It's not at all uncommon for basketballers to be rabidly into football. LeBron James recently tweeted that he wants to
“play one NFL game before it's over.” Nate Robinson, one of the quickest and shiftiest point guards in the
NBA went one better on Saturday, in a conversation with
Jamieson Welsh at Believe the Hype:
To me it'd be scary to think about my future in football. If I really gave it my all and stopped focusing on basketball, gave everything I have on football, I'd probably be one of the best corners the NFL has ever seen.
At 5'9” and 180 pounds,
Denver Nuggets point guard Nate Robinson has an amazingly low center of gravity to go along with freakish athletic skills. He's solid enough to blast through picks on the basketball court. He's also one of the best ever at scrambling for loose balls on the floor. What about on the astro turf though?
Nate Robinson played both sides of the football at Rainer Beach High School in Seattle,
Washington, as well as James Logan High School in Union City, Washington. He was a wide receiver, running back and defensive back. He also ran track and played basketball.
Robinson recently retweeted a high school football highlights clip.
In his freshman year at the University of Washington,
Robinson was a defensive corner, and is notably known for picking a pass in the final minutes of regulation, against the Washington State Cougars in the 2002 Apple Cup. The Huskies won in triple overtime.
Here's highlights from the Apple Cup
There's no doubt that Nate Robinson would have had a shot in the NFL. There's a place in the game for speed and good hands. Robinson's one of the shiftiest point guards in
basketball. His ability to change direction on a dime would no doubt serve him well when covering receivers on the gridiron.
The question remains though, would he be one of the best? You can never accuse Nate Robinson of lacking the courage of his convictions. His supreme confidence in his own abilities has served him well on basketball's hardwood floor, a place often dominated by giants.
We'll never know how that might have played out on any given Sunday in the NFL. But, who wouldn't want to see him picking a pass and running it back all the way. Perchance to dream.
For now, we have basketball. Check out Robinson channeling his inner football player last week against OKC in NBA action.