Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Expect Great - Brian

Adam so graciously posed this question to me the other day - who would win in a game: the five best high school basketball players or the five best WNBA players.

Let's take a quick look at the rosters of the two teams:

High School Team
G - Austin Rivers 6'4 189
G - Bradley Beal 6'4 205
F - Anthony Davis 6'10 200
F - Michael Gilchrist 6'7 210
F - James McAdoo 6'8 216

WNBA Team
G - Diana Taurasi 6'0 183
G - Cappie Pondexter 5'9 175
F - Tamika Catchings 6'1 185
F - Candace Parker 6'4 193
F - Tina Charles 6'4 193

First thing is first - I very easily could have made up all of the names for the WNBA team because I have never met an avid WNBA follower, but I assure you that I did my research. Those are indeed the five best WNBA players. The high school team is the top five recruits according to ESPN.com.

Let's look at a few key categories.

Size: Already, you will notice that the WNBA team would struggle in the size category. Their tallest player is as tall as the high school teams shortest player. This one is pretty easy to decide. Advantage - High School

Athleticism: Surprisingly, this one is a bit closer than you would expect. These WNBA players are quicker than you think they are. They have a little speed to them, and can break your ankles with a few of their moves. Plus, Candace Parker can dunk which shows her athleticism. However, the high school athletes (while not completely honed athletically due to poor conditioning and lifting at high schools compared to college and NBA) are probably a little more athletic. Slight Advantage - High School

Basketball IQ - This is where the WNBA starts making its case. For most of these high school players, they had at most five set plays. 90% of the time they had the ball in isolation and would create their own shots. While effective in high school, five players who only know iso plays would not do well against a set defense. WNBA players can't always work of isolations, and have a much more advanced knowledge of how to play basketball than the high school players. Advantage - WNBA

Shooting - One thing we must keep in mind is that the high school players are still HIGH SCHOOL players. If you have ever watched high school basketball, these kids rely more on their athleticism than they do anything else. Most of these players are not great shooters yet. The WNBA team has honed their shooting prowess effectively. With all that said, I still see this one being pretty even. Advantage - Push

Overall - The high school team holds advantages in most categories in terms of individual basketball - athleticism, size, quickness, etc. However, the greatest advantage for the WNBA is basketball IQ and team play. In a game like this, it would be five individuals (high school) versus a team (WNBA). In my mind, team play is greater than individual play. Great teams play as a TEAM, not as an individuals. In my honest opinion, I would take the WNBA team over the high schoolers, because they have more experience and truely understand how basketball is played. The high school team would be just too selfish and egocentric.

Team > Individuals

WNBA > High School

8 comments:

  1. I am a bit surprised, but also do not disagree. I think the experience factor alone would help carry the WNBA players, not to mention the fact that these women are exceptional athletes. They may not compare to other professional sports, but they certainly could hold their own against high school basketball players. Although, give those high school players a month of practice together with a good coach and we may be talking about a whole different outcome.

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  2. You had good points until you got to the argument of High School players being too egocentric and selfish. The top recruits in the country go to Duke and are they selfish? No. I’d make the argument that the WNBA players would have more egotism because they are paid athletes.

    Bottom Line: The best team of women assembled to play a bunch of athletic guys that are 6’6” would still FAIL. Teamwork is a powerful thing, but get serious…The Hoosiers were a hell of a team. They’re not about to beat the Miami Heat.

    Anthony Davis 6'10" F vs. Tamika Catchings 6'1"F

    Rebounding/Blocked Shots/Unstoppable Inside Scoring > "More Experience"/"Shooting Prowess"

    High School > WNBA

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  3. And, the HS ballers would play isolation, yes. If a WNBA defense plays man, the your points #1 (size) and #2 (athleticism) trump #3 (IQ). The 6'6" HS'er in isolation is going to jock the tampon right out of Parker and he will dunk on the 6'1" forward.

    Is IQ really that important? No, that's why Reddick is on the bench and Brandon Bass is starting and getting 2 boards and 2 assists in a game w/ and shooting 0% from the field, as a starter. Going back to an early argument of yours, Kemba Walker is more highly recruited than Jimmer for the NBA, you think it's b/c of IQ or do you think it's because of your B vs. W argument that you made? Athleticism!

    IQ? Really, LeBron said the word "contraction" one night, then claimed he didn't know what it meant the next day? Good IQ LBJ...but the cat can ball.

    Candace Parker can dunk, good athleticism, but so could Spud Webb and Allen Iverson. But that didn't stop Shaq from getting more boards and blocks and dominating the inside paint (or Amare and/or Dwight on a HS basis since that's the argument and they didn't go to college).

    WNBA would get smashed.

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  4. I think about players like Wall, James, Howard, and Rose who could have gone straight from High School to starting in the NBA... Hands down it's gotta be High School players

    dare I go as far as saying the 5 best boys high school players could beat the 5 worst NBA players? dare I?

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  5. Well, I don't know why a reference to a tampon had to be made in the comments. The rest of the facts aside, someone is obviously thinking way too much about gender.

    I think experience would play into it a lot more as well as the high school players would be pretty cavalier about playing five women. I don't have a prediction other than the fact that I doubt either side would be "smashed".

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  6. Anonymous: I never said anything about overall IQ. Do I care that LeBron has poor vocabulary? Not in the slightest. Do I care that LeBron understand how to play basketball (hence why I said BASKETBALL IQ)? Absolutely.

    There is a huge difference in regular IQ and basketball IQ.

    And Reddick was never absolutely praised for his basketball IQ. He was praised because he was one of the greatest shooters in college basketball history. People who succeed in the NBA and are good players have basketball IQ to go along with everything else (athleticism, shooting, etc).

    And Adam, we aren't talking about straight from HS to NBA impact players here. Those top 5 are all great HS players, but none would be considered sure fire NBA studs their first year in the league. Look at Harrison Barnes from last year. Number one overall recruit and he had a pretty bad start to his career. It took him about half the season to understand TEAM basketball. Once he grasped that concept, he took off. Brandon Knight, the number three overall recruit, took a while to get into a groove and didn't really take off until the NCAA tournament.

    You are more than welcome to dismiss the importance of BB IQ and team play, but those are two of the things that are the difference between a good player and a great player. And in my mind is the difference between the WNBA players and the HS players.

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  7. I agree, I just wanted to take a crack at LBJ for taking his talents elsewhere. There is a difference in Standard IQ and Basketball IQ.

    You didn't really comment on the Kemba/Jimmer argument, and the importance of athleticism. In all fairness, it's hard to measure basketball IQ, or even compare. I can't compare IQ's between Jimmer and Kemba, btu as you pointed out, Jimmer had better stats, even though Kemba is more highly recruited. Point is, I want to say that athleticism reigns supreme in the basketball world, not IQ. Prime example is the Villain LBJ:

    44-45" vertical, fast as hell, 6'8", and roughly 250 lbs...and is arguable the best player in the NBA. Size and athleticism. That's why he can drive the paint the way he does. Here's insanely difficult to stop.

    Look at Yao Ming, dude was average coming into the NBA, but was 7'6" with a wingspan similar to a pterodactyl. People didn't care about IQ, they care about God-given attributes.

    Obviously these are all NBA players and not high school, but I still would strongly argue that athleticism and size are vital. Why else would basketball have allowed kids to go straight from high school to the NBA? Given the HS'ers size and *more than likely (*opinion, but I haven't seen them play), I would take them over WNBA.

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  8. *more than likely athleticism*, to go along w/ my 38 typos.

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