is it really that hard to imagine a woman playing in the NBA?

[ben]

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2009/12/07/experts-women-in-the-nba-long-way-off/

I am surprised that so many people think that this won't happen soon. 

I admit imagining a woman against Lebron seems crazy, but how about a woman going against Brian Scalabrine.  I think some WNBA players might be able to teach him a thing or two. 

I'd like to see woman in the NBA.  Are they allowed to try out, sign up for the draft, or play in the Dleague? 

EDIT:  sorry, probably should have put this in the "Around the NBA" forum.

[CelticG1]

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2009/12/07/experts-women-in-the-nba-long-way-off/

I am surprised that so many people think that this won't happen soon. 

I admit imagining a woman against Lebron seems crazy, but how about a woman going against Brian Scalabrine.  I think some WNBA players might be able to teach him a thing or two. 

I'd like to see woman in the NBA.  Are they allowed to try out, sign up for the draft, or play in the Dleague? 

EDIT:  sorry, probably should have put this in the "Around the NBA" forum.

I'm pretty sure that boys high school varsity teams would beat a lot of the WNBA teams. Maybe not all of them but i bet maybe 50% of high schools (I also went to good bball high schools). I also think some of the top high school players would absolutely dominate the WNBA. I don't see a woman playing in the NHL, NBA, MLB, MLS, or NFL.

[Ian]

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2009/12/07/experts-women-in-the-nba-long-way-off/

I am surprised that so many people think that this won't happen soon. 

I admit imagining a woman against Lebron seems crazy, but how about a woman going against Brian Scalabrine.  I think some WNBA players might be able to teach him a thing or two. 

I'd like to see woman in the NBA.  Are they allowed to try out, sign up for the draft, or play in the Dleague? 

EDIT:  sorry, probably should have put this in the "Around the NBA" forum.

I'm pretty sure that boys high school varsity teams would beat a lot of the WNBA teams. Maybe not all of them but i bet maybe 50% of high schools (I also went to good bball high schools). I also think some of the top high school players would absolutely dominate the WNBA. I don't see a woman playing in the NHL, NBA, MLB, MLS, or NFL.

Any good boys high school player would dominate the nba, when phil jackson ran a basketball camp he pitted the girls national championship team in the state of Montana against a group of middle-school boys who had never played together and the boys blew them out.

[Rondo_is_better]

The WNBA is....not........very...................

good.

There's no athleticism to the women's game, so if top male players (super athletic) were pitted against top women's players the men would just destroy them with their explosiveness and leaping ability.

[EatSleepBreatheGreen]

The closest we'll ever get to that, is a scrimmage between the LA Sparks and the LA Clippers....

[celticsclay]

I think this was a kind of idiotic statement by Stern and Lebron was pretty political in how he answered. Im sure a lot of players would have been even more blunt. This is how I think of it -

-If a woman would need not to not only play division one mens basketball for this to happen, she would need to dominate it to have a chance at the NBA. You would this if this was getting close to happening there would at least be a few rotation players in mens college basketball somewhere.

-I may have missed a story somewhere, but I have not even read of a female dominating men in high school.

- Why would there be a demand for this with the WNBA existing? That league has struggled financially and with ratings since its inception. Wouldn't losing its top player at some pioint just devastate the league and woman's basketball in general?

- Would the NBA players assocation ever have a reason to support this?

 

[newdusk]

I think its a tremendously difficult scenario for a woman to play in the NBA. I want to say it's biological but honestly I have no credible scientific background to prove that.

That being said I have played many ultra competitive pick up basketball games with women throughout my life. I would like to believe there is at least one woman in this world that could run with NBA players and be effective at least on the offensive end. Steve Nash (this is going to be bad) routinely gets owned on the defensive end (exhibit A: Rondo badly crossing him over) but he rocks it on the offensive end and he is pretty much a player/coach.

I think if a woman does make it she would have to be a point guard. She would have to have a superior Basketball intellect. And she would probably have to have a 70% fgp against her peers and average 20 assists on top of that. She would have to be a once in a lifetime athlete. Not even Candice Parker as talented as she is comes close to having what it takes. You have to look at the case of Lebron in high school during his junior year. Anybody who saw a 1 second highlight of him knew there was no point to him going to college he was "ready". There is no female player right now that can be deemed as "ready". I would personally love to see it.

As far as the WNBA goes. I do not think it's a lost cause. They should play in smaller local markets at smaller venues. They should market themselves strictly to a target audience of young girls and parents. They should hire coaches and GM's that understand that the game must be entertaining. Disregard the fundamentals and get really good at putting on a show. Fast breaks, behind the back no look passes (Harlem globetrotter plays - dunking). Make sure that the games are entertaining because entertainment is apart of the competition. I know that it goes against every belief in the book but the only way the WNBA can really work is if it distinguishes itself as a completely different game of Basketball much like the ABA of the 70's. At this point they have nothing to loose from taking a style of substance approach.

