NBA All Star Starters, and their College Wrestling Equivalents

It’s one of my favorite times of year. The holidays are over (they’re great, but super busy right?), The Super Bowl is coming up, College Wrestling season is in full effect, and the NBA All Star Game is right around the corner. If you listen to the podcast, you’d know that I’m a big fan of the NBA. I’m a fan of the story lines, the drama, the salary cap issues, the good owners, the terrible owners, and all that goes into it all. It’s like the WWE, but basketball, and real. Anyway, NBA All Star Weekend is really awesome. The celebrities come out, other players make appearances, crazy outfits, and maybe, if we’re lucky, we’ll get a historically atrocious rendition of the National Anthem by Fergie. Anyway, now that the NBA All Star Starters have been announced, I thought it would be a good time to find comparisons between them, and the College Wrestlers from this season. Both the NBA and College Wrestling are at their halfway point, so let’s use this post to do just that.

Giannis Antetokounmpo - Last year's NBA MVP, The Greek Freak, he basically can do anything. He’s fast, strong, huge, makes good decisions with the ball, and continues to add new things to his game every year. He’s been in the league for a couple years now, and yet we still haven’t gotten close to seeing his best stuff yet. For that reason, I’m comparing Giannis to Zahid Valencia. Zahid came onto the scene as an absolute monster, but continues to improve. His pace is crazy, but his diversity of attacks paired with that, and the number of ways he overwhelms his opponents, remind me a lot of watching Giannis. Teams can’t stop the seven footer from destroying them, just like the field at 184 can’t do anything about Zahid.

Joel Embiid - Joel took a minute to get going. He fell in the draft because of injury concerns, which proved to be pretty serious, as he missed the majority of his first three seasons. However, since being reintroduced into the lineup consistently, he has proven to be exactly as advertised. Everyone knew he was going to be a beast, and likely the best player in the draft, and yet Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker go before him. Anyway, since he’s entered the league on a more consistent and full time basis, he’s been a complete monster on both sides of the ball, and is completely unstoppable when he’s good. Strangely enough, the tallest player in this exercise reminds me of Spencer Lee. Lee came into college wrestling with the busted up knee (a torn ACL if I remember correctly). Everyone knew he was going to be an absolute stud, considering he had won plenty of world championships to that point, but I remember being concerned with him being too small in his first season, and coming off of the ACL, gave me pause for concern. Lee, like Embiid, got healthy with time, and eventually his red shirt was pulled, and he won his first of many NCAA titles. Everyone knew Lee was going to destroy worlds, but his dominance has been spectacular, and though he still appears to have some lingering injury concerns, they haven’t affected his ability to dominate in both folkstyle and freestyle wrestling. He’s on a “pitch count” or dealing with “minute restrictions” like Embiid, but both are capable of complete and total domination at any point.

Pascal Siakam - Pascal won Most Improved Player last season, and the Toronto Raptors won the NBA title. What’s most impressive though, is since Kawhi left in Free Agency for the Clippers, Pascal has continued to improve with more focus and attention, and with more responsibility. Pascal is an exciting player, who was given the opportunity to run his team, and has absolutely capitalized on every chance he’s had. Quincy Monday is the man in this comparison. Quincy was thrown into Princeton’s lineup as a true freshman. He took some lumps early in his first season, but you could absolutely see the raw talent. As the season went on, he continued to make adjustments, gain confidence, and was able to make the NCAA Tournament. Quincy entering this year was still underrated. I briefly spoke with Coach Dubuque the other day, and he is 100% confident that Quincy is winning an NCAA title this year. He’s currently ranked 5th at 157 in many publications, which is to say that he absolutely has a chance to do so. As the owner of most of the Quincy and Kennedy Monday stock, I’m happy to have bought in so early. He’s a beast, and his ability to continue to improve and become a certified All Star, is what makes me compare Quincy and Pascal.

Kemba Walker - Kemba Walker had such an incredible run at UConn in College. If you don’t remember, he basically won them an NCAA title single handedly with super sweet handles, and an incredible ability to get into the lane, and create his own shot. He still fell in the draft a bit, I think because of questions about his size and shot, but here he is in the All Star Game. He still has sweet handles, an ability to get into the lane, and is by all accounts a GREAT teammate. He is now finally on a team and in a market in Boston where he can get more help and actually win, which he didn’t do a whole lot of since College. This may come as a bit of a shock, but I can’t stop thinking that this needs to go to Austin DeSanto. I mean, he beat Spencer Lee in High School, which nobody else in the world was able to do (a couple times). So that’s basically the NCAA title that Kemba won. You have his brief stint at Drexel, before switching teams and getting more recognition and guidance. Lastly, as crazy as the dude has been from time to time, from what you’ve recently seen and heard, he’s been a great teammate. Kemba has always been underrated, but he seems to have found a home in Boston, and DeSanto one in Iowa.

