James Harden said the other day that he is not very athletic. Got me thinking about whether there is a very athletic player on the team, and, if so, who? Thoughts? (Poll coming up).
There are so many elements and different types of measurements. It's hard to define "athletic." We do know that Morey said the practice jerseys had instruments attached to them. And that Jeremy Lin tested as the quickest accelerating player that the Rockets have ever measured. So I guess that means he's quicker than anyone on the team and presumable anyone from last year's team if they had the same type of practice jersey attachments.
How do you define athleticism? Is it by hops, speed, strength or a combination of the three? Asik is probably the strongest on the roster, Lin the fastest, Jones is strong but has the greatest hops. Royce is also pretty strong from what I hear. I think for the most part in our starting 5 it has to be either Harden or Lin. Probably Lin. On our entire roster Jones. Smith also seems pretty athletic. Jones & Lin & Harden are probably the top in terms of overall athleticism.
Greg Smith is in the running for sure. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRT7tc9XEoc Those dunks are crazy for a man his size
This is just a depressing thread, Carl. Was the whole point of this to point out the absolute dearth of explosive athleticism on this team? This is like going to a car dealer and being told "pick out the most badass car" - problem is we're at a Toyota dealership. No Maseratis on this showroom floor. "I guess that 4Runner is better than the Camry...?"
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nLUg8Ur_vrE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> James Harden is lying.
I guess you have to use the greatest physically gifted athletes in the world as a placeholder. Id have to give it to either Lebron James, or Wilt Chamberlain. Just based on the combination of elite athletic gifts all in one package. Based on that I would probably have to give it to Jones. The combination of height, length, speed, quickness, leaping ability, coordination, strength, etc. is about as close to the full package physically that you can get on this team.
Harden's combination of size, reach, speed, strength and vertical is elite level. He maybe the most athletic one if you count all the phsical attributes for the position. Harden's overall package is on the same level of Dwade. Ppat, TJ, Smith and Lin are very athletic, but fall a little short comparing to the elite talent for their positions. Out of them, Lin's athleticism is underrated and translates best to his rate of steals, blocks, rebounds, drawing fouls...He's slowly getting the athleticism back post injury. I'd say it's between Harden and Lin.
I like this definition a lot LOL. So yes definitely Jones is up there, probably the most well rounded on the team & the best overall athlete. I think Harden & Lin are also well rounded athletes so they would be there as well. 1)Jones 2)Harden/Lin & then Parsons & Smith get honourable mention. Harden is A LOT more athletic than he gives himself credit for lol. That dunk video from team USA as well as a few of the dunks he has had as a Rocket are testament to that. Lin's athleticism is also really underrated.
Athleticism covers a LOT of things, and there are very FEW players that are athletic in virtually all aspects. Lebron James and players like Wilt Chamberlain are physical freaks. High acceleration, big hops, high top speed, and massive core strength. Straight line Acceleration/top speed - Lin Core strength - Harden (it takes a TON of core strength to take hits and still finish at the rim) Overall physical strength - Asik or possibly Aldrich. Haven't seen enough of Aldrich to be sure. Hops - Greg Smith (hard to be sure since we haven't seen enough minutes from all the rookies) Lateral quickness - Toney Douglas (though Asik has great lateral quickness for a big man) We don't have any all around physical freaks, that's for sure. However, given it's Morey's team, it's expected. All around physical freaks tend to be obvious, so everyone notices and recruits them. Meanwhile, Morey makes his living off picking up guys that fly under the radar.
