Which sport has the best athletes?

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Free throws, foul calls, any violation basically and the clock and play is stopped. Basketball has 4 12 minute quarters which would mean it's a 48 minute game but it isn't. It usually averages to 2 hrs and 15 minutes or so. What's that, 135 minutes? So subtracting down the 15 minute half time plus game time of 48 minutes, there's 72 minutes of basketball not being played in a normal game. I don't think it's as constant as you think it is.


Have you ever played full court basketball? It's incredibly exhausting ... people seem to forget just how easy the pros make their respective sports look ...
 
I'd love to see a goalie who has "cat like" reflexes even attempt to do something half as athletic as this.

I'd love to see him remotely do good at blocking a goal. you are talking apples and oranges for body types needed for their job. A tall lanky goalie who is built for jumping would likely be a terrible goalie o.O

average height of a goalie is like 6'2"
average height of a basketball player in general is like 6'7"
 
Have you ever played full court basketball? It's incredibly exhausting ... people seem to forget just how easy the pros make their respective sports look ...

I was just pointing out the facts that it wasn't constant motion. And yes, I have back in high school. And all sports are exhausting, that's why these guys get paid millions.
 
I was just pointing out the facts that it wasn't constant motion. And yes, I have back in high school. And all sports are exhausting, that's why these guys get paid millions.


Sorry, but what does "constant motion" mean in relation to what we are talking about? Not even soccer or hockey has "constant motion" throughout the whole game ...
 
Duncan started off as a swimmer and has always taken care of his body but I wouldn't say he was pretty athletic when he was younger. He's always has had an old man game due to him not being a big jumper and flyer like David Robinson before him. Now D Rob was a true physical specimen. That guy was incredible no matter the sport. Anyway Duncan knew his physical limitations and adjusted accordingly. Sean Elliott even jokingly says that Duncan has never been able to jump over a sheet of paper.

Channing Frye? Robin Lopez? Asik? Pekovic? David West? Hibbert? Seriously you want me to keep going?

There's more to athleticism than just jumping high, Duncan was very agile and fairly quick in the open court for someone that is 6'11". Just cause Robinson was a freak athlete doesn't mean Duncan wasn't a good one.

Sure, you can keep going and I'll add these guys to the athletic list Derrick Favors, JaVale McGee, Andre Drummond, Taj Gibson, DeAndre Jordan, Tyson Chandler, Plumlee brothers (Miles has a 40.5" vertical), Anthony Davis, Dwight Howard, Zeller brothers (38" vertical for Cody), Joakim Noah, Brandon Wright, Serga Ibaka, Meyers Leonard, Blake Griffin, Ed Davis, Jeremy Evans and more.
 
Duncan started off as a swimmer and has always taken care of his body but I wouldn't say he was pretty athletic when he was younger. He's always has had an old man game due to him not being a big jumper and flyer like David Robinson before him. Now D Rob was a true physical specimen. That guy was incredible no matter the sport. Anyway Duncan knew his physical limitations and adjusted accordingly. Sean Elliott even jokingly says that Duncan has never been able to jump over a sheet of paper.

Channing Frye? Robin Lopez? Asik? Pekovic? David West? Hibbert? Seriously you want me to keep going?

Plumlee,DeAndre,Dwight,Davis,McGee,Bogut(eehhhhh),Faried plays center sometimes,all Tyson Chandler can do these days is catch lobs and dunk,NeNe is quick off his feet,Drummond

I'll agree that the slight majority of centers are lumbering but I think there is a large population of very athletic 5s. It's almost evenly split.

Duncan couldn't jump but he was pretty quick and agile with his moves.
 
I'd love to see him remotely do good at blocking a goal. you are talking apples and oranges for body types needed for their job. A tall lanky goalie who is built for jumping would likely be a terrible goalie o.O

average height of a goalie is like 6'2"
average height of a basketball player in general is like 6'7"

How athletic do you honestly have to be to stay stationary in the same spot and defend a 6 ft goal post?

Answer: Not very.

such endurance, such strength, many speed.
 
I'd love to see a goalie who has "cat like" reflexes even attempt to do something half as athletic as this.

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from...
http://www.totalprosports.com/2014/02/27/gifs/#26
 
I'd love to see him remotely do good at blocking a goal. you are talking apples and oranges for body types needed for their job. A tall lanky goalie who is built for jumping would likely be a terrible goalie o.O

average height of a goalie is like 6'2"
average height of a basketball player in general is like 6'7"

What's interesting about football v basketball is that you can see how the rigors of the sport favor certain body types over others. Football is a great sport people of average height. I wish I'd have spent my youth practicing free kicks than free throws - I probably would have been able to play competitively longer as an adult.

