We have to talk about the "could I score 20 points in at least 1 NBA game" tweet
I suspect a few of you have seen this: A guy on twitter posted a question with a poll. It went semi-viral, getting mentions from people like Andy Staples and Geoff Schwartz; and it was heavily ratioed.
Here's the catch: He's one of us. A Michigan student whose twitter bio says he's a data analyst for Michigan Hockey. He has something like 150 followers, so it's not like he was aiming for serious engagement, but he got it, and appears to be taking the blowback in good humor.
The question itself is pretty easy to answer: If the opposing teams put any effort in at all, he has zero chance of scoring 20, even if he plays 82 games. Anyone who has spent time around high-level athletes knows that there is a different level of ability and athleticism, even at a high school or low-division college tier. And the standard in the NBA, even on the bench, is bonkers.
My first up-close experience of this was high school, when the NTDP started and I had a gym class with Joe Goodenow, who was on the team. Goodenow topped out as a checking-line player in college, not a particularly skillful player, a character guy. Made up for his lack of physical tools with grit, etc. He was also faster, more agile, and more athletic than every person in the class in every sport, and it wasn't close. Because it's a different level.
You may as well speculate whether you can outrun a Corvette on foot in a 1/4 mile drag race.
February 16th, 2022 at 1:33 PM ^
we dont have to talk about it
February 16th, 2022 at 1:39 PM ^
Shit - you could put me in a gym all by myself for 48 minutes 82 times and I'd struggle to score 20 points.
Against the best athletes in the world? Not a chance in hell would I (or any of you) would score 5 points, much less 20.
February 16th, 2022 at 1:55 PM ^
Well if you didn't have to play defense, couldn't you cherry-pick under the basket and get wide-open layups?
February 16th, 2022 at 2:22 PM ^
That's a pretty crazy qualifier - at that point you're not "playing in an NBA game." and even then, you'd need to field a long pass from the opposite end line (it's not going to be thrown with a QB's precision) and then get to the rim for an easy layup before world class athletes are sprinting back to prevent this silly play. I think I'm being charitable in saying it would mayyyyybe work once. No way you'd pull it off 10 times. IF you're an excellent 3 point shooter, probably the one skill i think an average sized and skilled person can learn as well as some NBA players, then you'd still have to do it 7 times. and you wouldn't.
this is a long way of saying - no. Unless you're secretly like Trey Burke on this board, it's not happening.
February 16th, 2022 at 3:26 PM ^
And no knock on Trey, but how many 20pt NBA games does he have? From a quick Google, it looks like he has 20 20-pt games in his career, and a career scoring average of under 10 pts per game.
February 16th, 2022 at 6:37 PM ^
I think the guy maybe could given his conditions but like you say it's really not even basketball at that point so it's a dumb question. If he's the one getting fed the ball, the opposing team would like that because it's his team's worst chance of winning. But they could still defend him easily. So, maybe. But it's really not interesting to think about.
February 17th, 2022 at 2:43 AM ^
90 seconds after they figured out your strategy, you would be cherry-picking with a black eye and no shorts on, and an angry 7-footer standing over you and making sure you never touch the ball.
I have been amazed at how many people fail to consider the opponents' human and competitive response to the strategy.
Like they're gonna just let you cherry-pick and make them look bad...sheesh.
February 16th, 2022 at 2:47 PM ^
Why? His name isn't Bruno...
February 16th, 2022 at 9:47 PM ^
I have played quite a bit of basketball, and have had the chance to play against a small handful of NBA players and other high level athletes. One big caveat, these were not “meaningful” games, so I am confident these individuals weren’t going 100%, but they weren’t just phoning it in either. Also, I would consider myself an above average basketball player (not D1, but better than the average Joe walking into the rec center). I was able to score 5-10 points in those games. I am going to assume that Sam has some game or he wouldn’t have posed the question. My guess is that he would almost certainly score as he would be able to get some decent shots off over the course of a season, but he would not get to 20 points in a game.
February 16th, 2022 at 1:34 PM ^
The better question is would he score a point? I think no. The worst player on the worst team in the NBA is probably the best player this guy would have ever gone up against. Outside of garbage time or maybe he gets lucky and get to the free throw line. Other than that he does not score a point.
February 16th, 2022 at 1:44 PM ^
Score a point? If he plays every minute of every game, with his team feeding him the ball at least every once and awhile? He's absolutely going to score a point. Throw up enough junk shots and one will eventually go in.
Also playing into this is that if he's as bad as he probably is, the other team is going to sag off of him. They're not going to be playing tight defense against by far the worst athlete in the NBA. Think about how many bonafide NBA players could take open threes all game long because the other team doesn't respect their shot. That's this, x100. A guy that can barely hit a shot is going to get left alone outside, magnifying his attempts as well as the chance that one goes in.
Taking this a step further, I don't actually think it's necessarily all that crazy to think he could get to 20 points in one game. If the other team isn't guarding him from distance, and he has a decent night, making seven threes isn't out of the realm of possibility. And like I said, an opposing team is going to let a 15-20% shooter take threes all night long, let alone someone that's 10%, 5%, whatever...
