", LeBron is no more athletic than a number of six footers, but it's his combination of size and relative athleticism that allows him to dominate with what in reality is a reasonably limited skill set, not the athleticism alone.

Watch Sabonis as a youngster, he would dominate AFL like no other, as he would have the NBA, at the other end of his career he was a useful NBA contributor well past his AFL use by date. Why is that?

Piece of trivia, it takes 5 steps from the half way line for Chris Anstey to perform a layup.

On a sidenote I'll take any 4 random AFL players of average height, give them 1 weeks practice and I'll have good money on them shooting a better free throw percentage than Howard, Hunter, Nene and Andersen combined.

 

[PHX]

I bust a gut playing football. I can't even expend enough energy during a basketball game to make me tired at the end or make me come off. You've got to be kidding mate.

Lol at you trying to compare how you feel in a game of social league with the intensity of the NBA!

 

[TheBloods]

Uninformed my arse, I love my basketball

Name me one athlete from any sport less athletic than the 7'+ stiffs that clog the basketball benches.

Name me one sport where a Dikembe Mutombo can play and contribute until he's 43.

They're everywhere, at least 2 to a team and significantly bring the average athleticism down.

But the 7 footers have a specific role in basketball, which doesn't translate into other sports well, but are hard to beat in basketball. And the other players below 7 foot are generally pretty athletic. And not all 7 footers are poor athletes.

 

[Falchoon]

But the 7 footers have a specific role in basketball, which doesn't translate into other sports well, but are hard to beat in basketball.

So taller less athletic players can compete with shorter more athletic players in basketball?

I'm watching Ilgauskas defending Dwight Howard right now, your right about Ilgauskas' "athleticism" not translating well into other sports.

 

[TheBloods]

I don't think you really understand basketball...

 

[Falchoon]

I don't think you really understand basketball...

only played it for 15 years, been watching it for longer and been actively participating in fantasy NBA for 5-6 years. What would I know?

I don't think you understand athleticism.

 

[TheBloods]

If you don't think NBA players are athletic then I have to wonder about your understanding...

 

[Dangas]

**** no

 

[BLPC08]

He would be hopeless, Sanford Wheeler is the only other A-A to play our game and his disposal was atrocious.