Why is basketball players looked up to as the greatest athletes?

[BEER]

Because they are Elite in almost every single metric of athleticism.

The NBA has guys who are 6'7", 240 pounds with 40+ inch vertical leaps who can clock incredible speeds while also being able to react at a very high speed.

In his prime, Lebron James may have been one of the greatest athletes of all time. 6'7", 260 pounds, 48 inch vertical, clocked at 20 miles an hour at full sprint. One of the highest Basketball IQs ever, incredible vision and reaction times.

That doesn't say shit for how NBA players would do in a fistfight, of course. But their athleticism is unparalleled. Guys that would make Ubereem look small, who are also significantly faster with incredible coordination.

There is zero doubt in my mind that if guys with those sort of truly freakish genetics decided to fight instead of play basketball as kids, they would have all the physical tools to be absolute monsters.

 

[Lemmy Caution]

Because people are silly. Hakeem Olajuwon is one of the 4 best centers to ever play the game. In 1993–94, he became the only player in NBA history to win the NBA MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and Finals MVP awards in the same season. (Shaq calls him the best he ever faced.) Hakeem didn't play basketball until he was 17. What sport can you pick up at 17 and dominate?

I'm not knocking the basketball. The NBA was the shit in the 1980s and 90s. Dennis Rodman, with 1990s rules, would chew up LeBron and spit out his bones. A mere human being cannot stand up to the genetic freak that was Rodman. Rodman even cucked the 80lbs heavier Shaq, who throughout his career was used to just walk over people. Rodman, not Jordan, was the real MVP of the 1996 playoff. If any NBA player could have made it in MMA, it's Rodman. He's so much faster and explosive than anyone else in the NBA, and arguably strongest pound for pound. Rodman became the greatest rebounder in NBA history while playing in an era of great big men.

 

[I am your real dad]

They are a bunch of sidewalk sissies with bad chins who play a child's game and pretend to be tough.

 

[tenniswhiz]

Because everyone plays basketball when they are kids (in the USA).
So if you’re good, you’ll be found and your talent will be developed.

Same with soccer and (American) football.

To some extent, MMA takes specialized training, though not to the extent of golf or tennis.
An MMA fighter can START MMA at age 18, or come in with a wrestling or BJJ base at age 23, and become Top 10.
Nobody could start golf or tennis at age 18 and ever compete at the professional level.

So there are 2 elements.
The raw athleticism and the development of the talent.
Some sports are almost entirely about one, some are a 50/50 mix.

 

[Chuck Ragnar]

Black people do have big dongs

 

[Taric]

Hakeem didn't play basketball until he was 17. What sport can you pick up at 17 and dominate?

Uh, MMA? Francis Ngannou didn't get into boxing until he was 22 and BJJ until he was 26.

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

Mma is filled with so many non athletes it’s laughable.

NBA is filled with athletes all over the place.

 

[BEER]

Uh, MMA? Francis Ngannou didn't get into boxing until he was 22 and BJJ until he was 26.

Randy Couture debuted at like 36 years old.

If you're 25, you could start training MMA and if you're even halfway decent, you could be a gatekeeper in Bellator or even the UFC in 3-4 years.

 

[HwoarangStyle]

because big and explosive

 

[Taric]

Randy Couture debuted at like 36 years old.

If you're 25, you could start training MMA and if you're even halfway decent, you could be a gatekeeper in Bellator or even the UFC in 3-4 years.

Randy was wrestling in high school though so he had a base. Not a great example imo. Francis didn't start training a single martial art, of any kind, until he was 22 and he's finding all kinds of success atm. It's kinda crazy when you sit back and think about it.

 

[Yourstepdad]

Fighters are the best athletes

Top pro boxers especially, because of the competition in this sport

 

[cunglaowins]

Height = talent, coolness, something sherdog manlets don’t have

 

[dragovic]

Id gowith basketball or soccer. When they've done studies on athletes and taken athletes from different sports and have them do all sports the basketball and soccer players have always done the best at other sports other then their sport they get paid at.

Put hockey in that discussion and we will have a clear winner though. Lol imagine Lebron on skates

 

[BEER]

Randy was wrestling in high school though so he had a base. Not a great example imo. Francis didn't start training a single martial art, of any kind, until he was 22 and he's finding all kinds of success atm. It's kinda crazy when you sit back and think about it.

Francis has that same sort of high level athleticism. Imagine if he started training at like 15.

 

[rjmbrd]

Randy was wrestling in high school though so he had a base. Not a great example imo. Francis didn't start training a single martial art, of any kind, until he was 22 and he's finding all kinds of success atm. It's kinda crazy when you sit back and think about it.

Its not crazy because he's a heavyweight.

We are shuffling around the old farts of yesteryear at heavyweight and it has the oldest average age of all divisions. It has - by fighters under contract - half the depth of 155/170.

So its a shallow talent pool that doesn't have many participants of appropriate age or the level of athleticism and skill you see in lower weight divisions. That means being very athletic and a quick learner alone is good enough to operate in the big show.

If the entry pay in the UFC heavyweight division went up, for purpose of illustration, 5x this year, you would see a windfall of guys like Francis showing up. Big, appropriately aged athletic guys willing to give it a shot.

So long as these guys are getting paid like jabronis to get head trauma, you won't see depth at 205/265.

 

[COBRA03]

I would put top football players above basketball players. Guys like Michael Jordan or LaBron often played nearly the whole game sometimes though, so not belittling BB players. Football seems to combine speed, strength, endurance, and toughness more. Can't rule out top hockey players either.

 

[kneesus]

Putting in a plug for both hockey and rugby players, niche as they may be. Not as big as basketball players but playing in a contact sport with more endurance demands deserves mentioning. In hockey's case, a ton of coordination as well. Oh, and fighting.

 

[mahavishnunj]

So laughable, those casual scum don't deserve to breathe the same air as us hardcores.

they arent casual scum and im not a hardcore fan. they just like lame shit like dudes chasing after a ball. if there was more ass-patting, 10 billion rules upon rules, or 18 tons of pads like in football id be more hardcore about mma.

 

[Gamer007]

Why would you fight in MMA for pennies, when you can make millions on the bench in the NBA? Until the MMA World can financially compete with the bigger sports, you will never see the top talent compete. It's all fun and games, till a guy with a 40 inch vert throws a flying knee, then shit gets real. It's not the idea that pro basketball players with 10 years experience, could go to MMA and dominate(tho many of them could), it's the fact that there are 15-20 year olds who have the athletic talent and could be swayed to MMA over something like the NBA G-league or overseas play.

 

[Fraz]

they arent casual scum and im not a hardcore fan. they just like lame shit like dudes chasing after a ball. if there was more ass-patting, 10 billion rules upon rules, or 18 tons of pads like in football id be more hardcore about mma.

They should introduce chasing a ball to MMA fights, it would explode in popularity.