[FarmBoy]

[quote author=Publius link=topic=16767.msg191318#msg191318 date=1491570806]
So T&R set up "The Scallenge".  It's worth a look for the laughs and a sense of what good athletes even the bench warmers in the NBA are.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpiu8UtQ-6E

I like to take my kids to watch the SF Bay Area Pro-Am games which are at Kezar Pavillion each summer.

It's a variety of current and former college players, the best of which are in the European leagues.  Occasionally a real live NBA player drops in.

My takeaway: even the guys who haven't sniffed the NBA are still amazing ballplayers.
[/quote]

Two anecdotes:

My sophomore year at Stanford I was probably the peak of my basketball performance and overall fitness. My friends played a pretty competitive pick up game regularly and competed for championships in the IMs. A few of us could have played DII/DIII ball. One day, one of the basketball team walk ons who never sniffed the court, even in blow outs, wandered by and decided to join in. On the bench, next to guys like Mark Seaton, Tim Young, and Mark Madsen, he looked puny. On the court, he was a horse and pretty much unstoppable and made every jumper he took. It was no competition.

As a high school senior, in back to back weeks, I played against Kobe Bryant of Lower Marion and then the following week RIchard Hamilton of Coatesville (went on to win NCAA champsionship with UConn and then NBA championship with Detroit). After playing against Kobe, Rip just seemed like another good player. Clearly better than anyone on our team, but nothing to write home about. I'm sure if we didn't have to see Kobe twice a year in league play, we'd have been a lot more impressed by Rip.

[FarmBoy]

[quote author=Publius link=topic=16767.msg191318#msg191318 date=1491570806]
So T&R set up "The Scallenge".  It's worth a look for the laughs and a sense of what good athletes even the bench warmers in the NBA are.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpiu8UtQ-6E

I like to take my kids to watch the SF Bay Area Pro-Am games which are at Kezar Pavillion each summer.

It's a variety of current and former college players, the best of which are in the European leagues.  Occasionally a real live NBA player drops in.

My takeaway: even the guys who haven't sniffed the NBA are still amazing ballplayers.
[/quote]

Two anecdotes:

My sophomore year at Stanford I was probably the peak of my basketball performance and overall fitness. My friends played a pretty competitive pick up game regularly and competed for championships in the IMs. A few of us could have played DII/DIII ball. One day, one of the basketball team walk ons who never sniffed the court, even in blow outs, wandered by and decided to join in. On the bench, next to guys like Mark Seaton, Tim Young, and Mark Madsen, he looked puny. On the court, he was a horse and pretty much unstoppable and made every jumper he took. It was no competition.

As a high school senior, in back to back weeks, I played against Kobe Bryant of Lower Marion and then the following week RIchard Hamilton of Coatesville (went on to win NCAA champsionship with UConn and then NBA championship with Detroit). After playing against Kobe, Rip just seemed like another good player. Clearly better than anyone on our team, but nothing to write home about. I'm sure if we didn't have to see Kobe twice a year in league play, we'd have been a lot more impressed by Rip.