Kevin Garnett Explodes the “If Only All American Athletes Played Soccer” Myth

American Football DBs and Rbs could easily switch. You mean to tell me that a 6'3 Urlacher or a 5'9 BARRY SANDERS or 5'10 Walter Payton couldn't be good on a soccer field. What about a guy like Tebow? Reggie Bush - c'mon man. You guys are drinking the kool-aid. Remember Football has many body types. Quit using 6'5 WR and the linemen as the basis for your argument.

The argument that I haven't seen is for the youth in America who waste all their talent and athleticism, when they will soon learn that the simply Cannot hope to make a living off of it, not because of their talent, but because of their height. There is only one exeption to this rule in the NBA.

People complain a lot about how Adu doesn't have the size to compete on the international level. I don't personally agree, but I think our offensive ranks could be scary if we had all the gifted runts in this country.

Nash is a great soccer player, have you seen the vids with the tricks? i.e. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
I know it dosnt translate into the real game but still. Credit to him.

Shaq as a keeper...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

I have no doubt that if the better athletes in the U.S. gravitated toward soccer the U.S. would be a dominant force in the sport. I can look just at college basketball and some of the amazing athletes in the 5'10" to 6'3" range who, because their jump shot just isn't consistent enough, their ball handling just is just a lick below remarkable, their just a half-step slow, don't make it in the NBA. Take just some of these same athletes and get them playing soccer from the time they are 8 and it would be an entirely different situation for soccer in the U.S.

I have been an AC for my son's U6 and U8 teams and already have seen kids who are clearly excellent athletes and who have already developed decent soccer skills stop playing mid-season to go play flag football or even youth hockey, both of which are extremely popular in my neck of the north east U.S., and are sports their parents often will push them toward because they are more familiar with it.

U.S. soccer is what it is. But to argue that if the better athletes in the U.S. gravitated toward soccer it would not make a striking difference in the quality of players the U.S. turns out is utterly ridiculous.

@Marlon: and Canadian.

Shawn: I was just throwing some names out there. Plus, I heard he was a goalkeeper when he was younger at a Turkish club. I think he could do a decent job.

Steve Nash is pretty good at soccer.

Dwight Howard is not a person on the list of basketball players we are logically concluding could play soccer well. Daryl is probably right, Lebron should not be on it either. The people who should be concentrated on are the very athletic guards people noted above.

Let's see Beckham dunk like KG.

Look, basketball players tend to be too big for the continuous distance running involved in football over a 45 minute period with no break. They tend carry a good deal of muscle on the upper part of their bodies. Ever see Dwight Howards' shoulders? Soccer players tend to be thicker in the legs, but not particularly body builders when it comes to the chests, arms, shoulders, and back. I don't mean to say they're not in shape, because they are.

Yes, and I understand that size is a bonus at centre half and all that.

But my argument against it is that aren't many (any?) 6'8" centre halves in professional football right now.

I'm not 100% sure why, but the ideal height for a central defender seems to be just over 6' (I think Ferdinand and Vidic at Man Utd are about 6'1" or 6'2")

Maybe it's to do with the speed at which you can turn or something, or maybe it's do with big big men not being very good at controlling footballs, because even centre halves need to have some touch.

Daryl have you considered the notion of Lebron as a center half?

also....

andrea: okur? i really think he'd be worse than kg.

see, i always wanted to see kg trained as a goalkeeper. can you imagine that? his wing span is almost post to post. ridiculous.

Marlon,

I definitely don't know a lot about basketball. No arguments here. I actually played three minutes of a friendly for my high school basketball team as a try-out and was told to please stick to football. True story.

That said... I do watch some basketball, and am very much aware that not all b-ballers are gigantasours. Although, if I understand basketball correctly (which maybe I don't) then short players can only realistically play as guards, right?

My argument is more that I keep hearing people say things like "if only LeBron had played soccer" etc, which assumes because he's brilliant at one sport (which definitely favours tall people, despite the presence of a few shorter guys) he'd also be brilliant at a sport that definitely doesn't favour really really tall guys.

Well the average height of an American male is 69 inches tall, with a standard deviation of about 3 inches. The average American basketball player is 78 inches tall. NBA players are, on average, among maybe the tallest 3% of American men.

This just makes me think Daryl doesn't know much about basketball. He thinks it's some sort of battleground of the giants.

Nobody here's talking about baseball, which of the three great American sports probably produces the more well-rounded athletes. (By this I mean baseball, like soccer, doesn't favor any one body type, unlike basketball and football.) Sure there are big guys (David Ortiz, Roger Clemens), but far and wide baseball produces athletes with speed, agility and body-eye coordination that could similarly have successfully played soccer instead.

Here's the thing, as an athletetic youth, your body tends to grow according to the sport you play. Track stars stay slim. American football players bulk up. Basketball players usually stay slim and grow tall. The debate should be more about does athletic skill mean you can play any sport period if you were to practice hard. I mean, golf is called a sport. I wouldn't say that just because Tiger Woods is the best golfer in the world that he would dominate some other sport if he only dedicated his time to that sport.

