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Pretty much every young guy under 6'7" in the NBA - and most of the rest - is an absolutely INSANE athlete. They don't make it to the league otherwise. (Not that that's enough, obviously.) De'Aaron, Zion, Giannis, the younger versions of Bron and Westbrook - guys like that just the freakiest of freaks athletically.
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Incidentally, you know which current Kings player put on among the most ridiculous all-time displays of athleticism at his NBA combine? None other than Harrison Barnes.
HB had the highest no-step vertical jump (38") at the 2012 combine (one of the highest ever at ANY combine), the best three-quarter court sprint (3.16), and bench-pressed 185 pounds 15 times, which is ridiculous.
But we don't think of HB as particularly athletic for a 6'8" NBA player, right? Part of it is that his game has always been more about fundamentals - "playing the right way" - than physical flash. (There were real questions about his athleticism even coming out of UNC.) Part is that he's now 29 w/over 23K minutes on those legs.
Mind you, even late-20's HB occasionally gets worked up enough to show he's still got juice. But lookee here at what young HB sometimes did to grown-ass NBA 7-footers....
HB had the highest no-step vertical jump (38") at the 2012 combine (one of the highest ever at ANY combine), the best three-quarter court sprint (3.16), and bench-pressed 185 pounds 15 times, which is ridiculous.
But we don't think of HB as particularly athletic for a 6'8" NBA player, right? Part of it is that his game has always been more about fundamentals - "playing the right way" - than physical flash. (There were real questions about his athleticism even coming out of UNC.) Part is that he's now 29 w/over 23K minutes on those legs.
Mind you, even late-20's HB occasionally gets worked up enough to show he's still got juice. But lookee here at what young HB sometimes did to grown-ass NBA 7-footers....
Had no idea he could ever dunk like that. I think some players find out that the skills that they're good at don't really coincide with flashy athletic plays so you just don't see the athleticism out of them as much because they have a more efficient way of getting the job done with their skill set.
I knew a handful of 5’7 to 5’9 dudes who could dunk. So, yea, NBA dudes under 6 ft are exceptional. Given the right circumstance think they would be able to pull off a similar dunk.
Dame, in person, looks like he’s about 5’11, but just cruises on the court. Could easily be a starting corner in the NFL.
Dame, in person, looks like he’s about 5’11, but just cruises on the court. Could easily be a starting corner in the NFL.
Um, no, he couldn’t.
Is Dame an elite athlete? Yes. Could he be trained to play the position? Sure.
But it would take years for him to develop into just a passable player, if ever.
DB is arguably the hardest position to learn and play nowadays. Along with offensive tackle and QB, it is the most visible in terms of knowing when a player is subpar or has made a poor play.
I’m fully aware that Dame was an outstanding football player as a youth. That also applies to a large percentage of professional athletes from various sports.
I think you are naive as to how difficult it is to play DB in the NFL or even in college. Being long, athletic and fast is nice. But a lot more goes into it than that.
Is Dame an elite athlete? Yes. Could he be trained to play the position? Sure.
But it would take years for him to develop into just a passable player, if ever.
DB is arguably the hardest position to learn and play nowadays. Along with offensive tackle and QB, it is the most visible in terms of knowing when a player is subpar or has made a poor play.
I’m fully aware that Dame was an outstanding football player as a youth. That also applies to a large percentage of professional athletes from various sports.
I think you are naive as to how difficult it is to play DB in the NFL or even in college. Being long, athletic and fast is nice. But a lot more goes into it than that.
Harrison Barnes quiets concerns about athleticism (linked) - Washington Post:
"Barnes didn’t dominate the college game in the way he was expected to coming out of high school and his slow first step and inability to get to the basket through dribble penetration were often attributed to a perceived lack of elite athleticism."
"Barnes didn’t dominate the college game in the way he was expected to coming out of high school and his slow first step and inability to get to the basket through dribble penetration were often attributed to a perceived lack of elite athleticism."
Didn’t realize I needed to put qualifiers on my statement. Maybe you coached or trained or have a background in football, I would hope so with such definitive statements. I do know folks, who train D1 college football athletes and a scout as well. Pretty certain they would agree that Dame, if he played football, could be a starting corner in the league. As could a number of other similarly built PGs.
