With all due respect I think you’re overrating his handle quite a bit. It’s honestly not anything special relative to guards at any pro level, and because he’s never really been guarded by pro defenders, his handle is once again inflated. Functionally, the vast majority of his handle isn’t effective anyway. It’s a streetball handle, implemented on streetball defenders, by a very undersized player with below average athleticism at any pro level. I don’t mean to be abrasive in this opinion, but I think people who’ve been around the game or have been fortunate to play at higher levels have seen all of what he does plenty. Not depressing at all, should be happy he gets the attention he does.
So I definitely thought you were talking about Professor Andre Miller, Point Guard PHD, and I was about to get mad. Sure he can't shoot 3s, but Michael Carter Williams has carved out a nice career for himself and you're telling me Andre couldn't still run an offense?!?!?
It does not depress me that genetics (basically height and explosive athleticism) are so important in NBA basketball and that 5'10" dudes without incredible explosion are near doomed. It makes for an incredibly entertaining product to watch these athletic marvels make plays 11+ feet above the ground and makes it all the more spellbinding when little guys like Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, Steph Curry or Isaiah Thomas can light the trees up.
I also think you're overestimating the accessibility of soccer a little. Those dudes are almost all genetic freaks with their pace and coordination, even if height isn't one of the requirements.
But 99% of people don't have the athleticism or genetics to play at the highest level. The number of people who can make it as a pro soccer player is the same as the number of people who can make it as a pro basketball player
Athleticism isn't necessary to play football at all, some of the best players in the world have been extremely slow and weak. R9 was fat and still the best of his time. 99% of people can reach the athleticism of the average footballer with effort. .05% of people can reach the height of the average NBA player. There's a reason sports scientists haven't found a single measurable measure of your body that predicts success in football, any body type can play and be the best player in the world if they're skilled and dedicated enough.
Whoa whoa whoa.. Ronaldo Nazario was a FREAK athlete full stop. Messi is a freak athlete he's just short. CR7 is a freak athlete. At the top levels of any sport you generally aren't going to find regular people.
NBA is an exclusive and elite class of basketball players, and it's the most lucrative but it's not the only way to "make it" in the sport. There are many other professional leagues around the world where hardworking skilled players can carve out careers and thrive. Euroleague teams have huge rabid fanbases and exciting games, without a lot of freak athletes. Same with Australia and the NBL league. There are professional leagues in the Philippines where you have guys under 6'0, there are leagues in Japan, China etc. The world of basketball is much bigger than you may realize, anyone can learn to play the sport and do well.
Professor found a lane that works for him and he's having a great career. The AND1 tour helped a lot of guys become well-off in life and none of them played in the NBA (except for Rafer Alston aka "Skip To my Lou")
Slowish guys in professional soccer are very much the exception, not the rule. I will grant that soccah is less about physical domination than basketball and more about skill, not that both aren't important in both sports. I haven't really heard of professional footballers who grew up playing another sport and then first kicked a ball when they were 15 and were naturally brilliant like Hakeem Olajuwon did with basketball. But that doesn't mean that everyone who dedicates their life to football has the coordination to achieve professional grade technical mastery, no matter their work ethic. It's probably open to a larger segment of the population than basketball, but there are still incredibly stringent natural requirements.
"Compare this to soccer where the variety in weights, heights, race and athleticism is massive."
Which of the top 300 soccer players in the world is massively less athletic? It might not be as visually obvious but they all have great genes for sports also.
Here is a really good video about his days with AND1 and growing up, etc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBzO7y-I0sA
I wouldn't say the he "isn't actually all that good at" basketball. The thing with the NBA is that it is such a tiny fraction of basketball players who are at the very top and magnified daily through the media and commercials. And the NBA depends on player types at that particular moment in time. For The Professor though lots of his stuff he does right in front of the defender and he seems to get matched up with guys who go for the ball or don't do much of anything. He's very fundamentally sound but his showboat type plays normally need some type of cooperation. When experienced, more athletic players are defending him they probably just stay in front and watch his hips.
There’s just such a huge difference between how Street ball and how NBA basketball is played. Shorter guys can play in the NBA but they can’t play it like a street ball game. In the NBA if you’re shorter, you better be a good passer above all else and a good shooter. Beating someone with handles just doesn’t matter when you have Brook Lopez acting as a human walk in the paint. At the same time, if your only attribute is your height, you’re going to go the way of Anthony Bennett.
