The prevailing wisdom in political circles following Donald Trump’s emergence as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is that he has very little chance of beating Hillary Clinton in the fall election. That she and her team of experienced operatives will carve Trump up like a Thanksgiving turkey, using his many controversial remarks to build a case that he is fundamentally unfit for the office he is seeking. That her political experience will turn him into a blubbering fool, both on the campaign trail and on the debate stage.

Might happen. Could happen. But Clinton would do well to study the 16 Republican candidates who held that same belief and watched as Trump systematically destroyed them on his march to the nomination. If we learned anything about Trump during the primary campaign, it’s this: He’s very, very difficult to run against.

The best way to explain Trump is through pickup basketball. (Pickup hoops is the best way to explain lots and lots of things in life. I have long maintained that I can tell what kind of person someone is in their life by playing two games of pickup basketball with them.) In any pickup game, there are usually one or two excellent players — guys who played at some level in college who know the game, know how to get their shots and just make it look easy.