Friday, February 3rd, 2012 at 10:30 am  |  129 responses

LeBron James: Shane Battier the Smartest Player and Person in Basketball


Shane Battier’s basketball skills may not impress all that much, but his mind is something to behold. Just ask teammate LeBron James. From Fox Sports: “If Miami Heat players need a question answered, they turn to Battier, their versatile forward — versatile, that is, with his knowledge. ‘He’s probably the No. 1 smartest basketball player and person I’ve been around,’ said Heat forward LeBron James. ‘He knows everything.’ The savvy Battier obviously knows basketball. He can dabble quite well in history, math, finance and religion. After all, Battier was a religion major at Duke. [...] It’s no wonder, then, when the Sporting News in 2010 did a list of the top 20 smartest athletes, Battier ranked No. 7. That was tops among NBA players … But does Battier believe he’s the smartest guy in the NBA? ‘Intelligence is an esoteric measurement,’ he said. ‘I don’t know. I’m smart, but I don’t know about the smartest.’ Well, James thinks so. So does Miami center Joel Anthony. ‘That is no surprise,’ Anthony said of Battier’s ranking. ‘His basketball IQ is off the charts in terms of understanding situations and being able to analyze all the different situations on the court. Even off the court. If there’s like a general question, everybody will look to Shane like, ‘You know the answer to this? ‘ Battier usually does. On the court, Battier is one of the NBA’s top defenders, even though he says, ‘There have been numerous articles sort of degrading my athletic ability.’”

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  • MUBWAR

    lakeshow n allen r still on each other. common guys let’s watch the heat toy with the 76ers and relax

  • http://Slamonline.com nbk

    Lol I’ve gotten too you that much?
    .
    That is sad.

  • http://slamonline.com. datkid

    lakeshow at some point in your life you and shutup should try and get off allenp’s nuts… seriously. it’s disturbing that you do whatever you can to agitate someone who you’ve never even met. Sh*t like this is to be expected from shutup, but I’m honestly disappointed in you dog.

  • http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2011/01/post-up-23/ Allenp

    Datkid
    They are cool. For real. It’s just words and I’m not agitated. I think it’s funny to be honest. Plus, it helps pass the time until I bounce from work.

  • http://slamonline.com. datkid

    aight man, if you say so.

  • burnt_chicken

    sources??? i am shocked that a professional writer such as Allen is prone to such wanton acts of plagiarism!

  • burnt_chicken

    i know he cited google, it just felt like piling on was the order of the day…

  • http://slamonline.com LakeShow

    Exactly what AllenP said for me. He’s cool. I don’t know the guy, but yeah, this long, sunny, friday afternoon is draggin, and AllenP, even though he is a level 1 annoyance (10 star scale) to me there is no one else competing. Life is that breezy :)

  • http://bulls.com airs

    damn! I missed all this, allenP actually kinda got got!

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    bike is funny. Before he said Jeremy Lin wouldn’t be a good defender because Asians can’t move laterally. Then he says Jeremy Lin probably has the highest IQ in the league. I can’t tell if the dude is serious, but… He’s 2 for 2. (Not in a good way).

  • http://www.alllooksame.com Tarzan Cooper

    Lots of lulz in here. Yall niccas is crazy

  • http://slamonline.com tealish

    When did the tide switch from Allenp-love to Allenp-hate? I haven’t kept up in the comments in a long time now. Interesting shift of the seas.

  • mango

    im totally into esoteric meats

  • Justin G.

    Datkid, you need to get off Allen’s johnson. Anytime someone says something negative about the man you come in with this apparent need to defend him. Perhaps the pompousness bounces off you but not others. And shutup, while I don’t agree with a lot of the things you say, @12:31 that was the funniest thing you’ve ever said on this site.

  • loaf

    The banter you guys have sometimes is damn entertaining but also quite sad at times! An you guys (some of you) hold full time jobs, how the heck do you get away with slamonline all day baffles me, are yours jobs just not that demanding? Heck I get about an on hour of slam in a working day (if I’m lucky)

  • http://slamonline.com. datkid

    Justin G, I go at people who say stupid stuff or who are obviously trolling bc it’s annoying. I came here to read basketball not listen to you and lakeshow’s overemotional whining about another man. and if you don’t like me you can leave.

  • charliewinning

    I actually agree that Battiier was making light of the whole ‘smart’ thing. I think he’s just keeping things in perspective. In the NBA, he’s a genius. Many NBA atheles are almost as dumb as NFL players. And smh at Lakeshow’s racist comment that got overlooked. Stereotyping Asians, and essentially saying the smart black guy (Battier) can never be the smartest as long as an Asian is around.

  • burnt_chicken

    yeah justin! i’m an indignant retrolling datkid that tough whines in a TOTES different way than those guys. recognize.

  • charliewinning

    My bad, I meant bike’s racist comment.

  • http://slamonline.com The Philosopher

    HA!!
    Nobody’s smarter than me…
    lol

  • Treshiq

    Funniest group of aspiring sports writers EVER on this thread…@Shutup your mini scrren play=genuis. hahaha Thorougly enjoyed it!

  • EJ

    Where’s the consitency Lakeshow? I remember you talking about ignoring internet trolls in the JR Smith post, but then here you call bike out on something that might actually be true. I mean why wouldn’t Jeremy Lin be the smartest guy in the NBA? He went to Harvard and everything, so calling him smart might not be cause he’s Asian.
    So why you mention that, but ignore something that was clearly racist, and actually call out Allenp for calling bike out for it? (in the JR Smith post). It’s cristal clear that Allenp is in your head, just admit it.

  • BBaller

    AllenP, you are just getting worse day by day.But you’ll just respond with an arrogant answer so i’ll just laugh it off. AllenP of 2008 where for out thou?

  • Maniac

    Lol I missed you guys

  • bike

    My statement about Jeremy Lin being possible the most intelligent player in the nba was based upon him being a Harvard graduate who maintained a 3.1 gpa.
    Anyone who views that as racist is probably not very intelligent.

  • ClydeSays

    Yep, Shane’s got the stat line of someone who’s REALLY smart… 326 FG% and .471 from the FT line.

  • http://slamonline.com Jones

    Battier’s been a very SMART defender for a very long, and he’s only gotten credit for it in the last few years. He wasn’t that athletic to begin with, so when you’re on the wrong side of thirty sometimes even with high bball IQ there’s not much you can do. See Derek Fisher being crossed by Lou Williams.

  • http://slamonline.com Jones

    Battier’s been a very SMART defender for a very long, and he’s only gotten credit for it in the last few years. He wasn’t that athletic to begin with, so when you’re on the wrong side of thirty sometimes even with high bball IQ there’s not much you can do. See Derek Fisher being crossed by Lou Williams for a gamewinner.

  • E

    That’s like being the tallest person in room full of midgets!

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