Better Athletes NFL or NBA players?

[Galloisdaman]

I still can't believe Refrigerator Perry could dunk a basketball at 6 foot 2 and 330-350 pounds. That was insane.

Mark Henry dunking at 410 lbs at around that height as well.

Watch on YouTube

Start at 3:02.

I think Escalade from the Old And 1 might have been the only guy ever heavier than that to dunk but he had the advantage of being 6'10".

That was a great clip. I never saw that before but Mark Henry is 6 foot 5. Fridge was only 6 foot 2. Rumor was Fridge could even do 360 dunks but that may just be a rumor.

[D.Brasco]

I still can't believe Refrigerator Perry could dunk a basketball at 6 foot 2 and 330-350 pounds. That was insane.

Mark Henry dunking at 410 lbs at around that height as well.

Watch on YouTube

Start at 3:02.

I think Escalade from the Old And 1 might have been the only guy ever heavier than that to dunk but he had the advantage of being 6'10".

That was a great clip. I never saw that before but Mark Henry is 6 foot 5. Fridge was only 6 foot 2. Rumor was Fridge could even do 360 dunks but that may just be a rumor.

Don't go by exaggerated WWE heights he's really about 6'2 which is what he was listed at in the Olympics.

https://www.celebheights.com/s/Mark-Henry-50191.html

[anatomicbomb]

Anybody ever watch the show superstars?

It was mostly late 70s, early 80s, so I never saw it, but my dad loved telling me about the athletic competitions of athletes from different sports. According to what he remembers, soccer players consistently won until they changed to format to help athletes from other sports.

[Jkam31]

One of the dumber threads in here people think rose and fox are fast and they wouldn’t touch a 40 time 4.5

[Galloisdaman]

Anybody ever watch the show superstars?

It was mostly late 70s, early 80s, so I never saw it, but my dad loved telling me about the athletic competitions of athletes from different sports. According to what he remembers, soccer players consistently won until they changed to format to help athletes from other sports.

I really enjoyed that show. Hershal Walker did well if I remember correctly. It was great seeing some of the track races between real track stars and NFL stars.

[Shock Defeat]

One of the dumber threads in here people think rose and fox are fast and they wouldn’t touch a 40 time 4.5

Huh? I am pretty sure that Rose and Fox would hit those 40 times. Lebron James ran a 4.6 40 with NO training and you can see that Rose is faster than LeBron on the court.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/lebron-james-says-he-ran-a-46-40-over-the-summer/

[anatomicbomb]

Anybody ever watch the show superstars?

It was mostly late 70s, early 80s, so I never saw it, but my dad loved telling me about the athletic competitions of athletes from different sports. According to what he remembers, soccer players consistently won until they changed to format to help athletes from other sports.

I really enjoyed that show. Hershal Walker did well if I remember correctly. It was great seeing some of the track races between real track stars and NFL stars.

Yeah, I love the premise; really seems like something there's a market for now, too. There are so many retired athletes that clearly want to compete in something, and this is a good fit, but maybe they would just do a theme episode of American Ninja Warrior these days instead.

Eco Challenge is a personal favourite for combining competition across multiple disciplines, oftentimes by athletes that don't have experience in one or more discipline. I would love to see Yao Ming chopping down trees to build a raft, JR Smith reading an unmarked map in the dark, or Brock Lesner riding a mountain bike up a muddy hill.

[BostonCouchGM]

About the same. I think DK Metcalf is peak NFL and Westbrook is peak NBA and they're very similar in size/athleticsim

[Galloisdaman]

Anybody ever watch the show superstars?

It was mostly late 70s, early 80s, so I never saw it, but my dad loved telling me about the athletic competitions of athletes from different sports. According to what he remembers, soccer players consistently won until they changed to format to help athletes from other sports.

I really enjoyed that show. Hershal Walker did well if I remember correctly. It was great seeing some of the track races between real track stars and NFL stars.

Yeah, I love the premise; really seems like something there's a market for now, too. There are so many retired athletes that clearly want to compete in something, and this is a good fit, but maybe they would just do a theme episode of American Ninja Warrior these days instead.

Eco Challenge is a personal favourite for combining competition across multiple disciplines, oftentimes by athletes that don't have experience in one or more discipline. I would love to see Yao Ming chopping down trees to build a raft, JR Smith reading an unmarked map in the dark, or Brock Lesner riding a mountain bike up a muddy hill.

I'd like them to bring back the superstars show exactly the way it was. Lets see different kinds of pros compete in swimming, weight lifting, running, etc.

[DaPessimist]

NFL and I don't think it's that close.