^^ every sport has its own skill set... its impossible to say one has more skill than the other... bring me the best soccer players in the world, and ask them to make a 40yd pass on a rope or hit a 18ft fade-away jumper...they wouldnt be able to do it... and vice versa...

however i think if soccer was the #1 sport and a priority in america, we'd obviously have more success than we do now..and honestly we'd probably have atleast 1 wc trophy... because of our resources, sheer population size, and the abundance of naturally gifted and talented athletes that are produced all across america... it's the only logical answer...

and even though the little guys still have a spot in world football, the major trend over the last decade or so has been bigger and faster players... the prototype footballer of today is probably similar to a cristiano ronaldo...who has a combination of size and speed...the game has gotten tremendously faster and now pace is the name of the game... being able to do everything faster: faster touches, faster movement, gettin to the spot faster, etc...

just think about the original ronaldo when he burst onto the seen... he took the world by storm because there wasnt another attacking player who had his speed and strength and ability all rolled into 1..during his barca and early inter days, he was an unstoppable force because he could not be defended straight up man-to-man.. and if u think about, his build was similar to your average running back.. now obviously technical ability is the most important factor but if someone is born and raised to only play soccer, there's bound to be quite a few who develop that world class ability, just based off the numbers alone..

just imagine a central defensive tandem of ed reed and lebron for example.. and the likes of randy moss and a mike vick (runs a 4.2) on the wings... and adrian peterson as one of your strikers..etc..etc... the possibilities are endless...

This was never a debate. Soccer takes more skill then anything. You either have it or dont (see Niklas Bendtner). And this is coming from a basketball player. You cannot get by on athleticism alone like you can in bball or american football...

To be fair, the "run for 90 minutes" excuse is a little flimsy itself. You're not at a constant run on a standard sized pitch. If the ball isn't near you, you're at a jog.

I don't know if that is the argument though. Well sure MLS is second rate but the US can't raise the money because to sustain great play that has nothing to do with what our kids are playing.

Back to the “everyone should play soccer argument” its true that big guys usually equal bad touch, on top of that though Basketball and American football do create lopsided athletes. Very few people in the NBA and NFL (if any) are able to run 90 min and maintain composure and balance enough to be competitive. If they were to play soccer they may be a lot more dangerous on the court or the gridiron or the office. Kids should play soccer if they are into sports just like fiction writers should read non-fiction and visa versa. I think athletes should meditate and do yoga just to improve their ability and quality of life.

Of course any overreaching statements using words like all or none can be thrown out straight away and making a statement like "if only" is just suicide. Now if only Hull City can get back into form and win it all.

Sorry Daryl, but I've never seen anyone argue that the NBA's 6'5"+ stars would be any good at soccer. Of course they wouldn't.

Reggie Bush on the other hand...

While I don't think that NBA basketball stars from the USA(Americans) would do too well, but I think some countries would do ok. Although, Kobe Bryant probably could put up a decent fight.

Leandro Barbosa
Steve Nash
Tony Parker
Rudy Fernandez
Mehmet Okur
Vladimir Radmanovic
Sasha Vujacic

They could probably head their teams really well.

What about the basketball players that aren't tall and powerful, like Monta Ellis? He could very much so be described as the basketball version of Theo Walcott, except he's probably just as fast...yet still considerably bigger with a remarkable vertical leap that'd make him a threat in any set piece?

You made a rather large assumption based off a rather circumstantial Addidas commercial.

To be fair, my intention was to use the commercial as a jumping off point, because it was the commercial that started me on this train of thought.

I don't really mean to argue that it's conclusive proof, just so we're clear on that.

But my argument is basically that a lot of being an NBA player is about being tall and powerful, which doesn't necessarily translate well to football.

KG plays basketball for a reason, because he is a BEAST.

...So you take a commercial meant to be more funny than anything and proceed to make a judgment call about it? Sorry, I'm not buying.

The argument was never "If only NBA stars played soccer, the USA would be better." Rather, if some of the better athletes in the states in general gravitated more towards the world game, then the MLS would be infinitely more competitive. It's easy to cherry-pick your choices and say "Well Kevin Garnett is too big."

But what about Larry Fitzgerald? Roughly the same height as Drogba, has amazing vertical leap, and incredible acceleration.

What about Allen Iverson? Only six feet tall, known for his agility, speed, and hand-eye coordination? Able to elegantly use his feet to shake off defenders?

The fact is this: there are people in the NFL and NBA who are, in fact, natural athletes and would have had a legitimate shot succeeding in several athletic fields. And the MLS would have been indisputably better if these people had dedicated as much time to football/soccer as they did to their respective sport.

The most athletic people in the United States gravitate towards other sports. That's not arguable. And if you could pick and choose some of the monsters who are proportionate enough to play soccer...well then I'd be totally geeked to see Randy Moss and Ted Ginn Jr. running down the wing, Dwayne Wade styling into the box for the goal etc.

The argument is totally legitimate. I don't know why you'd use a commercial to disprove it.

you could argue that if they did play soccer all their lives they wouldnt of bulked up to be as huge as they are and wouldve trained their muscles in the way soccer players do instead of football or basketball players.


and the first commenter is right...allen iverson was all state in baseball, basketball, and football...pretty sure he wouldve been just fine and probably better than landon donovan or whoever you think they greatest american soccer player is.

I'm looking more at the Reggie Bush type. Some of the smaller american football players would be crazy on the pitch!