February 16th, 2022 at 1:46 PM ^
You sit on a throne of lies.
February 16th, 2022 at 2:44 PM ^
Are you suggesting he's not Santa?
February 16th, 2022 at 1:47 PM ^
A civilian making seven threes is absolutely out of the realm of possibility.
They’re going to guard him because they can simply take the ball away from him.
February 16th, 2022 at 7:26 PM ^
I have had many “wide open” threes completely rejected back in my face by tall athletic dudes who still couldn’t come close to playing a second in the NBA. Even guys who are doubling will close out on him at max speed bc he has zero chance of scoring at the rim.
February 16th, 2022 at 1:48 PM ^
If the scenario is "maybe they will sag off of me so much that nobody is guarding me," is this really within the concept that he's playing an NBA game? I mean, sure, maybe the dude can score 20 in a hypothetical game where the other team ignores him.
But if my guy Sam walks onto an NBA court in real life and thinks the other team won't be licking their chops to demolish and utterly break him, he doesn't watch NBA games.
February 16th, 2022 at 2:38 PM ^
Yeah my game theory take on this is that opposing NBA players will take great pride in utterly humiliating Sam for an entire season, while his teammates will hate him and only pass him the ball in garbage time when they want to see him victimized for their own amusement.
February 16th, 2022 at 2:05 PM ^
I'm 5'5". I could get the ball on every single possession and not come close to a basket from the field. Everything would be (very easily) rejected.
February 16th, 2022 at 2:46 PM ^
I'm with you - he doesn't score a point. Maybe - just maybe - he's open that one time and the ball goes in. Most likely he has a hand in his face before he has time to catch the ball and turn towards the basket.
February 16th, 2022 at 7:07 PM ^
Yep. They can sag off him and still block his shot into the 10th row because he’s not going to be quick enough to get a shot up
February 16th, 2022 at 4:35 PM ^
However, the more likely outcome is that they trap him when the ball is passed to him. Breaking a high school trap is difficult. I played against a couple of D2 college players, another difficulty level entirely. The chances an average person off the street will be able to break a trap from a couple NBA players is slim to none.
February 16th, 2022 at 5:00 PM ^
The real question is how many games it would take him to finally score.
I could see him eventually getting fouled and making a free throw, but no way in hell is he scoring 20 points in a game against NBA competition. Twenty!
The gap between NBA players and everyone else is monstrous. We’re talking about a league that Hunter Dickinson might not be good enough to make. And some random stiff working in a cubicle is going to put up 20 one night? Yeah, OK.
February 16th, 2022 at 7:38 PM ^
Superior athletes would smother him and take the ball. You dont understand how that would work at all.
February 16th, 2022 at 8:39 PM ^
What crazy pills are you taking? I’d think he’d be more likely to not hit the backboard ever than come close to 20 shots. You underestimate how tall, fast and crazy athletic they are. Even if he parks at the 3 point line, I guarantee his release is slow enough that he’d likely get blocked on almost every shot.
id doubt he’d get 20 pts against the worst D1 team in 82 games
February 16th, 2022 at 7:23 PM ^
I think he eventually scores. The other team is going to get technicals for taunting him. The refs will probably make a few bad calls in his favor when he gets stripped of the ball or falls down.
I don't know if he ever makes a shot from the field. Why would opponents sag off a player who's getting fed the ball and is no threat to drive to the rim? He's never getting an open shot except from the line.
February 16th, 2022 at 1:36 PM ^
The better question for me would be whether I'd have more turnovers than points, and the answer to that is most likely "yes."
February 16th, 2022 at 1:37 PM ^
It was Barzini all along
February 16th, 2022 at 2:12 PM ^
Tattaglia's a pimp!
February 16th, 2022 at 8:43 PM ^
He never could have out-fought Santino.
February 16th, 2022 at 3:21 PM ^
The Barzini meet,
Watch for the traitors
February 16th, 2022 at 6:56 PM ^
anyone want any oranges?
February 16th, 2022 at 1:38 PM ^
I dunno.... if everybody there knows you suck by NBA standards, but you can work on your corner 3 for the entirety of a season and get guaranteed minutes AND your team keeps feeding you as the post says, I'd like to think that in at least 1 game a random guy could knock down 7 wide open looks. Obviously those assumptions are completely unrealistic, but those are the parameters here.
You're probably not even getting a token contest until you've hit 3 or 4. Maybe I'm crazy but I think I could hit 20 once. (And yeah, there'd be a lot of goose eggs too.) No clue if this guy could.
February 16th, 2022 at 1:41 PM ^
I guarantee you wouldn’t score 20 and I’m almost certain you wouldn’t score 20 the entire year unless you cherry picked and didn’t cross half court to play defense
February 16th, 2022 at 1:55 PM ^
My thought exactly - not sure i'd score 20 in a season, much less in a single game.
February 16th, 2022 at 1:42 PM ^
Buddy, you are not making 7 NBA threes.
February 16th, 2022 at 1:54 PM ^
Hitting a few NBA 3s is not that difficult if you are a decent basketball player. The question is whether you are getting wide open looks to hit them (and in enough quantity) because most of us no way are shooting over those guys or creating space on our own.