[Duke4life831]

There is a big difference between NBA athletes and NFL athletes. Both are filled with genetic freaks, but the big difference is NFL players live in the weight room. These guys maximize their strength and speed. I mean did yall see Myles Garrett at the draft last week trying to wear a suit, it looked like he was wearing a fake muscle suit under it and his suit was about to rip.

Garrett is 6'5 272 pounds (probably a lot more now), ran a 4.64 40, 41 inch standing vert, and benched 225 pounds 33 times.

A guy like Clowney was 6'5 266 pounds at the combine (again probably a solid 280 now), ran a 4.53 40. He was a sprinter in high school and got 9th in state for the 100 meter sprint.

The size (just overall weight), strength, and explosiveness of NFL players are just on another level.

[Winsome Gerbil]

Depends on the position -- I would say that NFL cornerbacks and fast linebackers might be the best athletes in any sport. NFL noseguards...we'll they're strengthletes.

In any case, the huge gap is of course in strength. No sport requires brute strength like American football (rugby does, but favors somewhat smaller bodies with endurance capabilities). But outside of strength NBA athletes are right there as among the best in the world in a sport that absolutely rewards it. They're just too skinny. You don't think about how stretched out those numbers are sometimes. 6'10"...240lbs. Really? 6'2" 175? Really? Wiggins is listed at 6'7" 197lbs. Come on. That's almost get sand kicked in your face and your lunch money stolen territory.

[shotsquatch]

In general, I think NFL players have an advantage in raw strength and speed. Partially due to their training regimen, as was mentioned earlier in the thread -- basketball players just aren't looking to bulk up the way football players are.

That being said, the combination of athleticism, coordination, and size we see in guys playing the 4 and 5 is a more impressive outlier than anything the NFL has to offer. There are only 3,000 people in the entire world who are 7+ feet tall. Human beings who are built like Joel Embiid or Shaq and also have their physical gifts are probably something like 1 in 10 million.

[Flopper]

Those NFL guys would be playing basketball if they were athletically gifted enough. More money, longer career, less brain damage....

[shotsquatch]

Some people in the thread claiming NBA players wouldn't be able to compete with NFL guys in 40 times. Lol.

Plenty of NBA guards could run sub 4.5, and guys like D Rose or Wall are probably hitting 4.3 pretty easily.

LeBron has been hand timed at 4.4 and 4.6, but he's **** 6'9" lol

[wutevahung]

depends on what you mean by "better atheltes". I think my way of defining is that if you put them across different sports, which group would perform better, and to me, that's NBA players. They have more more coordinations, and more stamina, probably more flexibility and balance too. Strength/explosiveness aren't the only parts about being athletes. Like cross country, water polo, archery, and etc, it's really hard for me to envision most of the NFL players do those better than NBA players. they would still be exceptional though.

Also, I could be approaching this the wrong way, but there are way more basketball players in the world (probably thousand times more), and in order to make it to NBA, besides skills, they have to be also top like 0.001% of the athletes, and compare that to NFL, which you might only have to be the top 0.1% of the athlete in the sport.

My another thought is that, and of course it could just be my bias, is that if all things being equal, you would probably prefer to be a NBA player than a NFL player since there is less injury, more money, and more fame. So basically most of NFL players, besides their love for the sports, probably did play basketball but was never the top prospects, which implies that despite being stronger and faster than some others who were better than them, they were lacking in some departs to truly excel the game. Again, I love basketball so this is an extremely bias take, I had done no research, and I am willing to be wrong, it's just a thought.

[ReasonablySober]

There's a sample size of average college basketball talent going on to be All-NFL. There isn't a sample with the reverse of that.

[magicman1978]

Those NFL guys would be playing basketball if they were athletically gifted enough. More money, longer career, less brain damage....

No, because basketball is a game that relies more on skill than just pure athleticism like some positions in the NFL. The NBA doesn't emphasize speed, quickness, and strength the same way the NFL dies when drafting players. You only need to look at the history of the draft combines to see the NFL clearly has better athletes. In particular, standing vertical measurements from NFL combine athletes blow away basketball athletes. No basketball player has recorded a 40"+ standing vert in the history of the combine. This year in the NFL combine 22 players did it. That's because football athletes spend more time strength/speed/agility training anD basketball athletes focus more on skill based training.

[TwitterFingers]

Sometimes the best natural athlete chooses football, more often basketball, just because it’s more popular to play. Football players train differently due to athleticism being a bigger factor in the sport, so the metrics will suggest they’re the better athletes, however if you get a guy like Ja Morant to train his whole life for football he may be one of the best athletes in the sport.

[red96]

NFL easy. Football is based on athleticism for more than basketball. There is no such thing as an unathletic WR or RB.