Could Lebron James run sub-60 for 400m?

If Iguodala gets a 10 meter head start, there's a backboard at the finish line and a title on the line, then he runs sub-44. Wait, that already happened.

jksparky wrote:

LeBron could go sub 50 during BB season, no problem. ---So could half of the NBA. You slow twitchers have no clue of real athleticism. We have bballers who do track in High School who run their best 400s during the first meets of the season just off of bball season. Hoops is more explosive than soccer and almost as much running as soccer. Indoor track season???--- Every single Bballer was faster in outdoor sesson than the indoor tracksters were.

Do you even realize how pathetic it is that a 4:2x miler can't break 60 in the 4? If you don't realize James or Wilt's abilities, you are completely clueless of the concept of "athletes" and are delusional about your own "abilities".

No, he could not. Name one guy ever who was built like Lebron who ran sub 50. He's a tremendous athlete. But sub 50 is fast for a guy who weighs 250+.

id say untrained he could get on the blocks,the gun goes pow,and hed run it nearer to 50 seconds than 60.perhaps 51 or 52 seconds for a one off race,but hed be capeable of going a good deal faster if he worked at it,even half seriously.hes fit and explosive,so untrained hed run 100 metres in about 11.2.

Lew Alcindor (not yet Kareen Abdul Jabbar) ran a 10.0 100-yards at UCLA.

Born in the 856 wrote:

Bonkers wrote:

young person here, but I know my history. Russell wasn't any taller than 6-9 and weighed maybe 250? He was a great player in his era, but not big or strong enough to guard Shaq who was listed at 7-1 and ~320 lbs but was really closer to 7-3 375 lbs.

Also, my sister ran sub-60 in high school. No way she was faster than LeBron is now. He goes at least 54

Wilt was the strongest NBA player in history. Shaq carried a lot of weight and over 20% body fat with much poorer endurance than either Russell or Chamberlain. If Shaq was on either the Celtics or the old Philadelphia Warriors teams of the 60's he would not have been a starter. Hard to believe but true.

You wanna bet on that?

Wilt and Russell spent played most of their careers battling against overmatched slow white guys. Their only real competition in the post was each other. They were both great players for their era, but they wouldn't translate well to the modern game. Chamberlain was an athletic freak, but wasn't any more skilled than say DeAndre Jordan is today. Like I said earlier Russell just wasn't big enough to handle Shaq down low.

Go back and watch how Shaq dominated Mutombo, one of the best defensive centers of all time, in the 2001 finals. These guys wouldn't fair any better.

Jalen Rose ran a sub-16 3 mile in high school

Easily sub 50. I had a teammate who was the RB on the football team, did 0 sprint training and broke 50.

"I was in my 20s running about 70mpw. I figured here's my chance to beat a former professional athlete. Well, he killed me."

LOL. I like how you thought that running 70 mpw would help you in basketball in anyway.

LeBron would run low 50s or maybe even a bit under 50. He's a beast and the 400 would probably be one of his best track events. I doubt he has the raw speed to be sub-elite at 200 or shorter. But hell, he might even be elite at something like the 400 hurdles.

Being in shape for bball is no joke.

I saw him Ron 39.9 once back in his early 20s

I saw him Ron 39.9 once back in his early 20s

I think the biggest question here is what could Russell westbrook do to a 400. Unbelievably explosive, and his motor is endless on the hardwood. I would be very interested in seeing him run a lap.

just saying wrote:

In today's game Shaq could push them around and there would be nothing they could do, much like he does with so many undersized centers now and in the prime of his career.

Shaq was amazing, but Wilt Chamberlain was as big as he was and used to lift weights with Arnold Schwarzenegger who said that Wilt blew away a lot of the biggest and strongest guys at the 'roided-up Gold's Gym in the 70's. Wilt would DEFINITELY be able to do something about it.

Wilt is definitely the exception rather than the rule, though, when it comes to both the 400m and his strength. I believe Wilt was up there with Jim Thorpe and Bo Jackson in the discussion for greatest overall athlete the world has seen.

