re: Why is the demographic so slanted in professional and college basketball?

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Could be that the nature of the sport caters to extremely elite athletes having the most success, thus more black people.

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So then you're saying that black people are by and large significantly more athletic than white people?

I understand why there are more black basketball players than white basketball players. For black kids basketball is the most accessible sport. Plus for black kids basketball and football are the two sports that can get them and their families out of poverty. Elite black kids overwhelmingly focus on basketball and football whereas elite white kids go to baseball, hockey, tennis, golf, rugby, lacrosse and a variety of other sports.

But I do not agree with the assessment of black people being naturally and genetically more athletic than white people. About the only thing I see is that black people tend to be taller on average than white people. It's not that common to see black men under say 5'7" while you commonly see white men under 5'7". And of course basketball, maybe more than any other sport, you really need to be tall.

But if black people through genetics were more athletic than white people, then how come the U.S. men's basketball team routinely gets schooled by European teams, many of which have mostly or all white teams?

Heck how come Purdue, a college basketball team that is mostly non-black players, is #3 in the country?

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About the only thing I see is that black people tend to be taller on average than white people.

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the opposite is true.

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then how come the U.S. men's basketball team routinely gets schooled by European teams, many of which have mostly or all white teams?

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except, you know, when it counts.

Pro sports seems like one of the only industries that hires strictly based on ability to do the job. So i guess the players in the NBA are the best basketball players we have?

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Pro sports seems like one of the only industries that hires strictly based on ability to do the job. So i guess the players in the NBA are the best basketball players we have?

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The thing is the NBA is more entertainment and a product than a pure sport. A previous poster mentioned that a lot of white kids who play basketball are taught to play as more of a team whereas a lot of black kids who play basketball are more concerned with their individual skills and making the splashy moves and plays.

Black kids typically are better individual basketball players whereas I think white kids typically are better team basketball players.

But look at the NBA. The NBA wants all the flash. The NBA is all about the individual players. Heck a lot of NBA fans don't even so much cheer for a team as they do a player (Magic Johnson fans, Michael Jordan fans, Lebron James fans, Steph Curry fans, etc.). The NBA is all about the individual, not the team. That makes a lot of black players, who have more flare and individual skill, much more appealing as a product.

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the opposite is true.

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I think there's more variance in height for white men. There are probably more really tall white men than there are really tall black men. But there are flat out more shorter white men than there are short black men.

It's common in certain areas, based on heritage, for a lot of white men to be only 5'3", 5'4", 5'5". Especially up in the Northeast where you get a lot of Italian heritage. I have Italian heritage on my dad's side and I have 2 male cousins who are both below 5'5". I'm on the taller side for my dad's side of the family being 5'9".

You flat out don't see many black men below 5'7".

There's exceptions. All those euro players wish they were in the nba.

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It’s this. It’s for ratings

I’ve seen teams with majority white players beat the crap out of an athletic black majority team by playing fundamentally sound basketball and good defense. But that’s boring to most viewers. People want dunks, steals, alley oops

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Exactly 100%. The NBA is entertainment, not true sport and hasn't been for awhile. Technical team focused basketball can dismantle a far more athletic but less fundamental basketball team. But that doesn't get the ratings.

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Care the quote your source from that?

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I am

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What genetically causes black people to be more athletic?

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I have no clue. But I’ve been around enough professional athletes in my day to know on average they are more athletic than us white folks.

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I'm sorry but you're wrong. And this is coming from soneone who played competitive tennis and baseball in high school and competitive tennis in college. And from someone who flat out beat some of those "more athletic" black athletes. From someone who was faster and out ran some of those "faster" black athletes.

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There are tons of white people who are more athletic than tons of black people. I’m one of them as well.

But on average I believe black people are superior athletically.

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tennis and baseball in

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And from someone who flat out beat some of those "more athletic" black athletes

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lol

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So then you're saying that black people are by and large significantly more athletic than white people?

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Back in the day, I went from an all-white elementary school to a mostly black junior high school to an almost all-white high school. Played sports with and against whites and blacks. I assure you that the black athletes were on average faster and more explosive than the white athletes.