Basketball IQ

A Mostly Meaningless Term

The idea that you can tell how smart a person is based on the way they play basketball is ridiculous. Basketball is not like football where plays are constantly developed and tweaked every 30 seconds. It's an improvisational sport (see [[Basketball is Improvised]]), which means there isn't deep thought taking place during the actual play. It is more accurate to say it's a combination of muscle memory, and general concepts about how to react very quickly to constantly changing triggers.

Why do people talk about "Basketball IQ"?

People who talk about basketball IQ are trying to say something, usually about passing plays, regarding how intelligent that decision was. I typically see it used to cover up a fundamental deficiency in the skillset of a player who is considered a star otherwise. Lebron gets a lot of "high IQ" talk, when in fact, a lot of the plays he makes are simple, normal plays on the level of any average NBA player.

Magic Johnson

I think Magic is often considered some standard of high basketball IQ type of player. In Magic's case, I can see it being more relevant. However, to be more accurate, what is really going on is he has practiced and developed very high-level passing methods. It's not a mental thing, it's that he has practiced passing far more than anyone else.

Regular IQ vs Basketball IQ

There is no such thing as other types of IQ. IQ is IQ. There is only the regular IQ, and no other kinds.