if we’re comparing to the average person even juco players might as well be lebron lmao. basketball is an insanely tiered sport in terms of talent and ability

He definitely wasn’t a g leaguer, but one of my shining moments was shutting up a guy who was touting how he was trying out for the g league and would cook everyone there. He then got a switch onto me (shortest guy on the court) couldn’t drive past me no matter how many times he tried. He had to settle for a contested shot every time. I’m well aware I’d actually get cooked by a real g leaguer

At 6’ 3” most pick up games would expect Steph curry to be in the post.

Every time I’ve seen an nba player shoot in a pick up game it’s green light every time. Even people who aren’t known for being good shooters hit like 90% of their jump shots when they’re not at nba game speed, contested or not. It’s incredible. The worst nba player looks like Steph curry when he’s playing regulars. And they’re usually only choosing to shoot long Js for fun and safety purposes. They could easily just drive by everyone for dunks but it would be boring and would risk hurting themselves or someone else if they went 100%. So even a big post player will shoot to keep it interesting and not like a layup line. The guards are cash money already, even the “defensive specialists”.

I still don’t get how that clip of Mitch Robinson looking like KD in an open gym can mesh with his terrible free throw shooting form. I get him not making them but his form just looks atrocious too lmao what happens?

I was on the practice team for a D1 university that went to the final 4. I was an elite high school player and a borderline college player. I can beast virtually anyone in a pickup game. I could dunk when I was 13.

I have played against several future NBA bench players (barely even in the league). They are so big and fast and skill its mind blowing. I couldn’t even come close to keeping up.

The craziest one was when they had Randy Couture on an episode alongside Kevin Willis,Micheal Irvin,and  Jose Canseco and he completely dominated the Joes who were 20+ years younger than him. At least with the other Pros they could at least get a point or 2 sometimes in their sport but with fighting it showed how crazy the gap is with an untrained person to a pro fighter who wasn’t even trying.

I saw one episode where joes tried to score a header against Alexi Lalas. Not a single one came even close. Lalas talked mad shit to them the whole time. I actually gained alot of respect for pro soccer players after watching that episode. This was during an era when soccer wasn’t viewed as a “real” sport in the States. So watching a relatively unheralded American player completely wax average joes in a soccer related challenge was really eye opening to my 12 year old self.

kinda want to see Bron dunk on some subsistence farmers

Ya pretty pointless comparison. I wonder what % of men have ever shot a basketball

The average person in the world is 5’5 and 185 lbs. They also can probably name one basketball player or less.

Scalabrine was a journeyman NBA player but literally one of the best players in the NCAA during his college career.

Maybe the top 1% of HS players make it in high-level college ball. And maybe the top 1% of Div I college players make it in the NBA. The filtering that happens is insane.

KG said Scal was a 1 on 1 machine.

I’ll never forget the first time I played vs a D1 player who scored 4 ppg on like 30% from the field and he was doing step backs from the volleyball line and floating through the air looking like jordan in the paint.

Yeah my intramural teams star player had a preferred walk on offer from UGA (so not even good enough for a real offer to a non basketball school) and he might’ve averaged 40 ppg on 60%+ lol

They sound as silly as the guys who claim they could compete on the LPGA Tour because of their supposed distance

Setting aside that those ladies are more accurate with a 5 iron than they are with a PW, there’s no strength advantage in the short game and they’re pretty damn good at that part of the game

Iggy on the warriors was the first time I really noticed a big shift like this

Ehh kind of a bad example. His rebounding percentage went up a whopping 1%

I’d say Wiggins is the opposite point of what you and the first guy mean.

Wiggins kinda shows that the guy averaging 15 isn’t gonna average 25 just because he gets the ball more, Wiggins wasn’t doing that as a 20ppg and the freedom to be the #1 on offense.

And Wiggins didn’t become some totally different player. He just wasn’t the best player anymore so he had to take 3 less shots a game.

Credit to him though or GS shooting coach because after joining them he improved and became a consistent shooter. Could also just be playing off ball more.