It's always a good thing to be specific and accurate.
I have all of the above. That's why I know what I'm talking about.
Furthermore, how many 2 sport professional stars have you seen in your lifetime? The Bo Jackson's and Deion Sanders' of the world don't grow on trees.
You being "pretty certain" of what your (possibly) qualified friends would say doesn't mean much.
The fact that you are even trying to argue this shows me how much you really don't know. As I tried to explain to you, DB is about the hardest position to play. Being a freak athlete only means so much. There are a myriad of freak athletes in college and currently in the pros that aren't especially good at it.
The fact is, beyond what you have seen on a basketball court -- which in no way translates or qualifies someone -- there's literally no justification for believing he could be a starting DB in the NFL. None. If he had starred at the position in college and shown aptitude for it -- then ok. But that's not the case.
You might as well also claim that he could be a starting pitcher in MLB or a starting NFL QB because he can thrown an accurate length of the court pass with one arm. It'd be just a silly and baseless.
As one last example, there have been many former stud soccer/rugby players that attempted to become field goal kickers in college and/or professional football that ended up not being very good at it. Simply being good at striking a ball wasn't enough. It's a lot tougher than people think even for those that have similar skill sets.
While anything is possible, the odds of any player from any sport you can name being able to cross over to another pro sport and be remotely close to as good in that sport as they are in the one they chose is very low (ask Michael Jordan and Tim Tebow how hard it was to hit a baseball).
That's among many reasons why we haven't seen many multi-star athletes in professional sports. There aren't really all that many in college either, considering how many college athletes there are.
When you add playing one of the toughest positions in a very specialized sport, it just makes the odds even more remote.
Hell, how many star college football players don't make it in the NFL despite making an apples-to-apples move up in terms of the sport they are playing? And despite having trained for that sport and that position for at least 5+ years??
I'll end by asking you to cite a list of names that starred in one pro sport then switched to another sport and was an immediate starter. Or became one within a realistic amount of time.
The list is going to be pretty short. And the names on it were almost assuredly 2-sport stars in HS and in college.
I have all of the above. That's why I know what I'm talking about.
Furthermore, how many 2 sport professional stars have you seen in your lifetime? The Bo Jackson's and Deion Sanders' of the world don't grow on trees.
You being "pretty certain" of what your (possibly) qualified friends would say doesn't mean much.
The fact that you are even trying to argue this shows me how much you really don't know. As I tried to explain to you, DB is about the hardest position to play. Being a freak athlete only means so much. There are a myriad of freak athletes in college and currently in the pros that aren't especially good at it.
The fact is, beyond what you have seen on a basketball court -- which in no way translates or qualifies someone -- there's literally no justification for believing he could be a starting DB in the NFL. None. If he had starred at the position in college and shown aptitude for it -- then ok. But that's not the case.
You might as well also claim that he could be a starting pitcher in MLB or a starting NFL QB because he can thrown an accurate length of the court pass with one arm. It'd be just a silly and baseless.
As one last example, there have been many former stud soccer/rugby players that attempted to become field goal kickers in college and/or professional football that ended up not being very good at it. Simply being good at striking a ball wasn't enough. It's a lot tougher than people think even for those that have similar skill sets.
While anything is possible, the odds of any player from any sport you can name being able to cross over to another pro sport and be remotely close to as good in that sport as they are in the one they chose is very low (ask Michael Jordan and Tim Tebow how hard it was to hit a baseball).
That's among many reasons why we haven't seen many multi-star athletes in professional sports. There aren't really all that many in college either, considering how many college athletes there are.
When you add playing one of the toughest positions in a very specialized sport, it just makes the odds even more remote.
Hell, how many star college football players don't make it in the NFL despite making an apples-to-apples move up in terms of the sport they are playing? And despite having trained for that sport and that position for at least 5+ years??
I'll end by asking you to cite a list of names that starred in one pro sport then switched to another sport and was an immediate starter. Or became one within a realistic amount of time.
The list is going to be pretty short. And the names on it were almost assuredly 2-sport stars in HS and in college.