To OP:

both football (international) and basketball. They require different athletes, both are good, and I don't think one is necessarily better than the other.
 
...but he's right. If in one sport there is more scoring it's either easier to score or people don't know how to play defense which is much more unlikely.

Either way it doesn't mean anything.

I wasn't comparing the scoring from basketball to hockey here, I just said that if the sport was that easy like it makes it out to be, anyone would make it in the NBA.
 
I wasn't comparing the scoring from basketball to hockey here, I just said that if the sport was that easy like it makes it out to be, anyone would make it in the NBA.

There's a reason the NBA Draft is only two rounds as opposed to the traditional seven in other sports.

It's extremely difficult to make it into the NBA.
 
It's not a question that has a true answer. NFL players are going to be bigger, faster, stronger than NBA players, but they're not going to be as agile or quick in many cases. Pro soccer players have insane stamina, but they have nowhere near the explosiveness of NBA or NFL guys. But then you take the sheer skill of soccer or tennis players, and few positions in the NFL demand that sort of precision or touch. Top athletes in each sport all have arguments for why they're the best, but there's no way to objectively decide things.

I still say the biggest genetic freaks are in the NFL though. Guys that weigh over 200 pounds with olympic class speed is just mind boggling. A guy like Lebron James would just be a typical specimen in the NFL.

Baseball players are the worst though.
 
There's a reason the NBA Draft is only two rounds as opposed to the traditional seven in other sports.

It's extremely difficult to make it into the NBA.

That's not necessarily indicative of talent. I do agree with you, but other sports have much bigger active rosters and more varied positions.
 
That's not necessarily indicative of talent. I do agree with you, but other sports have much bigger active rosters and more varied positions.

Just for example though, Hockey has 20 players on a team and has 7 rounds in their draft. Basketball has 13 players on a team and only 2 rounds.

It's a very exclusive club for only the best in the world.
 
There's more to athleticism than just jumping high, Duncan was very agile and fairly quick in the open court for someone that is 6'11". Just cause Robinson was a freak athlete doesn't mean Duncan wasn't a good one.

Sure, you can keep going and I'll add these guys to the athletic list Derrick Favors, JaVale McGee, Andre Drummond, Taj Gibson, DeAndre Jordan, Tyson Chandler, Plumlee brothers (Miles has a 40.5" vertical), Anthony Davis, Dwight Howard, Zeller brothers (38" vertical for Cody), Joakim Noah, Brandon Wright, Serga Ibaka, Meyers Leonard, Blake Griffin, Ed Davis, Jeremy Evans and more.

Yeah I know but we're talking freak athletes here and Duncan has never been that. He knows that which is why he modeled his game in that old school style of bank shots, hooks and the occasional beat the big lumbering center with speed. He's always has had trouble with bigger and better athletes than him like Rasheed Wallace and Horry back in the day.

You said starters. If you want bench players too... Boris Diaw, Antic, Kevin Love (yeah him), DeJuan Blair, Nazr Mohammed, Matt Bonner, Bogut, Gustavo Ayon, Jason Smith, Spencer Hawes, Kaman, and many more.
 
Just for example though, Hockey has 20 players on a team and has 7 rounds in their draft. Basketball has 13 players on a team and only 2 rounds.

It's a very exclusive club for only the best in the world.

Hockey has more international talent to chose from and better farm teams than the NBA has with the DLeague.

Also size matters, you disqualify a huge number of athletes just because their not 185cm+
 
Hockey has more international talent to chose from and better farm teams than the NBA has with the DLeague.

Also size matters, you disqualify a huge number of athletes just because their not 185cm+

But why aren't the D-League teams easy to pool from in Basketball? The answer is simple - it's incredibly difficult to be good enough to make the NBA. Likewise, International talent simply isn't good enough for the most part (see Olympics).

The amount of people in the world who are qualified enough to be a professional basketball player in the NBA is simply less.
 
Sorry, but what does "constant motion" mean in relation to what we are talking about? Not even soccer or hockey has "constant motion" throughout the whole game ...

Well yeah, no team sport truly has constant motion but some have an insane amount of stops. Constant motion is used to indicate a minimal amount of stops but its not literally the definition.
 
Football. No other sport outside of a few exceptions in Basketball (Lebron) can match the size,speed, agility and strength of football players.

