baseball, hockey, and football are full of near retards. that's the trick to being "coach able". if you're smart enough to be able to think for yourself you either move on when you're young or let dedication take over and get the big picture accepting the brainwashing tactics.
Baseball doesn't require a lot of brains when playing defense with the exception of the catcher. But the skill required to hit a baseball is a hell of a lot more then trying to bounce a ball on a hardwood floor.
Football is certainly an over prepped, scouted and couched sport. It's more repitition, which doesn't require much smarts. But for the center who calls the blocking schemes, and the QBs who runs the offense, intelligence is needed. The physical nature itself makes it far more difficult than the flopping and diving seen on a basketball court.
However your comments about hockey show you are the one on full retard. First off, the vast majority of people in the US couldn't play simply because they can't skate. That in of itself makes it far more difficult to play. Throw in the need to stick handle, the physical play, the no out of bounds, the fact there is a player specifically out there to stand in the net and prevent you from scoring. It's not even close at how much more athletic ability is needed to play hockey. And as for the smarts, well teams teach systems, but the systems on the defensive side are a reaction of what the offense is doing. You could break down a NHL game and never see the same play twice. It's read and react. No other sport has the same dimension.
Face it, if you like basketball, it's because you're too stupid to understand other sports. And if you play basketball, it's because you don't have enough athletic ability to do anything else
While height helps, you still need to be athletic.
There is no collusion position to hide an unathletic person.
Show me the John Kruk of basketball. The refrigerator Perry. The Dave Schultz/Nick Fotiu.
Barry beat me to it, but Shaq comes to mind. There are a bunch more. Probably named Jamal or Jamarcus. From what I have seen, the only talent needs to be the point guard. But I wouldn't call that talent, he just needs to be better than the rest.
Take anyone off the street who can walk 5', and they can play basketball. Yet you'd be hard pressed to be able to do the same with the vast majority of other sports