The Best Swimmers Are In The NBA
by Casey Barrett
It’s true… Too bad the spoils will never lure them to the pool…
Describe the physical gifts of your perfect swimmer. He’s gotta be tall. Huge hands and feet. Must possess both explosiveness and a light touch, or feel for the sport. Oh, and he must be hyper competitive. Sound like anyone you know? Maybe the stars of last night’s Game 7 of the NBA Finals?
Much has been made of Michael Phelps having the ideal swimmer’s physique. As Bob Costas intoned in this NBC feature from 2008, ‘if you were to build the perfect swimmer, the finished product would look just like this.’ Ok, fair enough. No arguing with the results. But what if his opponent was nine inches taller; had even bigger ‘dinner plate’ sized hands; size 16 feet; and a childhood of equal aquatic immersion.
Like, say Tim Duncan? You probably already know the story about how Spurs’ legend Tim Duncan was a swimmer first, growing up in St. Croix. If not, here’s a quick refresher. He was a very good one. A 200 and 400 freestyler who had serious Olympic potential. His sister, Tricia, was an Olympian in 1988. But then Hurricane Hugo destroyed his swim team’s pool, and the 14-year-old Duncan turned to hoops. Safe to say he made the right choice. Over the course of his 16-year NBA career, Duncan has amassed a net worth of around $200 million. Phelps is a rich man, but he will never get anywhere close to that figure. In fact, by NBA standards, he’s paid somewhere in the range of a bench-riding role player.
Is that just? Well, if swimmers could fill arenas 82 times a year, their earning potential might be a different story. But that’s not really the point. The point is that many NBA stars could very likely translate their physical gifts into world class performance in the swimming pool. And the few who spent much time on swim teams growing up have proven that conclusively.
Here’s another: Kris Humphries. Until last month, Humphries was the National Age Group record holder in the 10 & under boys 100 freestyle. That record was eclipsed by young Winn Aung of the Redding Swim Team back in May, and Aung again lowered it this week. But Humphries’ time of 1:02.39 stood for 18 years, since 1995. He was born the same year as Phelps, and he was a faster freestyler when they were both record-setting boys. Last year, the Brooklyn Nets power forward earned $12 million. Unlike his marriage, it appears Humphries made a wise choice in sport.
Like Duncan, Humphries also had a sister who went on to compete in the pool at a world class level. His sister Kaela was a standout swimmer at Texas during her college years. But alas, their brothers would be bound for bigger crowds and bigger salaries in the big time world of the NBA.
And just to round out the trend with a third example, does anyone remember sharpshooter Kiki Vandeweghe? Back in the 80s, he was a 20-point a night star with the Nuggets and Trail Blazers, even a few with the Knicks towards the end of his career. Vandeweghe was also recently the head coach and GM of the New Jersey Nets before their move to Brooklyn. But before that decorated NBA career, Vandeweghe was a NAG-record setting young swimmer. For many years, Vandeweghe was the National Age Group record holder in the 10 & under boys 50 butterfly. He went 31.70 in that event when he was 10 – back in 1968!
Unfortunately, swimming’s loss was basketball’s gain. He swam for the Santa Monica Swim Club and the Culver City Swim Club in L.A. through the late 60s and early 70s, and he was a stud in the pool right up until high school. In this long ago story from the Harvard Crimson, here’s what Vandeweghe had to say about his decision to switch sports: “I left swimming for several reasons. One of them was the limited number of scholarships available in the sport. I decided early it was my own responsibility to pay for college, and I thought a basketball scholarship might allow me to do that. My parents encouraged us to do our very best in our chosen sport, so rather than become just so-so at both. I decided to concentrate on basketball.”
Again, wise choice. But it is rather tragic to consider all the immense talent that has fled the pool over the years for more promising, or more lucrative futures in richer sports.
It’s a beautiful thing to watch Tim Duncan play basketball on the biggest stage of all. But how beautiful to consider what it might have been like to watch him win untold gold at some long ago Games… If only for Hurricane Hugo.
Cap & Goggles 
Fun read. Looks like I’ll be pushing my kid to play ball! 🙂
This is the perfect blog for anybody who really wants to understand this topic.
You know a whole lot its almost hard to argue with you (not that I actually would want to…HaHa).
You definitely put a new spin on a topic which has been discussed for a long time.
Wonderful stuff, just great!
Interesting to think what swimming would look like if many of the top swimmers were even taller than Grevers. For one thing, the NBA player demographic is 80% non-white, comprised disproportionately of black men from modest backgrounds or lower, whereas elite swimming in the U.S. is still 90+ % white, disproportionately middle class and higher SES. I don’t know enough about the WNBA to know if the demographics are the same for women. But maybe now that USS is doing outreach to slowly recruit more ethnic and economic minorities, we will occasionally divert a few kids from elite basketball to elite swimming. But barring some unforeseen dramatic change in U.S. culture and values, I think the economic realities will keep the phenomenon you described the same.
This story tells it all:
http://deadspin.com/5930525/id-rather-go-through-nfl-two+a+days-or-make-myself-puke-in-the-pool-than-do-what-michael-phelps-does
HiSwimCoach: I remember that article from during the Olympics, and remember thinking that coaches needed to embrace it, by spinning it in the direction of the part where Nate Jackson admitted that he wasn’t tough enough to hack swimming.
Oh I totally agree with you. But lets face it. Most kids don’t (especially the ones who are good all around athletes) don’t have the mindset to want to grind out two a days with any level of focus.
Add this together with the fact that there is less prestige in swimming and our sport can be a tough sell. Which is fine, I don’t think competitive swimming will ever have the mass appeal if basketball, soccer, etc. I actually like the fact that its kind of counter-culture.
I do, too. Too much money and prestige can corrupt and although I don’t have any data, I speculate that elite swimmers end up making better citizens than NBA players. Also, if Casey’s theory is true, then even if all the U.S. kids with NBA potential were somehow diverted into swimming, the USA would be so dominant at the world level in swimming, that international level competitions would be a total snooze.
Well we must be thankful for Phelps, at least. He was pretty good at other sports too, as far as I know, it was pure luck he stayed in the pool.
Really? I thought he was a klutz outside of the pool and not that good at anything else.
He was very good at lacrosse and baseball, apparently.
Well done Casey! Another interesting and well written piece. Roll Dons !
Could you imagine what a Lebron James 50 free would look like!?
A 6’8″, 255 pound man with a 42″ vertical leap straight arming down the pool over 50m… Dude would tear the front of the block of with his grab start!!
I’d be incredible!! A 20.5 or some such lunacy, I’m sure.
Great article! I especially liked the point about Kris Humphries making a wise choice “until his marriage”… Very funny!
i disagree. There are plenty of swimmers who I think would have done well in other sports… and who is to say that Lebron or Larry Bird, etc. could ever swim well? And not everyone has an ultimate goal of being a millionaire. Some simply want to be the best they can be in sport and get a good education and a career that actually contributes to the good of society.
Maybe Humphries made a “wise choice” when it comes to money….but he made an arguably poor choice when it came to what it has wrought in his life that the role model he is not. Although not all swimmers are good role models (e.g., Phelps, Beard), i’d argue that Humphries would have been better off as a swimmer and on to a career that matters. Maybe more like Duncan.
On balance, I think Phelps and Beard were pretty good role models. Both rebounded from mistakes they made and conditions that they dealt with, rather getting stuck and letting their obstacles define them, or using them as excuses. From what I’ve heard and read, both were very popular with the kids during the swim clinics. Compared with the rap sheet of your average top elite NBA players, they are model citizens.