If you were a NBA player...

[Storm Surge]

would you rather be the best athlete in the league or have the most skill in the league?

[risktaker91]

Whichever gets me more money.

[Mateen Cleaves]

best skill obviously. Theres a lot of players that are great athletes but arent good because they dont have great skill.

[Taiwan Killa]

So would you rather be Lebron without a jumpshot or Kobe?

I'd be Kobe.

[J~Rush]

Kobe or James White

Hmmmmm. . .

[tsherkin]

would you rather be the best athlete in the league or have the most skill in the league?

Most skill; athleticism fades and while valuable, skills are generally a lot more useful. You can be stunningly athletic and completely useless, especially if you don't know how to or simply do not exploit your athletic ability effectively but skills always translate.

[Storm Surge]

Yeah but you can practice and acquire skill while you can never really get more athletic.

[tsherkin]

Yeah but you can practice and acquire skill while you can never really get more athletic.

Right but then why can't Shaq hit FTs? Why can't every guard in the league shoot like Ray Ray?

Why isn't every 6'10+ big man as deft in the post as, say, Kareem or Hakeem?

Skill can be developed but only to a point. Why isn't every short white dude as good as Nash?

Athleticism is overrated in many ways and you're wrong, actually; you CAN get considerably more athletic if you put your mind to it.

[kooldude]

Personally, I would take athleticism and just work my ass off to improve my skills. I know certain aspects of athleticism can be improved to the NBA level like strength or endurance, but other parts like explosiveness, lateral quickness, body coordination, etc, those can't be maxed through practice to a Vince Carter level.

[Pats19andO]

Skill wins MVP's
Athleticism gets big contracts

[tsherkin]

Personally, I would take athleticism and just work my ass off to improve my skills. I know certain aspects of athleticism can be improved to the NBA level like strength or endurance, but other parts like explosiveness, lateral quickness, body coordination, etc, those can't be maxed through practice to a Vince Carter level.

Not to a Vince Carter level but you can certainly dramatically improve your quickness and explosiveness through plyometric workouts.

Ultimately, you can work on your skills a lot, for sure, but there's always going to be a difference between a guy who's a skill player and a skilled athlete.

A lot of skill isn't even something you can really work on; a lot of players just have a natural talent. Court vision, for example, can only be trained so far: you can work on peripheral vision and keeping your head up and so forth but ultimately, there's a cap to how well you'll be able to track players on the court. Plus there's memory, which you can also train but only to a point. Then your decision-making and stuff like that, you can drill it to a point but a lot of it is just instinctual.

More to the point, there is nothing in the OP that suggests that as the most skilled player in the league, you are similarly unathletic.

I'd rather be of average or slightly above-average athleticism and the most skilled player than the best athlete and not the most skilled player, for example.

I mean, look at what a weak athlete like a 6,000 year-old Sam Cassell can do, or what Bird did, or what Nash does, etc.

Or look at Kobe...

Kobe's not the best athlete in the league, not by a long shot but he may well be the most skilled wing in the league and look at what he manages to do on a nightly basis.

I happen to be guard-sized, but I'd take the skills even if I were big enough to be a PF or C, too.

[HumbleBumbleBee]

I want to be like Rasho

[gswhoops]

Skills...easy choice.

[HumbleBumbleBee]

[quote="

[GJense4181]

I'd take the athleticism.
Dwight Howard. Amare Stoudemire. Josh Smith. Jason Richardon. Gerald Wallace. et cetera.
Not that none of those players aren't *skilled*, but they definitely rely on their athleticism and that is what got them by during their early years. Dwight Howard, for example, is RAW as HELL, but he's 6'11" and 270 pounds and a MONSTER athlete, leading the league in rebounding at almost 15 per game!
Take Josh Smith's astounding athleticism and defense and give him a three point shot (currently 23.2%), and see where it takes him. Teach Dwight Howard the skill to shoot free throws (currently under 60%) and watch how improved his play is.
You simply cannot teach height, natural strength, or athleticism. I would rather be drafted by the NBA as a straight-up physical prospect (Kwame Brown) and see where good coaching and a work ethic would take me.

[tsherkin]

I'd take the athleticism.
Dwight Howard. Amare Stoudemire. Josh Smith. Jason Richardon. Gerald Wallace. et cetera.

Jason Richardson is a bad example because he doesn't actually use his athleticism all that effectively. And Josh Smith is a very nice roleplayer but can't score effectively at all, which limits his value.

Theoretically, working on his skills could overcome that for either, but I'd rather be the guy with the skills to get it done.

Again, we're playing extremes here for no good reason; there is nothing in the OP to suggest that the most skilled player doesn't have athleticism.

[He Hate Me]

When I read this question I was thinking more along the lines of:

Young Ray Allen vs. Dwight Howard...

[D-Wade]

Whichever gets me more money.

Ditto.