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Best natural Athlete

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Breaking out a discussion in another thread....What is the best natural athlete that we've had at UConn?

1. Andre Drummond - Reminds me of LeBron with some of his moves...he's young, but time will tell
2. Stanley Robinson - Best High riser
3. Rudy Gay - Best Dunker
4. Scott Burrell - Two sport athlete
5. Jerome Dyson/Boatshow - tie - two guards that played above the rim
No Brainer....Burrell! You yonger guys have no idea..He threw the baseball 95 plus, QB and athletically made himself an all around hoop player. Drafted to NBA but was a better pitcher than mosyt know
 

intlzncster

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No Brainer....Burrell! You yonger guys have no idea..He threw the baseball 95 plus, QB and athletically made himself an all around hoop player. Drafted to NBA but was a better pitcher than mosyt know

Don't tell anyone else that playing multiple sports well = great athlete. That was my argument and it was shot down vociferously.
 

whaler11

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Since Burrell gets credit for two sports.... Brian Fair went to camp with the Arizona Cardinals...
 
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Some people think of athleticism as just run/jump and some include hand-eye coordination, balance etc. With 2 different definitions being used, an agreement is impossible.
 
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No Brainer....Burrell! You yonger guys have no idea..He threw the baseball 95 plus, QB and athletically made himself an all around hoop player. Drafted to NBA but was a better pitcher than mosyt know

add to the fact he was recruited by ND and Miami as a QB as a JR at hamden this ain't close!
 
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Scotty b
Sticks ( quickest to the rim)
Dre
If u include motor and endurance rip
Fastest on ball
Kemba.. Williams.. The cup.. Boat
 
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I think Dropo trumps Burrell.
Dropo was a hulking, slow first baseman who was of no discernible value as a baserunner or fielder, and who, on the balance of his career, wasn't even above-average as a hitter. If he's the best athlete to play at UConn, then that's pretty weak.
 
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Dropo was a hulking, slow first baseman who was of no discernible value as a baserunner or fielder, and who, on the balance of his career, wasn't even above-average as a hitter. If he's the best athlete to play at UConn, then that's pretty weak.
He was a victim of serious injury. He also was a #1 pick in the NBA draft (Providence Steamrollers). He was a 3 sport athlete at UConn.
He also lost a couple of prime years because of military service. Obviously we are talking about different eras; individuals who played
multiple sports were not unusual. Take Jackie Robinson for instance; he was a big football and track star in college. He lost time to
military service. He chose baseball as his pro sport; in the day baseball was more lucrative, and it offered also the best longterm prospects.

Now how does Jackie Robinson compare with Michael Jordan or Lebron James as an athlete? How about Wilt Chamberlin, not the hulking
figure of his last 10 NBA years, but the player who set scoring and rebounding records which will never be equaled. He was the original crap free shooter, I have to think eye hand co-ordination plays a part in this. Chamberlin was a pretty great volleyball player. Clearly by some standards he must be the world's greatest athlete of all time.

Those who support Drummond as the greatest UConn athlete have a belief that athletic ability in one particular sport trumps everything else.
The most objectionable part of this argument is that somehow Drummond gets extra value for his size.

Using this value based analysis; Wilt Chamberlin is the greatest natural athlete of all time without a doubt.
 

Waquoit

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Dropo was a hulking, slow first baseman who was of no discernible value as a baserunner or fielder, and who, on the balance of his career, wasn't even above-average as a hitter. If he's the best athlete to play at UConn, then that's pretty weak.

He won Rookie of the Year in the AL. That's not weak.
 
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Drummond. I've never seen somebody that big so comfortable in his own body. He moves like a guard.
Only LeBron eclipses Drummond as far as having a unique combination of size and athleticism, at least as far so basketball players are concerned. I'm sure there are some football players that fit in there somewhere.
 
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What is a better definition of natural athlete than someone who can be world class in multiple sports?
Not sure I agree with that. There are a lot of great athletes who could have played multiple sports at a high level but chose to focus on just one.

I think a good definition is someone who has greater explosive power, quickness and agility than everyone else their size. Where it gets tricky is comparing athletes
of different sizes.

How do you compare a small athlete like Boatright to a large one like Drummond to a mid-size one like Burrell? They all do amazing things that others their size can't do. Not many people as short as Boatright can get over the rim and throw it down like he can. Few as big as Drummond can leap so far over the rim and punish it like him.
 
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He won Rookie of the Year in the AL. That's not weak.

And then never played that well again. Moreover, he won RotY while playing the least athletic position and stealing 0 bases. That doesn't scream "amazing athlete" to me. Other than hitting a baseball, I doubt he was comparable to, say, Burrell in any athletic endeavors.

Now how does Jackie Robinson compare with Michael Jordan or Lebron James as an athlete? How about Wilt Chamberlin, not the hulking figure of his last 10 NBA years, but the player who set scoring and rebounding records which will never be equaled. He was the original crap free shooter, I have to think eye hand co-ordination plays a part in this. Chamberlin was a pretty great volleyball player. Clearly by some standards he must be the world's greatest athlete of all time.

Those who support Drummond as the greatest UConn athlete have a belief that athletic ability in one particular sport trumps everything else.
The most objectionable part of this argument is that somehow Drummond gets extra value for his size.

Using this value based analysis; Wilt Chamberlin is the greatest natural athlete of all time without a doubt.

Chamberlain excelled in every sport he played. He was an All-American shotputter at Kansas. He'd certainly be on my short list for "best athlete of all-time."
 

