If you read my past passion blog, you would know that my friends and I love hypotheticals. Lately, me and my friends, who we will call Bob, Braxton, and Emmerson, have been enjoying playing basketball. One day, we walked into the glorious White building to hoop, when we saw guys taking up both courts. We asked if we could play with them, but as it turns out, they were Penn State’s Men’s club basketball team. Lucky for us, they told us they only had twenty more minutes. We all decided to stay and watch until they finished up. Watching them play, it was clear that club basketball was no joke. Most of these guys would likely be starting at a D3 school. This is likely due to how large our school is, increasing the talent pool. As the guys were finishing up, I asked my friends an interesting hypothetical: could the best five guys on the club team beat the best two NBA players?
Having been the one who came up with this question, I took the side of the five club players. To my surprise, all three of my friends took the opposite side. They all quickly came to the conclusion that the two NBA players would win. Here was my argument:
- The club players showed great talent and awareness. They certainly are nothing compared to an NBA player, but they can make most open shots and execute the fundamentals very well.
- There are five of them, compared to only two NBA players. This means that three players should always be open. With basic ball movement, they should always get an open shot attempt.
- Each NBA player will be double or triple teamed. Even though the defense will be subpar compared to what they are used to, every shot they put up will be at least partially contested.
My friends gave the following counter points:
- NBA players can make contested shots at a higher rate than the club players can make wide open.
- NBA players have an extreme height advantage on the club players. This makes double and triple teaming effectively useless.
- The NBA players can stand in a formation (1-1) that will not allow the club players to ever take a solid midrange. This means they will need to shoot mostly three-pointers, which are shots that have a low rate of success.
This debate went back and forth for the entire two hours we played basketball. After all, there was no real evidence to back either of our claims. It was a purely emotional argument, and unless either side could give some solid evidence, no one would emerge victorious. I would only admit defeat once going back to my room, where Braxton would show me a video that completely changed my mind.
You see, a clear flaw in my argument was stating that the best two NBA players would lose to the best five club players. This video shows the 2016 USA Olympic team (comprised of all the best players) running drills on each other. They make some shots that seem beyond human in this video. Perhaps the most lethal thing I saw was their ability to shoot from the post, making the defender practically useless. At this moment, I conceded.
After this, I decided to revise my argument. Could the best five club players in the nation beat the two worst NBA players in a match? What do you think?