D-Mo!!! <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBAMU7IZfpg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> In real, I think Harden is covering his athletism behind the beard. D-Mo most athletic big man i guess.
they need the kind of athleticism like a Iman Shumpert/JR Smith type that lin/harden can reliably allyoop to. I didn't think that landry fields was that athletic, but looks like he was able to catch and finish ally-oops from lin - at least from the highlights - don't know how many fields missed for each one that he finished. maybe Parsons, or greg smith/t.jones can be that guy - doesn't seem like it so far.
I haven't seen Terrence Jones enough to say he is the one for sure, but I've seen Patrick Patterson do stuff that seemed super-human. He will probably lose that ability level (use it or lose it), but far and above best athlete in my mind.
In terms of what is traditionally considered athleticism in consistent athletic ability and brute strength, I'm going to take country ox Greg Smith, who also has great hops. TJones has to be up there as well as a close second. Lin and Harden though (especially Lin, even more so because of the way he looks and conducts himself) will always be underrated by the general public because they don't always show their athleticism and only use it will needed (e.g., the fact that Lin tested quicker/faster than Wall).
James Harden. Like others have said, the man is deceptively athletic. The athletic measurements speak for themselves.
The thing is that Rose's lane agility is acutually less than mediocre. For reference, Aaron Brooks had a score of 10.57 and Raymond "The Blob" Felton 10.50. Toney Douglas probably has the second best acceleration on the team next to Lin. The problem is, Douglas' deceleration appears to be pretty average, so he can't change direction that well (you can see this from how easily he gets rubbed off screens on a change of direction), unlike pre-injury Lin. As Morey has noted, though, Lin's deceleration still hasn't returned to pre-injury levels. We don't know if it ever will.
Do you have any figures on Lin's acceleration? Douglas is elite in those categories, so to say "Douglas is second best to Lin" without any frame of reference is a little bit silly isn't it? Don't get me wrong, I hope Lin is superquick - but somehow I doubt he's faster than Douglas in those metrics.
James Harden. His game is so smooth and makes things look easy that's why it's deceptive. I think if he had more alley-oop dunks or if he dunked with more authority we would see his true athleticism.
Morey said this in an interview. That Lin has the fastest acceleration speed on the team. It was measured using accelerometers.
Well, except that Morey has already stated publicly in a 790 sports radio interview that Lin has the fastest acceleration of ANY player they have EVER recorded in the years since they put in the SportsVu system (at least 2 years). http://bbs.clutchcity.net/showthread.php?p=7385061 Given the accelerometers are in their practice jersey, I would assume that includes Douglas. So, off the step Lin is faster than Douglas. No other way to interpret that. Lin's top speed BAM scores were lower than Wall's, so given in the 3/4 court, Douglas beats out Wall by 0.01s Lin is clearly slower in terms of the 3/4 court and top speed. http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2012/03/life-in-the-fast-lane/ As for lateral quickness scores, those measurements haven't been public as far as I've seen. Draft express had Toney Douglas as above average in lateral quickness and Lin as below average in lateral quickness, however, according to the NYT, Lin improved his lateral quickness by 33% during the offseason of 2010. Whether that was enough to close the gap on TD is not readily apparent. http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/Lin-shows-Warriors-insanity-3361773.php My impression is that Douglas is still slightly quicker in terms of lateral quickness, however it's just an impression without data to back it up. So it depends on what aspect of speed you're looking at.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1206495/4/index.htm I'll just quote a quick paragraph: "It is a recent Tuesday afternoon, and James Harden is running through drills, cutting and slicing past assistant coaches on his way to the rim. Aside from his beard, which juts outward from his chin as if trying to colonize other faces, he doesn't appear that different from most NBA shooting guards: 6'5", 220 pounds, long but not freakishly long arms, chiseled but not too chiseled physique. The No. 3 pick out of Arizona State, Harden can't leap especially high and isn't all that fast, at least compared with his peers. (The Rockets embed accelerometers in their players' jerseys during practice, and while Lin is far and away the quickest-accelerating, Harden isn't among the top three.)" Somebody else other than Douglas may be second only to Lin, but I figure it's probably Douglas because he looks pretty darn quick in a straight line.
Does Draft Express use tests in measuring quickness? I remember lots of articles questioning Lin's athleticism that were obviously based on faulty eye tests.
The combine sprints and vertical tests are so inaccurate in terms of their applicability to actual game athleticism... Mayo's a better athlete than Rose? Lin's a better athlete than Westbrook? Stop.
Draftexpress has test results for SOME though NOT all players. For example, in Lane Agility tests (seconds, LOWER = BETTER) Deron Williams - 10.83 Russell Westbrook - 10.98 Rodney Stuckey - 11.34 Iman Shumpert - 11.10 Derrick Rose - 11.69 Chris Paul - 11.09 Damian Lillard - 11.15 Toney Douglas - 10.63 Jeremy Lin - Unavailable http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-pre...ll&source=All&sort2=DESC&draft=0&pos=1&sort=1 Other interesting tidbits is the height without Shoes data. Given Toney Douglas' extremely good lane agility, while it's possible Lin has more lateral quickness post lockout, it's probably not very likely. Lin is actually the same height as Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook, and slightly taller than Deron Williams.
Why isn't Parsons or D-Mo or Aldrich in that list? I think Parsons can jump and dunk, and both D-Mo and Aldrich can do powerful dunks too. Isn't that an indication of being athletic? Is it because they are all white and the prevalent perception of "white people can't jump" that makes people simply don't associate the white NBA players with athleticism?
