Think about the 38-year-olds you know in your life, or just all the people you know who are in that late-thirties range. Depending your own age group, you might not know a lot of people in that age range except as teachers or parents. Anyway, picture those people in your mind.
Now picture them playing in an NBA basketball game.
It would be a massacre, right? Most people at that age have lost the natural athleticism that they had in their young adulthood. They wouldn’t be able to pretend for even ten seconds that they could hang with NBA players. They would be huffing and puffing after one possession, and that’s not even taking into account their basketball skill, which, for most of them, would be nonexistent.
If, somehow, you know 38-year-olds who are both athletic as well as skilled at some aspects of basketball, think about their shortcomings on the court. Maybe they can’t dribble for beans. Maybe their shot is really awkward. Maybe they have no court vision and can’t run a play. In any case, unless you know, like, former college players, every 38-year-old you know is so far away from being NBA-ready that the idea shouldn’t even be entertained as a joke.
But Kyle Korver is that age and he’s still productive in the NBA. The way he does it is by having such a pure shot that it makes any “sweet-shooting” amateur (like myself) look like an absolute dingleberry who’s worse than Joel Anthony and Ben Wallace combined. If Korver only had average three-point accuracy he would have been out of the league a long time ago. Even now, I would say that he’s barely hanging on to a spot in the league. But he’s doing it, and, in the process, he’s making every balding tubby 38-year-old look worthless.