Fairfield_1st

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Drummond is easily #1, Scotty Burrell is the only athlete in history to be drafted in the first round of 2 sports but I can only go off what I saw him do on a basketball court.
I'm at work and can't look at youtube, but search for Scott Burrell and I think Wake Forest in the NCAA tourney. He leaped over an opposing player. Burrell is heads above anyone else. His resume proves it.
I saw very little from Drummond. I saw glimpses of his abilities, but he showed very little in a UConn uni. He's a mobile big man. Lebron compares are a stretch, I think, but I don't watch the NBA so I have no current level of play for him as a point of comparison.
 

Waquoit

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And then never played that well again.

So what? How does that help your weak argument? Nomar never came all the way back from his broken wrist either, does that mean he was never any good? The guy was a 3-sport star in college, was drafted by the pros in all three and you say he wasn't an amazing athlete because he never stole a base? Wha? You ever see Carl Lewis throw a baseball?
 
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So what? How does that help your weak argument? Nomar never came all the way back from his broken wrist either, does that mean he was never any good? The guy was a 3-sport star in college, was drafted by the pros in all three and you say he wasn't an amazing athlete because he never stole a base? Wha? You ever see Carl Lewis throw a baseball?

Nomar had several years of high-level performance before he broke his wrist. Dropo had one very good year as a rookie, and then never approached that level again. There are countless winners of the ROY who weren't particularly good players outside of one season: Pat Listach, Marty Cordova, Bob Hamelin, Bobby Crosby, Ben Grieve, Chris Coghlan, and the list goes on. Baseball is weird like that.

The issue isn't just about stealing bases. It's that Dropo the baseball player did none of the things we associate with athleticism. He was too slow to steal bases, and he played a position that required the minimum of agility and throwing prowess. I guess if you think that one season of good hitting followed by 11 years of below-average performance makes him an all-time great athlete, then that's your prerogative. I'm not particularly impressed.
 

Waquoit

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It's that Dropo the baseball player did none of the things we associate with athleticism...I guess if you think that one season of good hitting followed by 11 years of below-average performance makes him an all-time great athlete, then that's your prerogative. I'm not particularly impressed.

Like hit? Jordan and Deion couldn't hit. If you are going to reduce Dropo's career to "one season of good hitting followed by 11 years of below-average performance" I'd love to hear you summarize Burrell's NBA career.
 
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Like hit? Jordan and Deion couldn't hit. If you are going to reduce Dropo's career to "one season of good hitting followed by 11 years of below-average performance" I'd love to hear you summarize Burrell's NBA career.

Jordan and Deion couldn't hit, that's true. But they could run and jump, which Dropo couldn't do. That's the whole point I'm trying to make. The only thing Dropo did on a baseball field was hit, and he didn't do it all that well.

Burrell's NBA career was a disappointment, certainly, and I think a lot of people in this thread are overrating his overall athleticism, but the breadth of his skills is much more impressive than Dropo. He had a great throwing arm, he could jump high, he could run fast, he was big and strong, etc.

Dropo's baseball success wasn't a great example of athleticism, and that success was very brief. My characterization of Dropo's career isn't my opinion; it's fact. From 1951-1961 he had an OPS+ of 96, which is 4% below league-average. Now, OPS+ isn't a great stat because it overrates power and underrates OBP, but that actually helps Dropo, since he didn't get on-base all that often in his career (about 7% below league-average for his career). A more sophisticated stat, batting runs, has him at -33.6 runs during that stretch, meaning he cost his team 33.6 runs with his bat, relative to a league-average first baseman. When you take that below-average hitting performance and combine it with his lack of any real value as a baserunner or a defender, you've got a pretty squarely below-average player.
 

CL82

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Nomar had several years of high-level performance before he broke his wrist. Dropo had one very good year as a rookie, and then never approached that level again. There are countless winners of the ROY who weren't particularly good players outside of one season: Pat Listach, Marty Cordova, Bob Hamelin, Bobby Crosby, Ben Grieve, Chris Coghlan, and the list goes on. Baseball is weird like that.

The issue isn't just about stealing bases. It's that Dropo the baseball player did none of the things we associate with athleticism. He was too slow to steal bases, and he played a position that required the minimum of agility and throwing prowess. I guess if you think that one season of good hitting followed by 11 years of below-average performance makes him an all-time great athlete, then that's your prerogative. I'm not particularly impressed.

Dropo's athletic career isn't limited to his rookie baseball season, impressive though that was. As I posted originally, while at UConn, Dropo played for the football team, basketball team and baseball team. Dropo was drafted in basketball and football and baseball. That's three GM's of different pro sports that thought he was a pro caliber athlete. That screams athleticism.

Your claim that he did none of the things that "we normally associate with athleticism" just doesn't hold water.
  • Rookie of the Year (1950)
  • All-Star (1950), as a rookie - impressive.
  • Top 10 MVP (sixth, 1950) Think about that. In his first year as a pro baseball player only five others were "more valuable" to their teams than he was.
  • Led league in RBIs (144, 1950) Hmm RBI's seems like a decent indicator of eye hand coordination couple with sports IQ.
  • Led league in total bases (326, 1950)
  • Tied an MLB record with 12 consecutive at-bats with a hit (July 15, 1952) Again even among pros he stood out.
  • Tied an AL record with 15 hits in four games (July 16, 1952)
  • Dropo was the first rookie to top 100 RBIs with more RBIs than games played (144 in 136 games, 1950)
  • For those enamored with size Dropo was 6'5" 220: a giant for that era.
  • He had a 10 year career as a MLB ballplayer.
LINK

So give me a list of accomplishments that tops that.
 
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David 76

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Chamberlain was legendary in doing the nasty too.
 
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