Track events competed by NBA players - who would win?

Ballers who would medal at the Olympics in track: none of them.

Example: Lance Armstrong running the marathon, prior to his NYC debut some experts said with his VO2 max he could run 2:01! He didn't even compete near the top tier.

Example: Jordan playing baseball again experts saying Jordan had all the tools to be great. He proved he had all the tools to be mediocre.

Credible exercise physiologists were wrong in those cases, the editor of 'Ball don't lie' seems more likely to be wrong.

Now if it were a Track Meet where only pro-ballers could compete, he may be exactly right.

No NBA players would medal in any track or field event at the Olympics. But that's not for lack of athleticism. I certainly believe that there would be a few NBA players who could medal in the HJ or LJ if they trained for a year or two.

Just like I believe that there are a few NFL guys who could potentially medal in the 100 or 200 if they trained specifically.

Do you two not get the premise of the article?

Only chance would be Nate Robinson who was super fast in HS/college, but no NBAer would medal in any event even given two several to train.

Many people dont seem the understand the specificity of talent necessary to be elite at something. I dont know how many people Ive heard say they could play b-ball on the d1 level, only if they wanted to and applied themselves!

Some NBAers have increadible verticles, however that doesnt correlate to getting your body over the bar off one foot. Its a different talent.

Steve Nash could have possibly played on Canadas Oly soccer team had he stayed with the sport. Again, not much of a chance at medalling though.

Sean kemp would medal in the high jump.

hotmama wrote:

Sean kemp would medal in the high jump.

They're doing a Masters HJ at the 08 Olympics?

Not even close, would not make US team

Ive never seen him jump off one foot

you guys are under-estimating the athleticism of pro basketball players. I'm not saying they would win or even medal in track events, but giving some time to practice they would be able to compete with some of the best. You have to remember that some of these NBA'ers probably participated in track in field during high school, and probably would be competing as professionals in track and field if basketball wasn't so popular here in the US.

I could definitely see kobe as a good 400m hurdler, lebron james and vince carter as long jumpers, AI in the 800 or 400, and dwight howard would be a beast in the discuss and shot put.

Wilt Chamberlain was a three time conference champion in the high jump at Kansas.

Yeah, I dont think you guys get it. Its not if they would medal against track athletes, its who would win outa the bunch of them. Obviously they would get their asses handed to them against any track athletes.

Supposedly, they tried back in the early 80's when track went pro and were not successful.

I guess many people, American sportswriters in particular, don't realize that all sports are unique.

A basketball player MIGHT be a great high jumper and a high jumper MIGHT be a great basketball player.

But, being a great basketball/football player/cyclist, etc does not make you great at other sports.

this is ridiculous..there\\\'s no way allen iverson could finish a marathon, let alone win one

what a joke

This thread is driving me crazy.

A. The article limited the competition to NBA players competing against each other. It did not say that an NBA player would medal vs. the real-life Olympic Track and Field athletes.

B. I hold a very strong opinion that many professional athletes would be national/internationl T&F athletes if that was their priority. Would you rather get chicks, get a scholarship, get hero-worshipped, or would you rather throw the shot put wearing a mask? Every high school cross country runner I know was too small for the football team. If the better athletes had ran Cross, they would've been better than us. Of course, over time, we trained for our sport, and got better.

Anyone remember some sports show in the 80s or 90s with random athletes in a dunk contest? Mike Conley took off from 2-3 feet BEHIND the free throw line and dunked with ease.

http://www.usatf.org/halloffame/TF/showBio.asp?HOFIDs=199

Josh Smith in the High Jump. James White(journeyman baller) claims to have done 25'7? and 7'4'' in practice without training. He did some ridiculous dunks in college, so not that surprising. I remember a windmill from the FT line.

something or other wrote:

this is ridiculous..there\'s no way allen iverson could finish a marathon, let alone win one

what a joke

Really? WTF! You cannot be this f***ing stupid. Oprah f***ing finished a marathon. And you think Iverson couldn't!!!!!!!

Yup Yup wrote:

This thread is driving me crazy.

A. The article limited the competition to NBA players competing against each other. It did not say that an NBA player would medal vs. the real-life Olympic Track and Field athletes.

B. I hold a very strong opinion that many professional athletes would be national/internationl T&F athletes if that was their priority. Would you rather get chicks, get a scholarship, get hero-worshipped, or would you rather throw the shot put wearing a mask? Every high school cross country runner I know was too small for the football team. If the better athletes had ran Cross, they would've been better than us. Of course, over time, we trained for our sport, and got better.

As a former football player and decathlete, let me say that if the better "athletes" ran cross, they'd get their clock cleaned by cross country runners; it's a completely different type of athleticism. I'm not world class by any stretch, but I've jumped 23', thrown the shot 48', and run the 100 in 11-flat--I'm a way better "athlete" than most XC runners. But after getting into distance running for a while, it's absolutely a different story. I still haven't broken 19 for the 5k, I can't run more than 35-40 mpw without getting hurt, etc.

On the original subject, there would probably be NBA players who would be world-class high jumpers pretty quickly (look at Donald Thomas). There would probably be NFL guys who could be world class in the short sprints pretty quickly (think Ted Ginn). These are the only two instances I can think of where pro athletes in a game could be competitive at the world-class level in athletics.

the nba valorizes leaping ability, so you can expect some good high jumpers and long jumpers, but the strength players aren't strong enough to compete well in strength events like shot and discus and the speed players aren't fast enough to compete in sprints (incidentally, Hollinger labeled a backup pg for Australia the fastest player since Iverson was a rookie) and lack the endurance to run well at the distances. And yes I know that the article is only asking which nba players would do the best, not which would win medals.

some NBA players would make great decathletes. And with their frames and explosiveness some of the power forwards could become great throwers after doing the requisite strength training