OT: The average fan could score 20 points in an NBA game.

[WhereistheDove?]

You might throw your star player at the average Joe, basically that team is getting an automatic 2 pts on the other end, you essentially give your star a night off and avoid any foul trouble.

When it’s a blow out a 12-15th guy on a roster is gonna come at you even harder knowing they don’t get a lot of playing time, by then your probably spent. You play the Nets your guarded by 7 foot (essentially 7 ft) KD, the Lakers your guarded by 6’8 Lebron, the Bucks Giannis, good luck.

I mean that's fair. There's zero scenario in which a team playing (essentially) 4 on 5 is going to win, whether you double another player or play man defense on the average joe. I think there is one unambiguous fact here. If the opposing team guarded the average Joe with the worst defensive player in the NBA, and that player actually gave any effort on defense, the average Joe would not get up a shot all game.

 

[J187Money]

What you think is an open shot and what is an open shot in the nba are completely different. But you are just trolling at this point so this doesn't matter

When I worked at Goldman, I played in a rec league in the city and David Viniar (who was CFO at Goldman) played with us sometimes. I think he played undergrad at Union, but at this point he was ~45-50 (this was more than 20 years ago). Point being, he shot like 80% from the elbow in competitive games while being defended. So is a 50 year old ex college player better than an average player? In my mind, I don't think so - that's exactly what I think of as an average player - someone that can play the game. Not someone like me, that would shoot 20% in a game with friends.

HE wouldn't score 20 in an NBA game because after they left the old white guy open and he hit 3 or 4 they would lock him down. But he would score. And I think that is the biggest impediment. Once the "average" player got to 10, out of pride nobody would let him get a ball off without swatting it into the seats.

 

[polycom]

When I worked at Goldman, I played in a rec league in the city and David Viniar (who was CFO at Goldman) played with us sometimes. I think he played undergrad at Union, but at this point he was ~45-50 (this was more than 20 years ago). Point being, he shot like 80% from the elbow in competitive games while being defended. So is a 50 year old ex college player better than an average player? In my mind, I don't think so - that's exactly what I think of as an average player - someone that can play the game. Not someone like me, that would shoot 20% in a game with friends.

HE wouldn't score 20 in an NBA game because after they left the old white guy open and he hit 3 or 4 they would lock him down. But he would score. And I think that is the biggest impediment. Once the "average" player got to 10, out of pride nobody would let him get a ball off without swatting it into the seats.

I don't think you understand, he isn't going to score. Have you ever shot a basketball in the gamp or any stadium the depth perception is a huge adjustment, plus you add fans and pressure and an NBA speed close out. Being defended in a rec league is likely more open than being wide open in the NBA. You have to factor in when you are wide open in the NBA players are closing out and rotating to you in 1 step and have 7 foot wing spans. A shot you think is wide open really isn't that open...

 

[BlueMAB]

How did this thread reach 5 pages?

Unless you're over 6'5", most of you us wouldn't even get a shot off against the UConn women's team.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

So your point is anyone, including us hacks, can hit a fairway and make a putt on a TPC course.

First of all. 99% off golfers never play from the tips. Almost. all the pat 4 ‘s become par 5 ‘s if your having a good day.
My home course was 7300 yards from mid tips.I’ve played in scrambles from there and if your A player can’t hit the ball close to 300 yards your playing a different course. We had an island green played about 110 from the whites a wedge for me.
The tips were 175 I could hit the green but only a miracle keeps it on because I’m hitting a 4 hybrid
Good luck hackers

 

[Kolumbo]

First of all. 99% off golfers never play from the tips. Almost. all the pat 4 ‘s become par 5 ‘s if your having a good day.
My home course was 7300 yards from mid tips.I’ve played in scrambles from there and if your A player can’t hit the ball close to 300 yards your playing a different course. We had an island green played about 110 from the whites a wedge for me.
The tips were 175 I could hit the green but only a miracle keeps it on because I’m hitting a 4 hybrid
Good luck hackers

Good to know.

2nd of all?

 

[JordyG]

Doable. Similarly, the average golfer can hit some fairways and sink some putts on a TPC too. Bowlers can bowl strikes. It's not like trying to hit a 95 mph fastball over the fence or return a 120 mph tennis serve for a point. Those are damn near impossible.

First, the debate is over whether the average fan, not the average basketball player could score 20 points once in 82 games. So my friend, would you just stand in a corner and hope they throw the ball to you? Because just running around the half court would wear you out. If you don't play defense, why should your mark move to his offensive end? He'll just stay in his defensive end. How tall are you? Because the average guard in the NBA is 6'3", and that's just the average. Every shot, every pass would be intercepted. After one game you'd never see a pass or a shot. Plus, the physicality of the game would crush you. You'd be lucky to score at all in toto.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

First, the debate is over whether the average fan, not the average basketball player could score 20 points once in 82 games. So my friend, would you just stand in a corner and hope they throw the ball to you? Because just running around the half court would wear you out. If you don't play defense, why should your mark move to his offensive end? He'll just stay in his defensive end. How tall are you? Because the average guard in the NBA is 6'3", and that's just the average. Every shot, every pass would be intercepted. After one game you'd never see a pass or a shot. Plus, the physicality of the game would crush you. You'd be lucky to score at all in toto.

Just think about how bad the walk-ons look in a college game and people think some scrub 50 year old is going to score 20 points in an NBA game. It's insane.

