Basketball IQ -- what is it? how do you acquire it?

[MeestR]

hang out on realgm and read all their articles and columns.

[83SixersRocked]

Bird, Magic, Duncan, Nash and others. BBIQ is a misnomer; IQ is capacity for learning. As used, It starts with studying\knowing the game and players, and making the right plays instead of the coolest ones.

[Doctor MJ]

What are your opinions on the concept of basketball iq?

-- Top 5 highest bb iq players of all-time?
-- Bottom 5?
-- What is your definition of bb iq?
-- Is it innate or can it be learned?

Top 5? The 5 guys who come to mind for me in chronological order are Russell, Oscar, Bird, Magic, Nash.

Bottom 5? Can't make a list. Look to prospects with great physical attributes who failed to ever get in a rotation.

Definition? Court Awareness and rapid decision making ability. At its highest levels this means apparent prescience and the manipulating of others.

Innate or learned? Both. It can be improved, but McGee's never going to be Russell.

Something I think is telling is Nash's high school athletics. This was a guy who absolutely dominated in every field sport. Lacrosse, soccer - he even picked up rugby his senior year and led his team to a province title. When we talk about multiple intellgences, there is clearly an innate intelligence directly associated with visual efficiency and guys like Nash have it at insane levels.

It also has to be noted that while the guys I mention appear to have pretty solid general IQs, there are tons of high IQ people out there, and most of them can't do anything like this. As we see with Nash, this isn't simply a "Smarts + athletics" thing, this is one part of mental intelligence that is extremely valuable in a field setting.

Back when football was first being promoted by folks like Teddy Roosevelt as part of the Masculine Christianity movement it was very much tied to training future military leaders, and I think it makes sense at least depending on a player's position. The field/quarterback type of intelligence would probably be the primary ability you'd look to find in a field general.

[TheKingOfVa360]

-- Top 5 highest bb iq players of all-time?

-Jordan
-Nash
-Shaq
-Magic
-Bird

Dunno if these are the Top 5 but they are all up there.

I'm surprised Bill Bradley isn't on the list or Oscar.



For me it would be

Oscar
Bird
Magic
Bill Bradley
Bill Russell

[Doctor MJ]

BBIQ is a misnomer; IQ is capacity for learning.

Actually, IQ really isn't anything that clear cut. Fundamentally it's just the results of a test people came up with which required cleverness.

Were we to measure capacity for learning, then children would be orders of magnitude above adults. On the other hand, in terms of actually being able to use knowledge, even if an adult and child both know something, typically the adult will be able to apply it better.

[Doctor MJ]

I'm surprised Bill Bradley isn't on the list or Oscar.

For me it would be

Oscar
Bird
Magic
Bill Bradley
Bill Russell

Curious to hear you expound on Bradley. He was certainly expected to have BBIQ on this level, and when the Knicks acquired him he was supposed to be "their" superstar to answer Russell and Oscar, but it quickly became clear that wasn't going to happen.

ftr, the highest IQ NBA player of all time was probably Jerry Lucas, but so far as I can tell he didn't even have particularly high BBIQ.

[sp6r=underrated]

BBIQ is a misnomer; IQ is capacity for learning.

Actually, IQ really isn't anything that clear cut. Fundamentally it's just the results of a test people came up with which required cleverness.

IQ tests are very effective at predicting income and educational achievement. If IQ test only measure cleverness, cleverness must be very important for success at life.

That said, I agree BBIQ =/= IQ. I am extremely confident that Vince Carter would crush KG on an IQ test but when it comes to BBIQ, well you know the answer.

[Doctor MJ]

IQ tests are very effective at predicting income and educational achievement. If IQ test only measure cleverness, cleverness must be very important for success at life.

I'm not even saying IQ tests measure cleverness, I'm simply saying that you need some cleverness for it. I have less faith in IQ test than even what you're assuming I do.

I also think that the "prediction" you talk about is quite tricky because of course, how you do on standardized tests is directly used to give opportunity nowadays (which muddies the waters), and people with the right cultural emphasis on this type of stuff have a pretty big advantage. Bigger now than before - though the culture in question has shifted - because of the big business of test preparation.

All that said, I'm not an anti-IQ guy by any means. These types of tests have been opening doors for me my whole life so I'm all for them. Beyond that, the test pushed by anti-IQ people are even worse. What they've done with the SAT now is indefensible. They do it in the name of leveling the playing field, but the stuff they bring in is even more biased.

[Egg Nog]

Basketball IQ means understanding a role and which choices ultimately make each possession as efficient as possible for your team.


It means passing up a good shot if someone else has a better shot.
(Magic Johnson, Steve Nash)

It means knowing where and when to use help defense and how to communicate with teammates.
(Jason Kidd, Gary Payton, Serge Ibaka)

It means NEVER taking a contested jumper early in the shot clock (etc) just because you feel like you can hit it.
Unlike... (Mo Williams, Nick Young, JR Smith, Glen Davis, Russell Westbrook, Jamal Crawford)

It means knowing the rules well enough to comprehend the merits of when to foul or not foul, when to call a time-out, etc.
(Chris Paul, Larry Bird)

It means knowing the strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies of your opponent.
(Dennis Rodman, Hakeem Olajuwon, John Stockton)

[LLJ]

This is basketball IQ.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeULq4vrToU[/youtube]

That video is full of bad shot selection! Damn he was good.

[twinthunder3]

Basketball IQ? McGee can probably define that for you.