[DrewDevil]

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Even the most marginal NBA player is an absurdly better athlete than an ordinary person. When basketball people say that Grant Long can't shoot, can't pass, can't dribble, what they mean is: He can shoot, pass and dribble better than you, better than anybody you know, better than all but a few hundred people in the world. Long's jump shot is so bad, by NBA standards, that his team never runs a play designed to set him up for it; but you could practice your jump shot every day forever and still never beat him in a game of Horse. '

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I don't know anything about Grant Long, but it doesn't seem to me that every NBA player is better than an average person at every basketball skill. I have basically no basketball skills whatsoever, but I think think I could shoot free throws better than Ben Wallace with a little practice.

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That's probably true for FTs but nothing else. And it is true about the overall level of talent in the NBA being just absurd.

I remember back in the 80s, the Rockets had this scrub 12th man forward named Dave Feitl, a big goofy white guy who never ever played. I once went down to Fonde Recreation Center (legendary pickup spot, lots of great players there), and Feitl was running with 9 guys who were all 6'7" or taller and all looked chiseled out of granite. Feitl completely dominated the game, scored at will, grabbed every rebound, nailed 3s, etc. And this guy was one of the worst players in the NBA, yet he was without question the best player in a very high level pick up game. It's just a whole different level.