Austin Rivers on NBA vs NFL players

[Lockdown504090]

I don't think basketball players have a chance on defense. Brock Lesnar would have been sent to NFL europe when he tried out with the Vikings. His skills were probably more in line with what you would need for a defensive lineman.

Ur talking about Brock lesnar without PEDs. He doesn’t belong in this discussion and Zion is wayyyy more athletic than him

Lesnar hasn't been without PED's as an adult...come on man.

I wonder how many nfl players haven’t been without ped’s as adults, but let’s not talk about that one haha

[dhsilv2]

Ur talking about Brock lesnar without PEDs. He doesn’t belong in this discussion and Zion is wayyyy more athletic than him

Lesnar hasn't been without PED's as an adult...come on man.

I wonder how many nfl players haven’t been without ped’s as adults, but let’s not talk about that one haha

Where are those charts showing the size of an average offensive lineman by decade? lol.

But the NFL has some kickers....

[LockoutSeason]

LMAO, a large portion of NBA players can't even remember or execute a play off of a timeout where the play is drawn up for in front of them. They have no chance in a pro NFL game where schemes and assignments change due to coverage, blitzers, and formation.

There are no players who can’t execute a play out of a timeout. You just made that up.

[Lockdown504090]

LMAO, a large portion of NBA players can't even remember or execute a play off of a timeout where the play is drawn up for in front of them. They have no chance in a pro NFL game where schemes and assignments change due to coverage, blitzers, and formation.

There are no players who can’t execute a play out of a timeout. You just made that up.

Demar derozan,
“I remember, it was a play we was trying to run and one of our teammates forgot the play, and Bron told him the play. Like it was some crazy ****. We calling a play and he was like, ‘What?’ And Bron told him what our play was.”

You forget that there are 22 year olds in the league who just got by through talent and skill training. Doesn’t mean they have enough iq yet. That’s a playoff game btw

[CS707]

Probably a bit different - in Australia there is a fair bit of co-existence between Aussie rules players and pro bball players. Aussie rules players are mostly built like power forwards and are more than capable as defender/rebounder/hustler guys.

I think soccer is the sport that translates best to basketball. Simple concepts like transitioning from offense to defense, understanding space and angles, those sorts of things apply to both sports. Not that it's remotely comparable to the topic of professional sports but I used to coach my kid's soccer team in a basketball league during the offseason and they were monsters defensively just because they understood those basic concepts of space and angles. Dribbling and shooting on the other hand...

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

I mean...there are WAY more NFL players. So that alone would lend it that the barrier to entry is a bit lower.

That and you can't teach athletic height, and the NBA has a lot of it. If you are tall, you are pushed into basketball because it you have a such an incredible headstart. Probably 60% of the NFL is too short to make it in the NBA. There's some iffy stat of something ridiculous like 15% of Americans above 7 feet and age 20-40 was in the NBA at some point. So yeah, even before factoring skill, take out 300 pound lineman and anyone sub 6'1" you already took out most of the NFL.

[SweaterBae]

One hit and Austin Rivers would crawl off the field and throw his helmet into the stands.

[LuckyLeprechaun]

NBA players could probably do well as WRs/TEs and possibly DBs/LBs if they've got the dog in them to tackle. Most don't have the physical build to play on the lines. There probably isn't a single NBA player who could be a starting-level QB.

Zach wilson was a starting level qb. There are some nba players had they chose the route of playing football early on could play as a starting caliber qb. E.g jalen brunson tyrese haliburton rajon rondo chris paul demar derozan.

I think you and everyone else knows "starting level" meant a guy good enough to KEEP his job as a starter so Zach Wilson is irrelevant to the discussion.

Being a good QB takes more than just putting in the time. Most guys who get drafted to play QB in the NFL spent their whole lives doing it and still become busts. The few that are successful have something that can't be learned.

Rondo could probably have been a good passer, but he rubs his teammates the wrong way. That's a surefire way for a QB to fail. He and CP3 have also always been somewhat injury-prone. No way they'd have been able to withstand taking repeated blindside hits from 250lb+ men.

[LaLover11]

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[LaLover11]

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[RRyder823]

If people take his statement at face value, no you can't pluck 30 NBA players right now and put them on an NFL field. However, yes, if these players starting in childhood devoted themselves to football instead of basketball I can definitely see it.

I almost think the way Zion's career has been panning out he might have been better served going into football. Yes, per game injury risk would be higher but I can see how being expected to only play 17 games vs 82 would have served him well.

Because you believe that 82 game NBA season is harder on the body?



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[D.Brasco]

If people take his statement at face value, no you can't pluck 30 NBA players right now and put them on an NFL field. However, yes, if these players starting in childhood devoted themselves to football instead of basketball I can definitely see it.

I almost think the way Zion's career has been panning out he might have been better served going into football. Yes, per game injury risk would be higher but I can see how being expected to only play 17 games vs 82 would have served him well.

Because you believe that 82 game NBA season is harder on the body?



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I was speaking from what I think would be Zion's perspective. I mentioned per game the injury risk is worse, but Zion doesn't strike me as someone who will ever really get with the marathon nature of the NBA season. To his credit he did play 70 games this past season after 4 seasons of never playing more than 61 games.