Vernon Davis
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The 6-foot-3, 254-pounder was an All-American and a finalist for the Mackey Award. But what really separated Davis from the pack was his workout at the NFL combine. Despite his hulking size, he clipped off a 4.38-second 40-yard dash and leaped 42 inches in the vertical jump. Most notably, Davis sprung 10 feet 8 inches in the broad jump,
 
A Basketball hoop has a diameter of 18 inches, the ball is 9 inches in diameter. A Hockey goal post is six feet apart and the puck is 3 inches in diameter.

Just a tiny bit bigger in relative goal size don't you think?

Eitherway, this has little to do with athleticism. This point of contention has to do with skill.

Lol, this guy.
 
Football. No other sport outside of a few exceptions in Basketball (Lebron) can match the size,speed, agility and strength of football players.

Vernon Davis

Vernon is a beast, but you also have outright fat people playing the sport.

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I wouldn't exactly consider BJ Raji the pinnacle of "athleticism".
 
Well at least we can all agree the baseball is the least athletic among the 5 major sports.

I'm sticking with basketball at number one and a three way tie between hockey, soccer, and football for second place. Really it all comes down to what basis you determine athleticism with. I'm pretty sure the majority of people would say basketball.
 
Since Hockey does have a combine we can discuss the NFL vs NHL in similar combine events. I'm comparing 2013 NHL combine vs. 2014 NFL combine stats.

Strength: Best of the 13 NHL combine was Tyler Lewington who benched 150lbs for 16 reps. NFL was Russel Bodine who benched 225 lbs for 42 reps.

Explosiveness- Vertical: NHL best Remie Elie with 28.5", NFL best was Ryan Shazier with 42".

Long Jump- NHL best was Zach Nastasiuk with 117", NFL was Lache Seastrunk with 134"

Pretty apparent that NHL guys are weaker and slower than their NFL counterparts.
 
Vernon is a beast, but you also have outright fat people playing the sport.

green-bay-packers-football-fat-defensive-tackle-interception-bj-raji-jpg.jpg


I wouldn't exactly consider BJ Raji the pinnacle of "athleticism".

Still has nothing to do with my point. No other sport outside of a few exceptional basketball players can match the NFL's athletes. Singling out the larger linemen doesn't change that fact.


Rugby? Almost as big, not quite as heavy, cover ~5 miles a game versus meters for Football.

Prove it. Give me some measurables. NFL has combine stats for nearly every player.
 
Take the most athletic soccer player in the world and put him on an NFL team. Heck, put him on a college team.

Where do you hide him? Cornerback? Too weak - he would get destroyed any time he had to make a tackle. Too small - wouldn't be able to compete for jump balls with 6'3 and 6'4 wide receivers. Possibly too slow - does he have the top speed to keep standard NFL receivers from beating him on a vertical route? And this is all before we consider technique - catching, playing press coverage, backpedalling with proper technique, recognizing routes, etc.

Only other possible positions would be kicker, punter, and quarterback - uniquely specialized positions that aren't representative of the bulk of NFL players.

We could do the same for basketball - the dude would probably fare a little bit better but would still be massively undersized and lacking strength. Again, not to mention the technique.

Now put Richard Sherman on a soccer team. Is he losing because he sucks at soccer or because he's not athletic enough to play soccer? And remember, we're not stashing him at goalkeeper where he would likely excel.
 
Since Hockey does have a combine we can discuss the NFL vs NHL in similar combine events. I'm comparing 2013 NHL combine vs. 2014 NFL combine stats.

Strength: Best of the 13 NHL combine was Tyler Lewington who benched 150lbs for 16 reps. NFL was Russel Bodine who benched 225 lbs for 42 reps.

Explosiveness- Vertical: NHL best Remie Elie with 28.5", NFL best was Ryan Shazier with 42".

Long Jump- NHL best was Zach Nastasiuk with 117", NFL was Lache Seastrunk with 134"

Pretty apparent that NHL guys are weaker and slower than their NFL counterparts.

Wow..are you serious? These are HS football numbers. Hockey is a very skilled sport, but better athletes than football players? You guys have to be joking.
 
It strikes me as laughable to suggest soccer is more athletic than football because they run over longer periods of time. Soccer slows down and speeds up too - not nearly as much as football obviously, but the point remains these dudes aren't going at break neck speed all game long. You're not going to find many soccer players more athletic than Calvin Johnson or Ray Lewis.

I have played high school and AAU basketball but I'd say soccer is the hardest sport I've played; never played football.

Saying soccer is more athletic than football is nonsense. Their strength and athleticism combine numbers are comparable with HS football players.
 
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