Since the NBA is locked out and football is in full swing, we decided to put together our list of who we think would start on a 22-man NFL Football team consisting completely of current NBA players. We broke it down into five parts, and this is the fourth one. Click here for Part 1: The Defensive Front Seven, here for Part 2: The Offensive Line, and here for Part 3: Defensive Backs
Offensive Skill Positions:
If somebody would let Allen Iverson finish up his professional career on an NBA team I’d have him as my Quarterback no matter how old he is right now. He would’ve been a beast on the NFL gridiron I think, but with AI out of the mix we decided to hand the ball to Rajon Rondo.
I really don’t think there’s too many guys in the NBA tougher than Rondo, and if last post-season is any indication dude can most definitely take a hit. I’ve never seen him actually throw a football yet, but my guess is he can toss it at least 55-yards and that’s all we’ll need out of him. We expect our receivers to pick up some yards after the catch, and as long as Rondo gets it out quickly and accurately we’ll be fine.
So in addition to Rondo, here’s how the rest of our offensive skill positions shook out:
Quarterback: Rajon Rondo
Running Back: Nate Robinson
Wide Receiver: Dwayne Wade
Wide Receiver: LeBron James
Wide Receiver: Carmelo Anthony
Tight End: Blake Griffin
Nate Robinson could’ve played safety too, or even corner, but he has some legit football experience dating back to his high school days so we felt most comfortable having him tote the rock for us. We kinda think Robinson can be similar to a Maurice Jones-Drew type for us, and expect him to be able to catch the ball out of the backfield effectively as well.
At the WR position, there is probably at least 40 guys in the Association who NFL coaches would be willing to give a long look too if said player committed himself to the NFL game. Not just to go give it a try for a couple weeks, like LeBron hinted at the other day, but actually go into mini-camp with a team, then to training camp, the preseason, and so on from there. Kevin Durant was almost a guy we picked, but I thought he might be too skinny. JR Smith seems like he’d be a solid WR too, but he will be in China next season so we ruled him ineligible.
We ended with the obvious selections of Wade, LeBron, and Carmelo Anthony. And sure, since all three of those guys are noted “besties” they would probably have some cheesy name like the Three Amigos or something – no offense to those late ’80’s Bronco receivers – but we thought they’d be too good to sideline for that reason alone. Besides the obvious height advantages they have over opposing D-Backs, I am projecting that Melo runs a 4.6, Wade a 4.55, and LeBron a 4.48 in case you were wondering; which is plenty fast enough.
At the TE position we have Blake Griffin, and will simply lob passes up to him near the endzone, to which he will leap up and rip out of the air for TD’s all day.
So that’s it, that’s who we got, let us know if we made any eggregious errors.
Phillip Rossman-Reich contributed to this series; tomorrow will be Part 5: The Complete Roster
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Photo: FoxSportsFlorida.com
