Basketball is, in mine and many others opinions, the greatest sport to ever be played.  It is also one of the toughest sports to be played at any level.  Some might say that hitting a baseball is much harder but I would disagree.  The thing that makes basketball such a challenging game to be played is the fact that it requires an individual to be quick, fast, powerful, tough, have finesse, great vision, have an unbelievable amount of hand-eye coordination, and to be able to work as a small part of a larger group.  It requires five individuals to have all of these qualities and for those five individuals to be able to play as one flawless unit that executes every play with precision, speed, accuracy.  It also requires the team to put aside their own personal agendas and to do things for the team that nobody would want to do.  It requires all players to exhibit an amount of hustle that is unparalleled by any other sport.  In order for a team to be good, they have to spend countless hours conditioning, working on their shot, and going over several plays that will be used at any point throughout the game until the team can execute them in their sleep.  If one player on the team isn't able to execute a single play, it brings the entire team to their knees and forces them to completely regroup.  This is one thing that makes basketball a game that is significantly harder to play than something like baseball or football.  If a person is not working like a clock, then the team will still be able to get by because the play might not be in their general direction.  But with basketball, if one player has a mental lapse for even one second on the defensive end, it can lead to disaster. And if that mental lapse happens on the offensive end, then it forces the team to regroup giving the defense the upper hand for that possession and possibly on the other end of the floor.  In short, basketball requires each individual player to be a much more diverse athlete than any other sport, while requiring to have the same kind of skills and athleticism that all other sports require.  It forces them to take all of the hardest parts of other sports and roll them into one player.  It is impossible to be a "specialist" in basketball because if you cant perform all of the required traits of a basketball player, then you won't see the floor.