In case you didn’t know, besides basketball, Allen Iverson was a pretty good football player too
It’s weird to see him playing a sport where he’s not appreciably smaller than pretty much everyone else around him.
he’d still be considered a short QB.
I think he made the right choice playing basketball for Georgetown because I don’t think a 5’10 QB would be drafted in 1996 or 1997
I think he made the right choice playing basketball for Georgetown
He did not personally make that choice to play basketball at Georgetown. He originally would have played football if it were up to him, at literally any college he wanted including Notre Dame and others. Georgetown became the only choice he had because of a series of unfortunate circumstances that still exist today in our society.
He also would have been listed at 6 feet. Maybe he’s slightly shorter barefoot but he’s taller than Doug Flutie, who had some success around that time.
It’s surprising the number of people here who haven’t seen No Crossover
I don’t know about that.
Doug was pretty much a career backup until he moved to canada, only returned to the nfl in 1998 and was an average QB for a couple seasons.
he’s performance wouldn’t really impact AI’s draft stock since he would’ve been drafted in 1997 or 1998.
They would round up to minimize his shortness for an athlete.
Hes listed at 6’1??
In what universe?
He’s listed 6’0 with shoes and everybody knows he’s 5’10 at best.
U right 6ft* … he would be a 6ft qb
You’re not wrong. I stood in a line at a club in Norfolk or Hampton in 06. I’m 5’10 bare foot. I as within arms reach of him. We were eye level. Maybe he was an inch taller. Maybe.
IIRC he was the top ranked offensive AND defensive recruit in his state.
Yeah lol at “pretty good” - he was AP High School Player of the Year in football.
In his junior year!
He’s probably one of, if not the greatest, football players to ever come out of Virginia
I was gonna say thats ridiculous considering who in the NFL played high school ball in Virginia but my goodness he was great in all 3 phases of the game. Vick and Russ were absolutely ridiculous but they were just playing QB.
The greatest might actually be Ronald Curry. I think you could make an argument Curry was one of the greatest high school athletes of all time, which shows you it doesn’t always translate to the future.
Vick wasn’t even ranked as the top high school player in his district because of Curry.
Iverson and Aaron Brooks were in the same grade from the same district in Virginia and Iverson was ranked as the better football player. Brooks went on to become a future NFL starting QB, which shows you how good Iverson was at football.
As a defensive back, Iverson was also considered one of the best in the state, alongside Ronde Barber, a year older, and who went on to become a future NFL Hall of Famer.
Those of us that saw him play know why Kobe said : NBA is lucky AI is not 6,6.
That is what Kobe said but that’s not how that works though. That’s like saying we’re lucky Spudd Webb wasn’t 6’6”. It’s not like he would have the same hops or agility. lol. This is why guys that are super tall and super coordinated are the most impressive players there are. Wembanyama is in rare as in 1 of 1 or 1 of 2 type company.
Which takes all of the fun out of the implication, which is “but what if he DID have the same hops or agility at that height?”
It isn’t as if those guys don’t exist. We’re not saying “What if AI was 11’ tall?”
Then he’s Michael Jordan.
That’s not what he meant though. It’s like pound-for-pound rankings. You’re looking at just skill and ignoring size. Wemby is agile and coordinated for his size but if he was 6’2” then he wouldn’t be an athlete. His offensive skill is light years behind AI’s.
lb for lb rankings is exactly why Wembanyama’s agility and coordination is so impressive. It’s unheard of. There are way way way way more people, percentage wise, with Iverson’s height approaching his level of overall athleticism than there are people Wembanyama’s height, percentage wise, with his same level of height and athleticism.
In fact these types of discussions are exactly why lb for lb rankings exist. It’s also why someone like Tom Aspinall moving the way he does is so unheard of and why super agile and super quick people are usually much smaller.
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Very cool. Basketball is a little better for his health lol. I’ll take knee and joint pain over CTE any day.
He was lanky as hell. Had to play basketball lol
Randy Moss would like to have a word…
Straight cash homie
Ironically, in high school Randy Moss was two time West Virginia Player of the Year in basketball, one of which he was co-awarded with his team mate Jason Williams.
There’s an alternate universe in which Moss sticks with basketball while Iverson sticks to football.
Randy was helped being 6’4” and running under a 4.3
This was the early 90s. Most high schoolers looked like this lol
The bowling alley incident
Two-Sport Fun fact that I like stating in a confusing way: Despite playing only 5 baseball games in college, baseball Hall of Famer Kenny Lofton left Arizona as the school’s all time leader in steals.
Steals in basketball. I thought you meant stolen bases in only 5 games.
That would be a crazy fun fact!
That was a fun Google. Thank you.
Unfortunately, Kenny Lofton didn’t make the Hall of Fame, despite a career 68.4 bWAR.
