If Ernest Hemingway played basketball: power forward, rated 84

Ernest Hemingway as a basketball player: scouting report

Ernest Hemingway loved a contest. He boxed for years, sparring with anyone who would get in the ring, and he spent long days fighting giant marlin in the Gulf Stream from his boat, the Pilar. Put that appetite for a physical struggle on a basketball court and you have a power forward who lives on the glass. Rebounding is the best mark on his card, and he goes after every miss as if it were the last fish of the day.

His basketball IQ is the next best mark, and his writing explains why. He described his style as the iceberg theory, putting only what mattered on the page and leaving the rest beneath the surface, and that economy fits a forward who makes the simple play every time. His defense and athleticism are both strong, so he can guard the post or step out on a pick and roll, and his passing out of the short corner is better than you would expect. He won the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954, so he knows how to close.

Shooting is the soft spot, though it is not a weakness that hurts him much at this position. Keep him close to the rim and pair him with a stretch center or shooters on the wings. He moves to center with only a small drop, and he can play small forward in a big, physical lineup. Draft him early as the tone setter of your frontcourt. A writer who chased adventure from the bullfights of Pamplona to the waters off Cuba will not back down from anyone on the block.

Plays like A fearless, physical four who wins every loose ball

Put Ernest Hemingway in your lineup

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