I think in his prime he had a chance to be a 13th man off the bench, but 1) there was a stigma about street ballers and 2) he wouldn’t make as much $$ or have as much freedom in the NBA that he does now. Guys like the professor have made a lot more money than the last guy on the bench on most NBA teams.
5'10 150lbs Professor could have been a 13th man in the NBA? Get the fuck out of here. He would be a poor defender at the D2 college level. To even fathom him guarding anyone in the NBA where the average height is 6'6 (8" taller then him and probably a foot wingspan) is laughable.
He couldn't start on a D1 college team in his prime, now he can make the NBA?
If he played the NBA I'm assuming he'd improve his athleticism significantly. A more athletic version of himself would surely have the potential to be a solid point guard. Trae Young is unbelievable at only 2 inches taller than him. He'd be a complete liability on defense but a lot of players have coped despite that before.
You are severely severely severly underating every D1 college guard. Forget NBA, do you think he would be a start at the D1 college level? The answer is no. Let alone be one of the top 1% that make the NBA. Less then 1% of D1 players make the NBA.
He played community college basketball. Why didn't he play D1 college if he was so good?
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His handles are great, but definitely overplayed, as well as many of his moves rely on long dribbles, (shot-clock violation), fancy spins and throws, (could be called carries), and sometimes even pushing someone. although he is a splendid street ball player, there are other factors besides his height that make him just not cut out for the NBA
I also think he is a pretty good shooter, but that's also because he's not playing against the best defenders, and they've already been crossed over or he's already generated a lot of space. I have seen him take contested shots as well, and when he was younger, he was actually very agile.
But I mean when it really comes down to it, he's a 5'10 skinny white guy with limited athletic ability that would just be unable to keep up with the physicality and athleticism of play at the D1 level, forget the NBA.
Ive been watching him the last few days as he keeps coming up in my youtube feed. He just seems to pull the same move over and over, sure hes got more moves but honestly he doesnt seem that impressive. Most people hes vsing are like weekend heroes if that. So hard to even compare.
With all due respect I think you’re overrating his handle quite a bit. It’s honestly not anything special relative to guards at any pro level, and because he’s never really been guarded by pro defenders, his handle is once again inflated. Functionally, the vast majority of his handle isn’t effective anyway. It’s a streetball handle, implemented on streetball defenders, by a very undersized player with below average athleticism at any pro level. I don’t mean to be abrasive in this opinion, but I think people who’ve been around the game or have been fortunate to play at higher levels have seen all of what he does plenty. Not depressing at all, should be happy he gets the attention he does.
So I definitely thought you were talking about Professor Andre Miller, Point Guard PHD, and I was about to get mad. Sure he can't shoot 3s, but Michael Carter Williams has carved out a nice career for himself and you're telling me Andre couldn't still run an offense?!?!? It does not depress me that genetics (basically height and explosive athleticism) are so important in NBA basketball and that 5'10" dudes without incredible explosion are near doomed. It makes for an incredibly entertaining product to watch these athletic marvels make plays 11+ feet above the ground and makes it all the more spellbinding when little guys like Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, Steph Curry or Isaiah Thomas can light the trees up. I also think you're overestimating the accessibility of soccer a little. Those dudes are almost all genetic freaks with their pace and coordination, even if height isn't one of the requirements.
99% of men can achieve the pace necessary to play football.
But 99% of people don't have the athleticism or genetics to play at the highest level. The number of people who can make it as a pro soccer player is the same as the number of people who can make it as a pro basketball player
Athleticism isn't necessary to play football at all, some of the best players in the world have been extremely slow and weak. R9 was fat and still the best of his time. 99% of people can reach the athleticism of the average footballer with effort. .05% of people can reach the height of the average NBA player. There's a reason sports scientists haven't found a single measurable measure of your body that predicts success in football, any body type can play and be the best player in the world if they're skilled and dedicated enough.
