If Elton John played basketball: power forward, rated 77

Elton John as a basketball player: scouting report

Elton John is a power forward, and he already knows his way around a football club. He became chairman of Watford, the club he supported as a boy, and oversaw a climb from the bottom division of English football to the top flight and an FA Cup final. That is the career of someone who loves the grind, and rebounding is the grind of basketball. It is the strongest part of his card, level with his basketball IQ, and he attacks the glass on both ends like every board is a hit single.

The IQ comes from the piano. He won a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music as a boy, and reading music teaches you to see a whole arrangement at once, which in basketball means knowing where the miss is going to land before it leaves the shooter's hand. His shooting is respectable for a big, with a soft touch on short jumpers, and his defense is solid in the post. Decades of marathon stage shows also prove a durability that suits a forward who has to battle inside for a full game.

Playmaking is the weak spot. He is a finisher, not a creator, so pair him with a point guard who runs everything and keep his decisions simple: catch, finish or kick it back out. If your power forward slot is filled, he moves to center with only a small drop and can play some small forward in a big lineup. Draft him in the middle rounds as a rebounding engine. His long songwriting partnership with Bernie Taupin shows he works best with a creative partner feeding him material, and that is the formula on the court too.

Plays like A rugged rebounding four with a soft touch around the rim

Put Elton John in your lineup

8 rolls, a starting five and a bench, 82 games. Can you go 82-0? Free, no account.