[Roy Hobbs]

I admit imagining a woman against Lebron seems crazy, but how about a woman going against Brian Scalabrine.  I think some WNBA players might be able to teach him a thing or two.

Scal only looks mediocre compared to his peers.  In college, he was a very good player, and he would shut down any woman he was guarding.

I think it's going to be exceedingly difficult for a woman to compete against any of the top 450 male players in the world.

[wdleehi]

It can happen if:


A 10 year old girl grows up and has the size of the biggest WNBA player and the speed of the fastest WNBA player as well as the skills of their best Gs, she could probably be a bench player.


But that is just not likely.

[ManUp]

Only if she was an amazing shooter something like house. Even then she probably wouldn't do to well. The Athleticism gap is just too great. We all know that success in the NBA has a lot to do with Strength, Speed, and Athleticism. 3rd stringers who regularly get cut are, IMO, better than the best of WNBA players. If NBA scrubs were in the WNBA they'd make the all-star team easy. Think about it do you think that Gabe Pruitt would slow down when he's driving through the lane and he sees Lisa Lesley waiting? I don't, I think he puts on the jets and skys above her and finishes the play or draws a foul 9 times out of 10. I'd love to be proven wrong, but I don't see that happening.

[Brickowski]

It isn't happening anytime soon in MLB, the NFL, the NHL or pro soccer either. My guess is that the "gender line" will first be broken in baseball, and she will be a knuckleballer.

[td450]

In 1994, I watched a North Carolina college game when Marion Jones was a freshman. They won the national championship that year. It would have been very interesting if she focused on basketball, because she is the only woman I've ever seen who was athletic enough to pull it off. She also showed a real feel for the game, even though she was far less dedicated to basketball than her peers.

She's only 5'10, but she was very strong and so fast and explosive, even compared to NBA point guards, that it would have been possible.

[screwedupmaniac]

I can't wrap my mind around this ever happening.

Will a woman ever play in the NFL? Will a woman ever play in the NHL? Will a woman ever play in the MLB?

No.

So why should the NBA even open the idea of a woman playing in the league? That is what the WNBA is for. Many people would probably call this "sexist" and "segregation", but this isn't about that; it's about the game. Period. The difference between the quality of the NBA and the WNBA is very apparent, and it boils down to the physical abilities and differences between males and females.

I'll go out on a limb and say this: it won't happen in 10 years; it won't happen ever.

[Eja117]

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2009/12/07/experts-women-in-the-nba-long-way-off/

I am surprised that so many people think that this won't happen soon. 

I admit imagining a woman against Lebron seems crazy, but how about a woman going against Brian Scalabrine.  I think some WNBA players might be able to teach him a thing or two. 

I'd like to see woman in the NBA.  Are they allowed to try out, sign up for the draft, or play in the Dleague? 

EDIT:  sorry, probably should have put this in the "Around the NBA" forum.

I'm pretty sure that boys high school varsity teams would beat a lot of the WNBA teams. Maybe not all of them but i bet maybe 50% of high schools (I also went to good bball high schools). I also think some of the top high school players would absolutely dominate the WNBA. I don't see a woman playing in the NHL, NBA, MLB, MLS, or NFL.

Any good boys high school player would dominate the nba, when phil jackson ran a basketball camp he pitted the girls national championship team in the state of Montana against a group of middle-school boys who had never played together and the boys blew them out.

I am slightly confused by the sentence "national championship team in the state of Montana".  do you mean the Montana state high school championship team or what?  You're telling me he brought like UConn or Tennessee to Montana and the middle school boys blew them out?

[Eja117]

I've never played a pick up game with a girl where the girl was the worst player or played worst on the court.

If nba basketball was predicated on athleticism alone I'd say no, but it's not.

If all the guys weren't allowed to have steroids or HGH and you had a phenomenally athletic, excellent shooting, excellent passing, dedicated defender, highly coachable on a smart team with a good coach I think she could make a contribution.  You couldn't leave her open. 

If you had guys like Mugsy Bouges playing for many years in this league and guys that are slow and fat a perfect woman I think could do it.


Also there's one other thing. There are other sports (not as athletic necessarily) where women can compete or exceed. I asked an excellent high school golfer that got a scholarship to BC I think if he could beat Michele Wie, and he was like, "No. None of us can".  I asked him if he thought maybe she were on roids or something "And he said maaayyybe, but I don't think so"

Ever seen a woman fencer fence a good male fencer?  There are highly rated male fencers that can't touch some of the best women.

I'm just saying it's not against the laws of physics, and with the success of Title 9 I see this as a possibility in my life time.

Also it would take the right team. If you just put a girl on the Clippers or something you're screwed. But if you put her on a veteran team and they know how to help on defense and draw a defense in to get her a clear shot and they're unselfish it can work.

If you put Diana Taurasi on the Celts tomorrow and they go out to play the Clippers or the Bobcats and she gets 20 mins and the Celts want to win that game there is no way they lose that game.