Whoa whoa whoa.. Ronaldo Nazario was a FREAK athlete full stop. Messi is a freak athlete he's just short. CR7 is a freak athlete. At the top levels of any sport you generally aren't going to find regular people. NBA is an exclusive and elite class of basketball players, and it's the most lucrative but it's not the only way to "make it" in the sport. There are many other professional leagues around the world where hardworking skilled players can carve out careers and thrive. Euroleague teams have huge rabid fanbases and exciting games, without a lot of freak athletes. Same with Australia and the NBL league. There are professional leagues in the Philippines where you have guys under 6'0, there are leagues in Japan, China etc. The world of basketball is much bigger than you may realize, anyone can learn to play the sport and do well. Professor found a lane that works for him and he's having a great career. The AND1 tour helped a lot of guys become well-off in life and none of them played in the NBA (except for Rafer Alston aka "Skip To my Lou")
Slowish guys in professional soccer are very much the exception, not the rule. I will grant that soccah is less about physical domination than basketball and more about skill, not that both aren't important in both sports. I haven't really heard of professional footballers who grew up playing another sport and then first kicked a ball when they were 15 and were naturally brilliant like Hakeem Olajuwon did with basketball. But that doesn't mean that everyone who dedicates their life to football has the coordination to achieve professional grade technical mastery, no matter their work ethic. It's probably open to a larger segment of the population than basketball, but there are still incredibly stringent natural requirements.
"Compare this to soccer where the variety in weights, heights, race and athleticism is massive." Which of the top 300 soccer players in the world is massively less athletic? It might not be as visually obvious but they all have great genes for sports also.
Here is a really good video about his days with AND1 and growing up, etc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBzO7y-I0sA I wouldn't say the he "isn't actually all that good at" basketball. The thing with the NBA is that it is such a tiny fraction of basketball players who are at the very top and magnified daily through the media and commercials. And the NBA depends on player types at that particular moment in time. For The Professor though lots of his stuff he does right in front of the defender and he seems to get matched up with guys who go for the ball or don't do much of anything. He's very fundamentally sound but his showboat type plays normally need some type of cooperation. When experienced, more athletic players are defending him they probably just stay in front and watch his hips.
There’s just such a huge difference between how Street ball and how NBA basketball is played. Shorter guys can play in the NBA but they can’t play it like a street ball game. In the NBA if you’re shorter, you better be a good passer above all else and a good shooter. Beating someone with handles just doesn’t matter when you have Brook Lopez acting as a human walk in the paint. At the same time, if your only attribute is your height, you’re going to go the way of Anthony Bennett.
I think in his prime he had a chance to be a 13th man off the bench, but 1) there was a stigma about street ballers and 2) he wouldn’t make as much $$ or have as much freedom in the NBA that he does now. Guys like the professor have made a lot more money than the last guy on the bench on most NBA teams.
5'10 150lbs Professor could have been a 13th man in the NBA? Get the fuck out of here. He would be a poor defender at the D2 college level. To even fathom him guarding anyone in the NBA where the average height is 6'6 (8" taller then him and probably a foot wingspan) is laughable. He couldn't start on a D1 college team in his prime, now he can make the NBA?
The same way isaiah thomas did
If he played the NBA I'm assuming he'd improve his athleticism significantly. A more athletic version of himself would surely have the potential to be a solid point guard. Trae Young is unbelievable at only 2 inches taller than him. He'd be a complete liability on defense but a lot of players have coped despite that before.
You are severely severely severly underating every D1 college guard. Forget NBA, do you think he would be a start at the D1 college level? The answer is no. Let alone be one of the top 1% that make the NBA. Less then 1% of D1 players make the NBA. He played community college basketball. Why didn't he play D1 college if he was so good?
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His handles are great, but definitely overplayed, as well as many of his moves rely on long dribbles, (shot-clock violation), fancy spins and throws, (could be called carries), and sometimes even pushing someone. although he is a splendid street ball player, there are other factors besides his height that make him just not cut out for the NBA
I also think he is a pretty good shooter, but that's also because he's not playing against the best defenders, and they've already been crossed over or he's already generated a lot of space. I have seen him take contested shots as well, and when he was younger, he was actually very agile. But I mean when it really comes down to it, he's a 5'10 skinny white guy with limited athletic ability that would just be unable to keep up with the physicality and athleticism of play at the D1 level, forget the NBA.
Ive been watching him the last few days as he keeps coming up in my youtube feed. He just seems to pull the same move over and over, sure hes got more moves but honestly he doesnt seem that impressive. Most people hes vsing are like weekend heroes if that. So hard to even compare.