 

[bendm]

So is a 50 year old ex college player better than an average player? In my mind, I don't think so - that's exactly what I think of as an average player - someone that can play the game. Not someone like me, that would shoot 20% in a game with friends.

the average fan stops playing organized bball once they become a teenager. anyone who keeps playing after highschool is prob in the top 10% of bball fans worldwide. we are talking about a ~billion people here.

when i think of the average fan i think of the 5'6 200lbs guy they pull out of the stands during a timeout to make a free throw and he can barely hit the backboard.

 

[Madmannsucks]

Even really good golfers, scratch handicap, will tell you they can’t compete with pros.

I have a friend who is a scratch golfer-I asked him why he never went pro-he said...I tried, I'm not good enough.

 

[JohnFSilver]

There have been some doozies on this forum, for sure. But I don't think anything comes close to rivaling the absolute nonsense coming from DiSorbo who I suppose is looking for his 15 minutes of fame by posting the most outrageous idiocy possible. I guess it worked, his tweet went "viral".

A Heat player shot down a viral debate over whether the average fan could score 20 points in an NBA game

Duncan Robinson said there is a wide gap in talent between the worst NBA players and the average fan.

www.yahoo.com

An average fan wouldn't even score 2 total points all season even if they played all 48 minutes for 82 games. Never mind 20 in one game. Ok, maybe MAYBE they might get some lucky bucket at the end of a blowout, but even that I doubt.

Discuss.

Is this even a serious debate? Go look at a good college game at Division II. The athletes are so much better.

you ever see an nba player in a summer pro am
League?

Boston's Payton Pritchard drops 92 in pro-am game after leaving Las Vegas Summer League

Pritchard’s “prior engagement” was getting an absurd amount of buckets, evidently.

celticswire.usatoday.com

 

[87Xfer]

They do stipulate no running the court\D... so maybe if I somehow managed to get fouled I could score on the FT line? LOL, I sincerely doubt even that. Definitely not under lights with a crowd.

Having competed in a few formats where there were (just) semi-pros involved and getting crushed, yeah the gap between pro and amateur in almost every venue is HUGE. Was a real eye opener at my first automotive racing event on a national level just how badly I got blown out, locally I was hot.

Your 2nd paragraph hits home. I once thought i was pretty decent in the regional PCA racing circuit. Then an amateur team brough a teenager with some kind of porsche factory ties over from germany to drive one of their cars for a few events. It was mortifying. I've had similar experiences racing bicycles. The difference between peope at the top of the hobbyst population of virtually every sport are a universe away from anyone who's in it as a pro.

 

[elmcityboy]

celebrity all-star game on tonight -- good opportunity to see exactly how slow and short "normal people" look on an nba basketball court.

 

[Hoophound]

I’ve had a good cross section of experience on this. As a 20 year old, pretty good player, I was surprised at how good the UConn women were, though I could have scored 20 in one of their games. I played with the guys from CCSU quite a bit and their best defender at the time would totally lock me up. Shortly after, I had occasion to play against John Gwynn several times when we were the two best players on the court and I wasn’t impressed at all. His ability to get a shot off in Big East games baffled me a little. Having screens set for him really helped. Several years after that I had the chance to play with Vin Baker, Eric Murdoch and other name players in Boston. I could barely get a shot off. For me to score 20 points in an NBA game against those guys the coach would have had to tell them not to guard me at all. It was humbling to say the least.

Basketball is a weird game. You can play in a summer league against “good” players and score 30 points. The next day you can play another team with a high D1 level defender and look like a clown. It is a really unforgiving game to fake it in, the athleticism is unlike any other sport.

 

[Kolumbo]

This is a fun thread and I enjoy the role of The Band dodging beer bottles behind the fencing.

I think many folks don't appreciate the role that luck and chance play in sports. Size, speed, strength, skill, luck.

Football and Soccer, forgetaboutit. They play fast games on large fields and there is no way an average guy (and I'll go with a weekend warrior type of guy) could keep up. I'd be as useless as tits on a bull and likely suffer serious injury.

Hockey, hell no.

Baseball. I could play second base and eventually someone would roll a routine grounder my way which I could field cleanly. I could even go up and take some healthy swings and eventually get a base hit. The zone is only so big and eventually wood will connect with ball and find a hole. Eventually. Scoring would be highly unlikely.

NBA Basketball. It's a relatively small court. I know I can chuck the ball up from anywhere within half court and have a good chance of hitting the rim. They spend a good deal of time walking the ball up the court, passing it around, one guy takes a J and misses, another guy takes a J and makes it. Great. He just made one of about 90 buckets on the night. whoop-dee-do. It's the one sport I don't watch because I find it boring as hell. That is why any average guy has a chance of scoring. Maybe not 20. But all it takes is a heave and some luck to score. That's pretty much the point of the tweet.

People here talking about insane in your face defense and constant sprinting from one end of the court to the other, well I admittedly don't watch so maybe the game has changed dramatically, I'll have to check in and see. That said, I see no problem getting a catch and shoot shot off quickly enough and with a little luck, measuring and deploying the ball, even accidentally, with the right arc, force, and spin enabling the graceful projectile to fall through the hoop, which happens to have a circumference large enough to fit 3 basketballs simultaneously, tickling nothing but twine, aka, swish.