Top Ten Most Athletic Basketball Athletes

[stretch]

Lay off the drugs.

Most NBA GMs and players say LeBron is probably the quickest player in the league baseline to baseline. And, LeBron has the ability to play point guard. He just doesn't because his team is so godawful they need him as a primary scorer. Magic didn't have that problem with teammates like Kareem and Worthy.

LeBron didn't play point guard and he still was 8th in the league in assists and the primary ball handler on the team. Imagine if his team didn't require him to score so much. LeBron is more than capable of playing point guard if the Cavs asked him to do it.

And, strength is not a skill. And, quickness is not a skill. Those are athletic talents or gifts, not skill. And, again, quickness is not the only thing to gauge athleticism. Strength, agility, jumping ability, balance, explosion, hand-eye coordination are all aspects of athleticism. You keep going back to an argument that is solely based on quickness and having point guard skills (which has very little to do with overall athleticism).

hi lebron hater

[JamStone]

The definition of athletic probably needs to be revisited.

Most people would say athletic means how high you can jump, how strong you are, how coordinated you are, how quick you are, how fast you are, and how much endurance you have.

There are a couple other factors that should be added in. One is reaction time. Another is the speed at which you process information (not the same thing). Another factor is build and center of gravity.

I think these should be included in athleticism because they are just as much a part of athletic performance as the other, standard definitions. An "athlete" with poor marks in these abilities is known as a "stiff". People might draft him high on potential, but the reality is he never had potential, he is just tall-strong-fast-whatever.

Look at Jason Kidd. He doesn't change games because of his "athleticism", although he had plenty in his time. He just sees more, and faster, than everyone else.

Look at Nash. Without his incredible reflexes, balance, and "cpu" speed, he would not be a top player. He might not even be an NBA player. Yet these don't show up on standard tests or a decathalon (though he would probably do fine at that too).

I realize most people do not include neurological factors into athleticism, but they are a dominant difference-maker between the stiff and the player, the starter and the star.

Interesting way of looking at athleticism. And, I'm inclined to say many of things you mentioned are taken into consideration when talking about athleticism, even if they aren't generally highlighted or talked about as much.

I believe reaction time and balance are generally viewed as aspects of athleticism. Things like swinging a bat at a 100 mph fastball or getting out of a three point stance on a snap in football require very good reaction time and definitely should factor into what is viewed as being athletic. I think balance is also a part of athleticism as well. Balance and leverage are very important, for example, in basketball to stay in front of a player in a defensive stance or to hold post position defense or to block out on a rebound in concert with strength, quickness, and agility.

In a decathlon, reaction time is required in the races to get out of the blocks once the gun is sounded.

Except for processing information, I think the things you mention are probably viewed generally as athletic traits.