Semi-OT: Could Brittney Griner make it in the NBA?

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chris_in_pdx

chris_in_pdx

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She's been called a once-in-a-lifetime female player. I've watched some of Baylor's games this year, and she definitely looks like a completely different breed of player out there.... she's been controversially referred to as like a "man playing against women", and it's hard to disagree. Do any of you think that she could compete against NBA players? Should a team take a leap and invite her to training camp?
 
Fuck no. She is 6'8", so right away she is a tweener with really poor athletic ability for the NBA. Basically she is the same size as Nicolas Batum. Do you think she could keep up with him? I don't. She would almost have to play PF, where she would get the shit beat out of her by guys like Craig Smith. Not to mention the ball they use in women's basketball is smaller than the NBA ball.

I think I told this story on the old site, but forever ago when Portland had the Portland Power, which was pre WNBA, there was a player named Natalie Williams who won a gold medal in the Olympics for women's basketball. I worked as a sales manager for Thomason auto dealerships and delivered a Mustang for a promotion, several times. Anywho, as time went on I got more comfortable and would shoot a bit on the floor with some of the players in pre game shootarounds. I ended up going one on one with Natalie to 5 and beat her 5-3. I played high school basketball and won a state championship, but I am nowhere near good enough for major college basketball much less the NBA. Griner is better than Williams, but the NBA players are 10,000 better than me. Just saying....
 
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She would get eaten alive by speed of the other 6'8" players. She's great for a lady, but . . .
 
I doubt she could hang, but I would still like to see her get an invite to a camp, perhaps she could surprise us, and he has played well enough to deserve an honest shot.

However, I think that the only position that I can really see a female being able to make it in the NBA is at PG. There have been many PG's (Nash for example) who have been able to thrive in the NBA based mostly on skill and not on athletic ability.
 
chris_in_pdx said:
She's been called a once-in-a-lifetime female player. I've watched some of Baylor's games this year, and she definitely looks like a completely different breed of player out there.... she's been controversially referred to as like a "man playing against women", and it's hard to disagree. Do any of you think that she could compete against NBA players? Should a team take a leap and invite her to training camp?
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I know where you are going with this. Yes, I would trade Felton to the WNBA and draft her.
 
I always wondered if Sheryl Miller could have played in the league.
 
I remember Ann Meyers getting a look from the Pacers back in the 80's. She was cut after 3 days of training camp.
 
You may not mean it thusly, but it's really insulting to call Griner a man playing among women. She is a superstar college woman playing against other college women. She'll be a superstar pro playing among very good pros. It's like, if you're really really good, you have to be "a man".

Although she is 6'8", if you look at her, she's strong but quite slender. Look at the men of that height in the NBA and they are much broader through the shoulders and much heavier overall. So she'd have trouble in a game situation not getting pushed around. That is not to say she is an inferior player; but in basketball size and weight does count. A slender light man who was very tall would have trouble as well (think Shawn Bradley). I think a woman could compete in baseball, for example, where short and slender players have done extremely well - think 5'9" Rickey Henderson.

In a game of HORSE, I think the women could compete with the men. A shooting competition without someone who outweighs by 50 lb shoving them.

I will bet she'll have a better pro career than Felton. Or, sadly, Oden. But she still has another year of college eligibility and plans to return for her senior season.

You could say, without any argument, that the women are better educated; nearly all complete 4 years. A rarity among men.
 
^ANYWAY! Back to the topic on hand....... Hell no she couldn't!
 
I can see a woman coach before I see a woman playing in the NBA, IMO.
 
crandc said:
You may not mean it thusly, but it's really insulting to call Griner a man playing among women. She is a superstar college woman playing against other college women. She'll be a superstar pro playing among very good pros. It's like, if you're really really good, you have to be "a man".

Although she is 6'8", if you look at her, she's strong but quite slender. Look at the men of that height in the NBA and they are much broader through the shoulders and much heavier overall. So she'd have trouble in a game situation not getting pushed around. That is not to say she is an inferior player; but in basketball size and weight does count. A slender light man who was very tall would have trouble as well (think Shawn Bradley). I think a woman could compete in baseball, for example, where short and slender players have done extremely well - think 5'9" Rickey Henderson.

In a game of HORSE, I think the women could compete with the men. A shooting competition without someone who outweighs by 50 lb shoving them.

I will bet she'll have a better pro career than Felton. Or, sadly, Oden. But she still has another year of college eligibility and plans to return for her senior season.

You could say, without any argument, that the women are better educated; nearly all complete 4 years. A rarity among men.
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Honest question crand, why do you feel the need to come into every thread that could be potentially seen as a slight towards women and rage about semantics? The question was posed; could she play in the NBA? Do you need to address the "man playing among women" thing? What bearing does that really even have on the topic. You are offended because of a generalization about women basketball players, and then you go and drop one yourself by saying that women are better educated because they complete 4 years at college. That assumes so many things.

What kind of education do athletes actually get in college?

