How come dudes can pickup football really late and make the NFL, but not the NBA?

[HitmanTommy]

You always hear stories of guys that pick up football for the first time around 15-16 years old an end up making it all the way to the NFL, but how come you never hear stories of dudes that are 15-16 picking up basketball and making it to the NBA?

[BERNIE'S CORNER]

You always hear stories of guys that pick up football for the first time around 15-16 years old an end up making it all the way to the NFL, but how come you never hear stories of dudes that are 15-16 picking up basketball and making it to the NBA?

In my Humbled opinion and for lack of a better term.

Basketball players are better skilled than NFL players in general.

Now there are always exceptions to the rules.

Speed and height can't be taught.

Brute force on the other hand and especially on the D side is more of a natural ability than skill.

My 2 cents......

[Scipio2009]

You always hear stories of guys that pick up football for the first time around 15-16 years old an end up making it all the way to the NFL, but how come you never hear stories of dudes that are 15-16 picking up basketball and making it to the NBA?

Are you seriously going to act as if there aren't stories of the so-so JV basketball player, growing 8-10 inches in a summer and riding that to a college scholarship? Most folks only start playing real basketball once they hit high school varsity as sop****re/juniors anyway.

The NBA is 30 teams, with each team having a 12-man active roster, in a sport that's literally played everywhere.

The NFL has 32 teams, with 56-man rosters, for a sport basically played in the US/Canada (with some skills crossover from other sports).

Football, just like basketball, is a skills-based sport; whether it's throwing a ball accurately over the top, a quick first-step, short-range explosion, short-range power, or the host of other skills potentially used in a position, athletes with the needed skill can come from anywhere.

Big man in the NBA; out-and-out physical size, good physical coordination, short-range speed, etc.

Name a 14 year old or younger with flashes on that.

[DeadLikeMe]

basketball is literally the least skilled sport. all you have to do is be tall. something like 80% of people over 7' tall in america have had a professional basketball contract

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Lual dent didn’t play basketball til his junior year in high school.

Basketball is an easy sport to play for youngsters so you can start young. A lot of parents don’t let their kids play tackle football until they are much older

[Motorcity Cobra]

Because each position in football is a position that requires a certain skill set. You can pluck a guy from the track team and as long as he can catch a punt/kick, he can play. You can grab a guy from rugby and he can become a punter. But it's rare for the higher skilled positions to have someone that just started playing. You aren't going to get a QB from someone who started playing in senior year of high school.

There was a guy in Michigan, Drew Henson, who was the #1 rated QB coming out of high school. He went to the University of Michigan. He's the reason Tom Brady doesn't really rep UofM like most football players rep their college. They did Brady wrong at Michigan making him split time with freshman QB Drew Henson. Henson was also one of the top baseball players in the country coming out of high school. His father told Lloyd Carr if his son doesn't get playing time as a freshman he's taking the desk the Yankees offered him. He played but still ended up leaving college early to play baseball. He never panned out in baseball and was brought into camp by the Cowboys but he couldn't make up for that time away from Football and was cut

[Curtis Harper]

What's so difficult about basketball ?!?!?

Dribble, pass or shoot.

[Zaroku]

Because each position in football is a position that requires a certain skill set. You can pluck a guy from the track team and as long as he can catch a punt/kick, he can play. You can grab a guy from rugby and he can become a punter. But it's rare for the higher skilled positions to have someone that just started playing. You aren't going to get a QB from someone who started playing in senior year of high school.

There was a guy in Michigan, Drew Henson, who was the #1 rated QB coming out of high school. He went to the University of Michigan. He's the reason Tom Brady doesn't really rep UofM like most football players rep their college. They did Brady wrong at Michigan making him split time with freshman QB Drew Henson. Henson was also one of the top baseball players in the country coming out of high school. His father told Lloyd Carr if his son doesn't get playing time as a freshman he's taking the desk the Yankees offered him. He played but still ended up leaving college early to play baseball. He never panned out in baseball and was brought into camp by the Cowboys but he couldn't make up for that time away from Football and was cut

This^^^^^^ he’s putting in the truth up in here.

Plus you gotta be durable as pluck... think about dudes like LT, etc... they ruin careers and cripple dudes.

[Phenom]

NFL doesn’t take much skills outside of the "skill positions" that's why 90% of the roster are replaceable

[Curtis Harper]

NFL doesn’t take much skills outside of the "skill positions" that's why 90% of the roster are replaceable

Huh.....every team sport has replaceable parts.

Dribble, pass or shoot.