I feel like Jonathan Kuminga is actually a better example. He absolutely refused to be a role player and tried to insert himself as the primary option. So Kerr put him in the doghouse and eventually moved him off the team.

Time will tell if he adapts in ATL or not, and if not I bet he’ll be out of the league. If he wasn’t so young and such an athletic outlier he’d probably be out already.

Andrew Wiggins role in Minnesota was #1 or #2 guy until Jimmy Butler, and Wiggins became #3. With LaVine Wiggins would’ve been fine being #3 but that never happened.

The Wolves KAT-Wiggins-LaVine team was good, could’ve made the playoffs. LaVine torn his ACL. Traded to Chicago.

KAT-Wiggins led Wolves team with no guards because they got hurt won 36 games. If the Wolves had another dude, they’d been fine.

Wiggins playing with Curry and Thompson clearly he’s going to be a stud as long as he shoots league average. Wiggins made 40% of his 3s.

Now in Miami he’s a fine player. Does enough in role. Does everything coaches want.

It’s happened quite a bit with players which is crazy. My go to example is always Kevin love with the cavs. Dude went from a monster 26 and 13 to 16 and 9 with LeBron.

Kind of, you’re basically saying the same thing. What you’re highlighting is that the Knicks leaned on their depth and asked them to do more, but they still played within the role expected of them

Caruso is more getting at someone like Kuminga, someone trying to be a star rather than play a role that benefits the team

keep in mind he said that when he was like OLD OLD and extremely washed up, and it was still true.

He then held The Scallenge and demolished all comers playing one-on-one.

I can’t find it just now but there’s a Noah Lyles edit with him getting asked about this question which is the best edit I’ve seen for any athlete.

I don’t think a lot of sports fans actually realise how ridiculous the levels are at the elite of sports.

I’ve always felt more confused than enlightened by this quote — because isn’t it super obvious? They’re both in the NBA. The average person is multiple constellations away from ever being considered for the g league…

Also helps when you’re MPJ and 6’10 and see completely over an average person. Not saying he wouldn’t still demolish them because of course he would. But at 6’10 you might as well be shooting by yourself on the court. No average persons contest is going to mean a damn thing. 

1-1 any end of bench guy can kill 95% of D1 players even at age 40. The difference in skill level is often night and day.

I mean the average person doesn’t try learn physics recreationally so that’s not really a surprise to anyone

The reason why this became a quote was because people talked about Brian Scalabrine like he was a bad basketball player. This was his response to the people who would say that. The statement may seem obvious to you but it is a good reminder for some fans who don’t seem to understand that the NBA is a whole other level.

I think it keeps being said because there are a lot more delusional ex-HS jocks walking around thinking they could take a pro athlete than there are former Physics Olympiad competitors thinking they’re smarter than an MIT physics professor.

you may be smart enough in whatever field you are smart in that this is completely obvious and intuitive to you; however most people are in fact about average. If a person doesn’t have a particular talent in something like sports or math or whatever they have no real concept of how large the scale really is.

Another great example is to think about various understandings of relative size. To an ant a man and a car are about the same size - imagine trying to guard a car sized man on a basketball court! Or for all of us, consider the size of things in outer space. There comes a point where the scale of how big something is doesn’t have any actual meaning to us.

Consider yourself blessed to have a talent that allowed you a window into the incredible stratification of talent that exists for humans. People find this quote noteworthy because it puts the talent difference into simple terms, a talent difference that isn’t readily apparent to the majority of people on the planet.

True. The main point of the video isn’t even about comparing nba players to average people that this comparison feels so out of place.

He is talking about how average, non-star players are all similarly skilled that it’s the small margins that separates someone from sitting on the bench to getting meaningful minutes (esp in the playoffs)

Infuriating how he’s treated by some of our fans, he’s outproduced his draft slot easily and they’ll find any reason to hate.

He would give the average person buckets man no doubt he just would.

He would drag his nuts across your face as he dunked on you

he does and it was publicly announced his rookie year lol

https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/gallery/inside-basketball-star-jared-mccains-sally-hansen-nail-polish-collaboration-launch-party-photos-1237792009/