Why does it necessarily take 4 years to complete college? (LaMichael James finished in three)

Since when does spending time in school actually make you smarter or better educated than someone else? How many extremely intellectual people have we seen around the world who were self taught?

Having spent quite a bit of time in school over the last four years, I can say the one thing that I have taken from school is that your education is what you make it. You get what you put in. Someone can go to school for six years and come out without much more knowledge than they went in with. They leave with a piece of paper that says they are smart. That's it. I just think it's hypocritical of you to be unhappy about one supposed slam, and then you go and drop one yourself.
 
crandc said:
You may not mean it thusly, but it's really insulting to call Griner a man playing among women. She is a superstar college woman playing against other college women. She'll be a superstar pro playing among very good pros. It's like, if you're really really good, you have to be "a man".

Although she is 6'8", if you look at her, she's strong but quite slender. Look at the men of that height in the NBA and they are much broader through the shoulders and much heavier overall. So she'd have trouble in a game situation not getting pushed around. That is not to say she is an inferior player; but in basketball size and weight does count. A slender light man who was very tall would have trouble as well (think Shawn Bradley). I think a woman could compete in baseball, for example, where short and slender players have done extremely well - think 5'9" Rickey Henderson.

In a game of HORSE, I think the women could compete with the men. A shooting competition without someone who outweighs by 50 lb shoving them.

I will bet she'll have a better pro career than Felton. Or, sadly, Oden. But she still has another year of college eligibility and plans to return for her senior season.

You could say, without any argument, that the women are better educated; nearly all complete 4 years. A rarity among men.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but women don't have the muscle make up to play baseball at a high level. As for your HORSE comment, sure they could. women can have just as good of muscle memory and hand eye coordination as men, but HORSE doesn't require game skills other than shooting. Also, you would need to enlarge the men's rim to make it even because the girls basketballs are smaller and easier to go through the hoop
 
a girl could play in the nba if she was a insane outside shooter, not sure who she would guard though
 
A 6' 8" post player at her weight? Uh ... no, not so much.

But she is a helluva player.
 
Natebishop3 said:
Honest question crand, why do you feel the need to come into every thread that could be potentially seen as a slight towards women and rage about semantics? The question was posed; could she play in the NBA? Do you need to address the "man playing among women" thing? What bearing does that really even have on the topic. You are offended because of a generalization about women basketball players, and then you go and drop one yourself by saying that women are better educated because they complete 4 years at college. That assumes so many things.

What kind of education do athletes actually get in college?

Why does it necessarily take 4 years to complete college? (LaMichael James finished in three)

Since when does spending time in school actually make you smarter or better educated than someone else? How many extremely intellectual people have we seen around the world who were self taught?

Having spent quite a bit of time in school over the last four years, I can say the one thing that I have taken from school is that your education is what you make it. You get what you put in. Someone can go to school for six years and come out without much more knowledge than they went in with. They leave with a piece of paper that says they are smart. That's it. I just think it's hypocritical of you to be unhappy about one supposed slam, and then you go and drop one yourself.
Click to expand...

I think it's not just semantics to say, when a woman does something extra well, that "she's a man". Perhaps you are too young to remember when a smart woman was said to have "a man's brain". And the opposite; how often is a man, especially an athlete, called "pussy" or "f----t" or "vagynum" because if you really really want to insult a guy, compare him to a woman or imply he's gay. It's not just semantics. It's an attitude and it has real life consequences.

Actually, I also responded to the question at hand.

My comment about the women being better educated (not smarter - I agree education does not make a person "smart") was part tongue in cheek, part a reflection on the fact that for too many men, their college is just a year they need to get through en route to stardom in the pros. And if stardom doesn't happen, too often they don't have anything to fall back on.
 
crandc said:
You may not mean it thusly, but it's really insulting to call Griner a man playing among women.
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crandc, I knew exactly what I meant, and referred to that comment about her as "controversial". I know that is considered an insulting comparison, and I think you and I have talked enough over the years that you would know I meant no disrespect to her, you, or women in general.
 
HCP said:
^ANYWAY! Back to the topic on hand....... Hell no she couldn't!
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all I can think of with your avatar and how you are holding your hands is how Macho Man used to talk in interviews in old school WWF

Macho-Man-Randy-Savage.jpg
 
im pretty sure girls are from mars, where they get more candy bars
 
crandc said:
I think it's not just semantics to say, when a woman does something extra well, that "she's a man". Perhaps you are too young to remember when a smart woman was said to have "a man's brain". And the opposite; how often is a man, especially an athlete, called "pussy" or "f----t" or "vagynum" because if you really really want to insult a guy, compare him to a woman or imply he's gay. It's not just semantics. It's an attitude and it has real life consequences.
Click to expand...

Yes, but you keep hammering on this same kind of thing over and over and over. You rarely post on Blazer related topics anymore and really only show up to argue about women/men. Even your avatar is a weak attempt to troll the men on this board. Why are you so insecure about your sex that you feel the need to constantly defend it?
 
Could Ray "Meatloaf" Felton play in the WNBA?
 
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