Trae Young - This is a tough one. If I’m being honest, which I tend to do, I’m not the biggest Trae Young fan. His team is 11-35, which is not a good record. For perspective, they have the second worst record in the NBA at the time I’m writing this (Golden State is tanking their nuts off at the moment). That being said, in the spirit of this piece, and celebrating the wrestling comparison, let’s discuss some positives. Trae’s offense seems limitless. By that, I mean he routinely fires, and knocks down, shots from near center court. Just part of his game is routinely standing on the center court emblem, and shooting it. He still only gets three points for that, so it may be a bad shot in that sense… Damn it, I need to stay positive. Anyway, Trae has great handles as well, and does a great job of making plays for the people on his team, at least in garbage time. ANYWAY, the positive traits of Trae Young are best seen in Dom Demas. Dom has endless and uncompromising offensive attacks. He can (and will) attack you from anywhere and everywhere, including throwing headlocks, inside trips, foot sweeps, and anything else that you can equate to half court emblem shots. Demas is EXCITING to watch, and many people seem to feel that way about Trae Young.

Anthony Davis - The Brow! Anthony Davis is enormously talented. He can shoot threes, he is as talented a low post player that exists in the league now, rebounds, has vision enough to make plays for others, and we haven’t even talked about his defense, which is stupid good. He is one of the few players in the league who could actually beat Giannis this season for League MVP. I think I have a solid comparison for the Brow in  Boo Lewallen is as talented a wrestler as you can be, without having really won anything. That’s not a knock on him, it’s a solid comp to Davis, who hasn’t won anything, but is widely understood to be one of the best players in the league. Boo has battled random and freak injuries throughout his career, and was recently granted another year of eligibility because of it. I believe that Boo could win an NCAA title this year, and possibly a second with his newly gifted sixth year. He’s as good offensively and defensively as Davis, and I hope both of them can walk away with some goals achieved this season.

Luka Doncic - An absolute phenom. A generational talent. The Mavericks were not good, and don’t really have a roster that merits the record that they have, save for Luka. His numbers are great, but not in the garbage time “my team is down by 40, so I can go collect some stats” way that Trae Young does it, but in the “I’m dictating the pace of the game, and naturally collecting these stats in the way that helps my team win” way. This one wasn’t too tough for me to come up with. Both Mason Parris and Luka Doncic are in their second seasons with their teams, and have not only improved tremendously, but are emerging leaders in their respective programs. Parris won a world title this summer, and has backed that up by showing tremendous improvement in finishing his shots, developing several more offensive attacks, and has added size and strength (which should be as terrifying as it sounds). Both Luka and Parris have earned the right to lead their programs, through their voice and actions, and both programs are better off because of them.

James Harden - So the comparison doesn’t have a beard, but I’m super sure he can grow one. James Harden, for those of you that don’t know, is awesome. His beard is sweet, but more than that, his game is legit. Some don’t like it, and claim that he games the ref’s, and may travel from time to time, but the guy is an MVP of the league, multiple time MVP finalist, and as dangerous as it gets. As I’m writing this, he’s struggling through a bit of a slump, and has had issues winning when it counts… So, Kolin Moore seems to be a solid comp here. Let me pause for a second to reaffirm my affection for both Moore and Harden. I love watching both of them do what they do. Both of them are title contenders all the time! That’s not an accident. It needs to be mentioned, that like Harden’s current slump, Moore occasionally goes into a slump himself. It’s not fair to say that either of them are “inconsistent”, because I recall both of them being outstanding for several years now, but a championship would help both of their legacies.I don’t think that either of them will get the credit they deserve when their careers are over. Moore’s offensive talent, along with his championship aspirations and potential, is what earns him this spot.

LeBron James - I feel really good about this one. Bron and Mark Hall were both prodigies, and have won many many many championships. Bron has made the finals a lot, and won a couple times… So has Mark (I’m including world finals in here, because those seem worth noting). Mark deserves more credit than he gets for delivering on a lot of the potential that he showed us as a youth. Like LeBron, Mark has made the finals several times, and lost. Like LeBron, Mark has continued to prove that he’s going to be both personally and athletically an impressive person. I’ve been critical of both Bron and Mark in the past (Bron used to beat the shit out of my Pistons teams, for like 10 years, which sucks. And Mark beat everyone that wasn’t named Zahid for a long time), but it was always because of my own insecurities and not based on their own talent. Mark and Bron have mastered so many aspects of their respective sport, and I’ve begrudgingly enjoyed watching them both.

Kawhi Leonard - Once a tremendous defensive talent, who was able to develop into a complete basketball player, and a tremendous offensive talent. He just won the NBA title with the Raptors (a first) and immediately left in free agency, and is now in a position with the Clippers to win them a title. A lot of what I just said doesn't really pertain to this wrestler, but Luke Pletcher comes to mind. I spent three years of watching Luke wrestle, without knowing he could take a shot (on the legs, not the hoop. I suspect he’s not the greatest basketball player). Sure, there’s a bit of hyperbole in there, but not really. He’s been absolutely incredible this season. He deserves recognition and praise for how dominant he’s been against much of the top talent this season. But his progression offensively has been so much fun to watch. He was always tough to score on, but clearly the comparison between the two has been their ability to continually improve their skills and round out their game. Pletcher now is as fun a player to watch, and his offense is as technically proficient and fun to watch as anyone I’ve seen in a long time. Board man gets paid, and what it do BABY!!!!

Thanks for indulging my continued joy of comparing and combining things that I like. Basketball and Wrestling have some of the worlds greatest athletes and both are tremendously entertaining. This was brought to you by adidaswrestling.com, and please remember to use promo code Blood20, to get 20% off of your purchase. Rock On!