If J.R.R. Tolkien played basketball: power forward, rated 77

J.R.R. Tolkien as a basketball player: scouting report

J.R.R. Tolkien was an Oxford professor of Anglo Saxon who invented whole languages for the pleasure of it, then built the world of The Lord of the Rings around them. A mind that detailed belongs in a role where it can see the entire floor, and power forward fits him. His basketball IQ is the highest mark on his card, so he knows where every rebound is going, where every rotation is headed and which teammate wants the ball.

He played rugby as a schoolboy at King Edward's School in Birmingham, which helps explain the physical part of his card. His rebounding is the next best mark, and he gets boards the old fashioned way, with positioning and a willingness to take contact. His playmaking is a pleasant surprise for a big: he can catch at the elbow and find cutters, the way his stories weave many threads into one road. At Oxford he met regularly with C.S. Lewis and the Inklings to read work aloud and trade notes, so he is comfortable as part of a team.

Athleticism is the weak spot. He is not going to run the floor with younger bigs, so pair him with an athletic wing and a rim protector who covers for him on the back line. He can play center with a small drop, and his passing makes him an unusual option at point guard in a slower, bigger lineup. Draft him in the middle rounds as the thinker of your frontcourt. The Hobbit famously began with a single line he scribbled on a blank page while grading exams, and he will turn small openings into something big.

Plays like A cerebral point forward who controls the glass and the offense

Put J.R.R. Tolkien in your lineup

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