Oops, my bad. :X In my eyes, the man deserves it. And I hate Cleveland.
Lofton had the worst luck in terms of being on a series of very good but never WS-winning teams. I think if he had a couple titles people would regard him differently. Absolutely should be a HoFer.
That’s exactly why they called him Dr J
Say what?
82 got robbed on the play at ~35 seconds. That shit was a catch.
Unless they’re ruling it because the QB was out of bounds, but I don’t think the refs would signal incomplete if that was the case.
Hard to remember that even tiny NBA players are large humans.
People who are very good at sports tend to be good at multiple sports
Yeah and that’s why these parents are annoying with their delusions about their kids. Sorry mom and dad, but pro athletes tend to dominate in every sport and jr. is just all-county in one, without a major city, to boot. He’s going DIII, accept it.
Gotta hold that ball tighter though.
Shocking that one of quickest players in sports was good at football
Didn’t like to lift weights so the NFL was never in his future
A lot of high school kids don’t like to lift weights. He would have gone to college as a freshmen and had it beat into him. We wasn’t going to be a hall of famer but he would have likely made it to the NFL. He’s one of the greatest athletes of all time.
I think people who dont have any experience in ultra high level competition dont understand there is levels to these things, you cant teach people to react faster and make smarter decisions, or to outplay opponents with quick movements and crafty fakes. Some things are innate talent and no amount of coaching or preparation can make up for that fact.
That being said, you can’t teach AI to be taller, and that was a key factor in black QBs rise to prominence in the aught for the NFL, I doubt many coaches would give him much playing time, the fanbase/general cultural zeitgeist was still pretty racist at the time. The qbs featured in the video were younger than AI, so they would’ve been freshman or sophmores when AI was a senior, part of the reason they looked up to him is because AI was 18 when they were 14.
He wouldve had to make a huge impact in college to get drafted into the NFL, or else he would’ve been playing in the CFL (and most definitely the goat there)
I never said he was gonna be an NFL starting QB. I just said he would have made the NFL. They probably would have wanted him to be a slot WR.
Shits too heavy
We talkin bout practice?
Is this AI?
Why has nobody ever mentioned this?
Lots of people have
That’s the joke.
Seemed to almost pass through his teammate, lol. Thought for sure they’d hit each other.
Basketball was his third favourite sport
One of the greatest athletes of the 20th century.
Doensn’t get talked about enough.
No one was better and seeing and taking an attacking line than AI. If he was born anywhere other than north america would probably would’ve been a world famous centre attacking midfielder or striker.
He was better at football by all accounts from what I recall from his documentary.
AI can do everything
This just in. Elite athlete was an elite athlete. Who would have known. Anyone who makes it into the NBA, was likely very very good at some other sport in high school.
This is such a stupid response. He was AP player of the year in football and basketball the same year. Not many athletes are doing that
Randy Moss did it.
Yes. Randy Moss. One of the greatest athletes ever. Not many athletes are anywhere near Randy Moss. And thats the point.
One, not all elite athletes want to play two sports. I am guessing if they did -or their mom forced them to play another sport- they have a better chance of also being elite at that sport than a non-elite athlete in that sport.
Two, youth sports today discourages kids from not only playing another sport but to have any other interest that takes up time - baseball is year-round and they start counting pitches as soon as they can throw fast. Ain’t nobody got time for anything but baseball if you get serious about it.
No doubt AI, Bo Jackson were incredible athletes but I think time and desire are bigger limiting factors in producing more of those types of multi-sport guys.
You’re talking complete shit. Kids are encouraged to play more than one sport and the overwhelming majority of NFL draft picks played more than one sport in high school (almost 90%): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33238784/
Another study found 96% of players in the Super Bowl played multiple sports in high school: https://nfhs.org/stories/how-many-football-players-in-super-bowl-lii-played-multiple-sports-in-high-school
Re read my post
Theres elite, and then there’s generational talents. Most NBA players are good at another sport, but how many can you count that won state player of the year in two sports? Vince Carter did it for basketball and volleyball. Bo Jackson for baseball, football and track and field. But I cant think of others. And already that list alone are 3 of the best athletes ever.
So yeah, theres elite and then theres a level above that and Iverson deserves credit to be in that rarified company.
Joe Mauer was national player of the year for football and baseball.
Before social media people like you were ignored.
Elite athlete being good at a sport where the main quality is athleticism. I’m pretty sure you take 90% of the guards in the NBA and they would have been good enough to get drafted
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Literally says it in the video.
why watch a 3 min video when you can comment instead
This is why AI is the GOAT, Lefraud claims to be a high school all state football player but the highlights are extremely limited
i saw lebron play basketball and football in high school. he was a man among children in both.
The brainrot already coming out. Thank you for your service.
The world is a better place when you don’t make everything about LeBron