Take On It wrote:

I think Lebron would easily break 60 but I also think he'd have no chance in hell at sub 50. I think all the people saying sub 50 are greatly overestimating the ability of non-track athletes. Sub 50 is exceptional for an NBA player. Very few NBA players could break 5:00 in the mile as well. Many would be 6:00+.

I bet any smallER guard who averages three quarters of high level movement (Richard Hamilton, Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook, Kemba Walker, Mike Conley, Kyle Lowry, Demar DeRozan, Allen Iverson, Isaiah Thomas (sr and jr) John Stockton, Jason Terry, Nate Robinson) could (in prime shape) all knock on the door of 50-51. I bet 80 percent of the NBA could break 60. People I am excepting: Mark Gasol, Greg Oden, Timofey Mosgov off top...

8minpace wrote:

Take On It wrote:

I think Lebron would easily break 60 but I also think he'd have no chance in hell at sub 50. I think all the people saying sub 50 are greatly overestimating the ability of non-track athletes. Sub 50 is exceptional for an NBA player. Very few NBA players could break 5:00 in the mile as well. Many would be 6:00+.

I bet any smallER guard who averages three quarters of high level movement (Richard Hamilton, Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook, Kemba Walker, Mike Conley, Kyle Lowry, Demar DeRozan, Allen Iverson, Isaiah Thomas (sr and jr) John Stockton, Jason Terry, Nate Robinson) could (in prime shape) all knock on the door of 50-51. I bet 80 percent of the NBA could break 60. People I am excepting: Mark Gasol, Greg Oden, Timofey Mosgov off top...

Haha. Greg Oden. He'd run a tremendous first 3 meters then break his foot again.

To the guy who says a running back can do it, therefore LeBron can ... again, based on what? I'm guessing the running back wasn't 6'8" 250 pounds.

LeBron is a tremendous athlete. I highly doubt the 400 would be his best event. Try discus.

Discus.

Russell was very nearly the first man to high jump seven feet. He and Charles Dumas, the man who became the first, went out together and tried to clear 7 feet. On that day, Dumas was not close to succeeding, but Russell came close on all three tries.

In the high jump, Wilt and especially Russell were both quite close to the World Record, despite poor technique.

At sprinting, Russell ran a quarter mile under 50 seconds, and Wilt ran 49. The important thing is that they were within 4 seconds of the world record, which was then about 46 seconds. And of course they did it with tennis shoes and on cinder tracks, and not a lot of training.

Today's equivalent performance would be more like 46 seconds. The sub-50 performances of Wilt and Russell were even better than they seem. Both men were athletic freaks, and the fact that they got under 50 does not mean LeBron could. If he did, it would probably be due to modern shoes, tracks, and training. .

king tut wrote:

Could Lebron run sub-60 for a quarter?

Some of my friends and I have spent many runs debating this.

I think he definitely could do it, but some of my friends seem to think that he is too big and not fit enough. Absurd if you ask me. Discuss.

Absolutely not. He could not run under 60 unless he specifically trained for it. Basketball "fit" is not "running" fit.

This is a joke question.

Give him a good warm up and make sure he doesn't sprint himself out in 300 meters, and Lebron runs about 50-51 flat on his first try.

Is he fit? Have you ever been to an NBA game? Most players sprint 40 - 50 @ 50 meters during the game. Fast.

Big Red wrote:

This is a joke question.

Give him a good warm up and make sure he doesn't sprint himself out in 300 meters, and Lebron runs about 50-51 flat on his first try.

Is he fit? Have you ever been to an NBA game? Most players sprint 40 - 50 @ 50 meters during the game. Fast.

They sprint 40 meters on a 30m court?

Dude was also an all-state receiver in ohio

The all-state receiver at my high school joined track after basketball season and split 49.x on the 4x400 at his first meet and won the county long jump championship. Granted he was only 6'3". (I kind of wanted to go on and on making things up but I decided to stop at the truth)