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Again, you took a statement about Dame's athleticism and assumed I was saying he could be a two sport star tomorrow. Didn't know I needed to provide qualifiers like you take the height, body type, agility, his work ethic, and project that on him playing football rather than hoops from day one and it's not hard to see him as an NFL corner.
The odds are overwhelming that he couldn’t become a starter in 5 years time, if ever. Forget about “tomorrow”. That’s what I’m telling you.
As I already said, there’s no justifiable reason to believe he could develop into a starting caliber NFL DB. Ever. He didn’t play or display an aptitude for the sport or position at any notable level beyond youth football. Period.
I can name countless former collegiate stars with similar height, body type, athleticism, agility, etc, that never made it despite actually working most their life at the craft.
For all you know Dame would have suffered the same outcome those players did had he pursued football instead of basketball. The odds definitely lean more in that direction than him “easily” becoming an NFL starting caliber player.
Same is true of NFL players trying to cross over into the NBA.
And stop already with the “qualifiers” nonsense.
As I already said, there’s no justifiable reason to believe he could develop into a starting caliber NFL DB. Ever. He didn’t play or display an aptitude for the sport or position at any notable level beyond youth football. Period.
I can name countless former collegiate stars with similar height, body type, athleticism, agility, etc, that never made it despite actually working most their life at the craft.
For all you know Dame would have suffered the same outcome those players did had he pursued football instead of basketball. The odds definitely lean more in that direction than him “easily” becoming an NFL starting caliber player.
Same is true of NFL players trying to cross over into the NBA.
And stop already with the “qualifiers” nonsense.
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Oh stop it. You made a ridiculous statement not based on anything real or empirical with regard to football, I call you out on it and now you wanna play victim and accuse me of creating a straw man argument. Brilliant.
Talk about moving goal posts.
If the “entire conversation” was simply about how incredibly athletic some undersized NBA players are then you would have said exactly that and left it at that (and I would have agreed with you) rather than asserting that one of them could “easily” start in a completely different sport at one of the most difficult positions to play when they’ve never shown any previous aptitude for it. That “tangent” was started by you, not me.
You’re just digging a deeper hole, dude. I mean, can ALL elite athletic undersized NBA players start too? It’s that easy?? SMH. (calling Dame undersized is questionable too. Dude is 6-2, 6-3 not 5-9)
Doesn’t surprise me you are bailing out on the conversation now. You should have done that from the start instead of doubling and tripling down before eventually tapping out.
To be perfectly clear one last time, had Damian Lillard or any NBA player like him chose football over basketball at a young age, it’s certainly “possible” he could have made a career out of it. But he would have faced the same long odds every other similarly built player has faced along the way and most likely wouldn’t have been among the roughly 1% that make the transition from college.
Just because he beat those odds to play in the NBA doesn’t in any way mean he’d “easily” have done the same to reach the NFL let alone become a starting caliber player.
”Possible”, yes. “Easily”, most likely not.
Talk about moving goal posts.
If the “entire conversation” was simply about how incredibly athletic some undersized NBA players are then you would have said exactly that and left it at that (and I would have agreed with you) rather than asserting that one of them could “easily” start in a completely different sport at one of the most difficult positions to play when they’ve never shown any previous aptitude for it. That “tangent” was started by you, not me.
You’re just digging a deeper hole, dude. I mean, can ALL elite athletic undersized NBA players start too? It’s that easy?? SMH. (calling Dame undersized is questionable too. Dude is 6-2, 6-3 not 5-9)
Doesn’t surprise me you are bailing out on the conversation now. You should have done that from the start instead of doubling and tripling down before eventually tapping out.
To be perfectly clear one last time, had Damian Lillard or any NBA player like him chose football over basketball at a young age, it’s certainly “possible” he could have made a career out of it. But he would have faced the same long odds every other similarly built player has faced along the way and most likely wouldn’t have been among the roughly 1% that make the transition from college.
Just because he beat those odds to play in the NBA doesn’t in any way mean he’d “easily” have done the same to reach the NFL let alone become a starting caliber player.
”Possible”, yes. “Easily”, most likely not.
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