re: Austin Rivers on NFL being easier than the NBA

The way the nfl is played today with athletic QB's, I'd bet there's a nfl qb in the NBA right now, had that player gone the route of playing football instead of basketball.
Allen Iverson was one of the best high school qb's in Virginia. Won the state championship in both basketball and football, as well as player of the year in both sports.
Corey Webster was similar in high school winning the state championship in basketball and football as a qb.
The difference between those two is one of them was awesome at basketball despite being 6' tall, and the other wasnt' nearly as good at basketball at 6' tall, despite the fact that he could have easily played basketball at LSU, but Corey realized real quick his future was in football, not basketball, b/c of his size. If Corey Webster was 6'4" insted of 6' tall, i'd bet he would have ended up in the NBA instead of the NFL.


Westbrook, Fox, Derrick Rose, even Josh Hart, those guys are flying by people on fast breaks. The guys in the 6'3"ish range are the ones that could likely be good football players.
If Lonzo Ball was groomed to be a QB his whole life instead of a basketball player, he probably would have been an unbelievable qb.
Donovan Mitchell played shortstop in high school. Let that athletic freak play QB. Or Kyrie Irving at QB.

How many guys out there are like Michael Vick? We are just finally startigng to see guys with that skill set do well in the NFL, like Lamar Jackson. Those guys with that kind of speed play basketball, not football.


Guys like Jrue Holiday, ANT, and Lou Dort, who are only 6'4" but weigh 220 would absolutely have been able to make a career in football if that's what they grew up playing.
If Lou Dort worked out to play football instead of basketball, added 20lbs of muscle and got some strength in his legs, he would be an all pro DE. He'd be Micah Parsons.


It's unlikley you can just drop an NBA player onto a football field and he be any good. His body hasn't trained to play that sport and they aren't going to be strong enough more than likely. Same for a football player playing basketball. They have trained their body to absorb high impact contact. Thats' what their muscles are for now, and they are no where near as graceful on the court.
But i think more kids that play both fooball and basketball, pick the sport to move forward with based on their size. You're under 6'2" you better be a phenomanel basketball player to make it to the next level.

20+ years ago kids played multiple sports. Tournament baseball and AAU basketball have pretty much made kids choose which sport they want to play when they are 11 years old, so you don't see as many multi sport athletes anymore.