If LeBron Trains for a year what does the point spread have to be for you to take him over Bryan Clay in the Decathalon?

It'd be real interesting. Lebron could probably take any of the jumping events. I'd love to see it.

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If you don't say "athalete" then you shouldn't say "decathalon."

If you do say "athalete" then you should stop it at once!

He would have no chance in just 1 year

He didn't ask if Lebron would have a chance at beating Clay after a year of training (I think we all know that Lebron would not challenge Clay after only a year of training). He asked what the point spread would have to be for you to bet on Lebron. I think it's a pretty interesting question, and I would have to think about it for a while to come up with my answer.

1500

If Lebron did a decathlon right now I'd have to spot him at least 2,000 points before I'd even consider betting on him, maybe 2,500. He would have a very hard time cracking 6,000.

He'd do alright in the shot, long jump, high jump, 100m and 400m. He would do poorly in the hurdles, 1500m, and javelin, he would embarass himself in the pole vault and discus.

I like this question. I'm going to use the results from the 2008 Trials as my guide:

http://www.usatf.org/events/2008/OlympicTrials-TF/schedule.asp

Going event by event:

100 - I'll say Lebron ties Trey Hardee at 10.43 for 992 pts (second only to Clay's 10.39)

LJ - Let's have him win this one. Or, we'll have him tie for the win at 25-6 for 1002 pts

Shot put - Jesus. What would LBJ throw in the shot put? He'll be the strongest guy but his form will be poor with only 1 year of training. Let's have him tie for 3rd with a 50'-01.75 throw. 807 pts.

HJ - Again, he's a freak of nature but will lack the technique. How about he jumps his own height to tie for 4th with a 6-08.75. 850 pts.

400 - first chink in the armor. You can be 250 lbs and be a fast twitch freak of nature, fine. But lugging that much weight around the track? Let's call it 49-flat. Ties Chris Randolph at 49.08. 858 pts.

110 hurdles - uh oh, another big technique event. I don't care how fast you are, if you're jumping over the hurdles rather than hurdling them, you're going to be slow. 1 year of training? Let's have him finish mid-pack. 14.70. 886 pts.

Discus - another technique event. Let's give him mid-pack due to his strength. 1434 feet 7 inches. 742 pts.

Pole vault - mooore technique! 1 year of training? 14 feet, tops. We'll have him tie with Chris Richardson at 14-05.25 for 731 pts.

Javelin - this event is like throwing a football. Sure, Lebron probably has a good arm. Who knows. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt for being a freak of nature and let him tie Tom Pappas for 5th out the jav throwers. 194-08. 728 pts.

1500 meters - if he wasn't great in the 400, he's really not going to be great in the 1500. Maybe he runs his heart out for a 5:15 mile. Hell, let's give him a 5:10 mile and let him tie Clay at 4:50.97 for 1500 meters. 613 pts.

Total score: 8209

Good enough for 4th at the 2008 Olympic Trials. 623 pts behind Clay given similar conditions and level of competition. BUT, I'd say I was pretty generous with some of these predictions. So maybe the betting line is closer to 800 pts, putting LBJ around the 8000 mark, and more like 8th at the Trials.

Way too generous. Lebron is not going to vault 14-05 or run 14.7 in the hurdles with just a year of training, especially if he's spreading out his energy across training for 10 events. He is a freak of nature, but give the current decathletes a little more credit, he's not going to beat all but three guys in the US after only a year of working at it.

I wouldn't take Lebron James however many points you gave him.

Assuming he was actually competing in the dec like any other competitor, my prediction would be that he would injure himself before he was done, would get no attempt on at least one event, and have no chance of winning.

Just another running guy wrote:

I wouldn't take Lebron James however many points you gave him.

Assuming he was actually competing in the dec like any other competitor, my prediction would be that he would injure himself before he was done, would get no attempt on at least one event, and have no chance of winning.

I'm going to guess that if you gave him 10,000 points he would not injure himself and it would be pretty difficult for Clay to beat him.

They came in at 4.00m at the USA trials. There is a legitimate chance he couldn't clear that even with a year of training. So he is out of the running right there. Given he can come in at any height he wants I'd say he could probably get into the 6000s. I'd take him for at about 2,200-2,400 probably.

Lebron is having a hard time beating the 41-41 Chicago Bulls, rofl. Lebron is the most over-rated athelete of our time. He's just Shawn Kemp 2.

Another opinion 2 wrote:

I'm going to guess that if you gave him 10,000 points he would not injure himself and it would be pretty difficult for Clay to beat him.

That's the same as saying that if you give a quadriplegic 10,000 points he could beat Clay. Like I said in my post, I'm assuming that Lebron is actually competing like everyone else -- not just showing up and loafing.

When Lebron, at 240+ pounds, runs 10.99 or faster and goes over the hurdles fast enough to score ANY points, you can start the discussion.

Workout Sam wrote:

Lebron is having a hard time beating the 41-41 Chicago Bulls, .

The Cavs won 80% of their games against the Bulls. How is that having a hard time?

Event minimums could be killer, but assuming that LeBron is allowed to score in each event, I think he needs to be given a lot more credit in throwing events, and maybe even a bit less in running events. You need to remember how big and strong he is - 6'6" and 260+ pounds. And he is an explosive athlete all around. With proper training and halfway decent technique he should crush any decathlete in the throws. I think you have to give him ~1000 pts in each.

I would say hurdles, pole vault, and 1500 would be the worst. It's hard to see over 700 pts. in any of these. I could really see 8500 pts, so a 500 pt. spread.

Remember that serious NBA athletes (LeBron, Kobe, etc) are used to 6 hour training days, including weights, sprints, drills, and form practice. The general muscular endurance for 10 events in two days is not an issue.

mrb wrote:

He didn't ask if Lebron would have a chance at beating Clay after a year of training (I think we all know that Lebron would not challenge Clay after only a year of training). He asked what the point spread would have to be for you to bet on Lebron. I think it's a pretty interesting question, and I would have to think about it for a while to come up with my answer.

I gave my answer, seems you need it spelling out- I would not bet on it

Its not an interesting question its a stupid one

You are over estimating Lebron's athleticism. That is a hard thing to do, but you are doing it.