If you are at least good enough to make the team on a small college team or close to that, you have a chance of knocking down a few NBA 3s (especially in some blowout games) but 20 points in one game seems very unrealistic for all but a select few. 10 might be a closer call for some. 20 points on the season would be relatively easy for many (obviously not all) if you are playing the entire game.
February 16th, 2022 at 3:13 PM ^
If you're not a decent player, like me, the ball goes behind the backboard at least 1/3 of the time.
February 16th, 2022 at 1:43 PM ^
Yea therein lies the crux of this hypothetical. Hit wide open shots and it isn't as crazy as it sounds. For the average Joe, sure it ain't going to happen. But for those who are athletic and have played the game through at least mid-level highschool basketball....maybe? 20 is a lot though. Make it 10-12 and the conversation is a touch more real.
Again....we have to realize we aren't being guarded whatsoever so the ability to hit a few wide open deep shots is where the ever so slight realistic opportunity lies. Again...if we have to stick to 20, it's not possible.
February 16th, 2022 at 1:45 PM ^
(I edited my first post before I saw any replies - don't think it really changes the context of the replies).
It seems like people are overlooking the absurd conditions he's laying out. Minutes and opportunity are guaranteed here. He just has to get hot in one out of 82 games. Cherry picking is allowed if he doesn't have to play defense.
February 16th, 2022 at 1:51 PM ^
Ok, maybe my position of he would not score a point is a stretch. Assuming he can just bomb away with zero resistence and can hang out under the basket while the team plays four on five the other way dude would probably score. I still don't see 20 though.
February 16th, 2022 at 1:56 PM ^
The absurdity obviously makes things harder to calculate. If one assumes that each half-court possession is legitimately contested as if it is a regulation game, though, I don't think even camping out in the corner is enough. The speed and ability of NBA defenders to close will make those shots considerably tougher than a standing jump shot in a practice gym.
Ironically, the best way to ensure real sagging might be to place him *inside* the arc, since a long 2 is considerably less valuable than a corner 3.
February 16th, 2022 at 11:03 PM ^
Yeah I think a lot of people could score 20 because the other team wouldn't even care to guard you and instead double your team's best player.
The worst player (aka the shooter in this crazy scenario) would have one game out of 82 games that would be a "big field goal percentage game" of like 12%...remember, playing 48 minutes with 50 shots in the game (including some one-on-none layups), that could net 20 points and the team could still lose by 50 points easy.
Opposing team strategy would be a success.
February 17th, 2022 at 6:21 AM ^
remember, playing 48 minutes with 50 shots in the game (including some one-on-none layups)
And why exactly would his own team let him take 50 shots (much less play him 48 minutes)?
February 16th, 2022 at 3:12 PM ^
I'm so outta shape right now that I would probably have trouble getting the damn basketball to the rim from NBA three distance.
February 16th, 2022 at 3:19 PM ^
I'd like to think that in at least 1 game a random guy could knock down 7 wide open looks
Keep in mind that a wide open look for an NBA player is probably not wide open for an average person, because the average person doesn't have a quick enough release to get the shot off before the defense recovers - and almost certainly isn't tall enough to get off the shot over a defender.
February 16th, 2022 at 3:42 PM ^
I'm w redjugador on this one. Young Me (not middle aged me) was 6'4", athletic, and a 50% (high school) 3 pt shooter. And those included the deep balls and stepbacks, not this toes-on-the-line 19'9" shit. Also largely without a lot of screens for me, but I had an unrestricted green light when I could find my own daylight. It doesn't take a ton of daylight to bury a 3.
If I get 82 cracks at it, I think Young Me gets it done once. I played pickup against just enough pros (Bobby Simmons stands out in my mind) to know they are ultra, ultra physically gifted. But you can still sneak out of the view of these guys enough to get some jumpers off. In fact, getting some jumpshots off is ALL you're going to get away with against those guys. I was big enough and athletic enough that a few 2's are going to happen here or there. Putbacks, etc.
Please go easy on me.
February 16th, 2022 at 4:20 PM ^
I tend to agree. Back when I was at Michigan, I'd play at the IRB and CCRB. Occasionally guys from the team would go up there and play pick up. I had a team with Lou Bullock and Tractor Taylor on it (we faced Maceo Baston and another guy who's name escapes me). It was one my best games because I was always open. If you know how to move without the ball and can shoot, the good athletes find you. So, if you have some guys on your team that demand double teams, and you can find the open spots, maybe it could happen.
February 16th, 2022 at 6:07 PM ^
This is hilarious. Some of you are delusional.
Playing in a pickup game featuring eight scrubs and two college guys giving 25% effort is not exactly comparable to playing in a live NBA game.
February 16th, 2022 at 5:07 PM ^
Young Me (not middle aged me) was 6'4", athletic, and a 50% (high school) 3 pt shooter. And those included the deep balls and stepbacks, not this toes-on-the-line 19'9" shit.
LOL.
And if Coach would have put you in, you would have won state. No doubt about it.
February 16th, 2022 at 8:30 PM ^
Young you gets demolished by people who make you look tiny and unathletic lmao