# Death of the NBA Giant?



## pr0wler (Jun 8, 2003)

About 3-4 years ago the popularity of finding "The Next Yao Ming" reached an all-time high, with guys like Slavko Vranes, Jerry Sokoloski, and Sun MingMing (among others) were regarded as legitimate NBA prospects. Unfortunately, these guys never really made it in the league and they've gone way of the dinosaur. Only Sun MingMing, standing at 7'9'' has any shot of making the NBA. But we all know that the odds of that are highly unlikely despite his great size.

How come these guys didn't make it? Surely they are as capable as stiffs like Calvin Booth, Jaron/Jason Collins, Shawn Bradley, and many other 7 foot plus centers with zero athleticism. What's the deal?


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## o.iatlhawksfan (Mar 3, 2006)

pr0wler said:


> About 3-4 years ago the popularity of finding "The Next Yao Ming" reached an all-time high, with guys like Slavko Vranes, Jerry Sokoloski, and Sun MingMing (among others) were regarded as legitimate NBA prospects. Unfortunately, these guys never really made it in the league and they've gone way of the dinosaur. Only Sun MingMing, standing at 7'9'' has any shot of making the NBA. But we all know that the odds of that are highly unlikely despite his great size.
> 
> How come these guys didn't make it? Surely they are as capable as stiffs like Calvin Booth, Jaron/Jason Collins, Shawn Bradley, and many other 7 foot plus centers with zero athleticism. What's the deal?



I don't know about the others, but Sunssung ming, can't keep up witht he speed of the NBA.


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## HKF (Dec 10, 2002)

They are too damn tall. These almost 8'0 tall players freak shows not basketball players.


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## noballer07 (Jul 4, 2006)

They're so tall, they're just slow. It's all about center of gravity. Players with a low center of gravity (i.e. shorter players) are usually faster and agile enough to keep up with the NBA game.


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## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

Shawn Bradley had some skills though, but the injuries killed him.


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## Aram (May 24, 2008)

Did Slavko Vranes make it to the league? Anyways, I've heard somewhere that if it were not for his height, he wouldn't even be dominanting in a YMCA game.


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## BG7 (Jun 25, 2003)

This is actually pretty interesting question. I think one has to look at what is working for the big guys in this league. In order, the tallest players in this league are:

1. Yao Ming - 7'6"

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He is pretty agile, he actually has a lot of basketball skills. He has some range on his jumpshot, and has a great set of post moves to score from. Plays pretty tough.

2. Zydrunas Ilgauskus - 7'3"

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He is very agile, and runs the court very well, and just moves well in general. He has a great finesse skillset, and can stick a jumper.

3. Aaron Gray - 7'2"

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He is one of the strongest players in the league. He is very skilled, with one of the best post games in the league. Can stick the jumper. He is the old school bruiser type center. His problem is conditioning, as he gets winded pretty quick, and once that happens his game falls off.

4. Tyson Chandler - 7'1"

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He was a beastly offensive player and rebounder coming in the league. We fired Cartwright, and then Skiles destroyed his offensive game (since bigmen are only supposed to score on putbacks). He didn't come into the league like this. He was smaller coming into the league. He grew a few inches, and more importantly, his arms grew in length. He started to put on weight, and got stronger, so he now pushes players around and doesn't get pushed around. He is super athletic.

Now look at those guys, and then look at MingMing.

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He is less athletic than Aaron Gray (by a lot), he has no skillset, he is weak (gets pushed by a 5'9" player!). He just isn't a basketball player.


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## mysterio (May 20, 2003)

Acromegalic giants are usually way too slow and fragile to play in the NBA. Yao and Z are natural giants. Manute was actually a natural 7'7" too, I believe. Big Georghe was probably the best giant with acromegaly in the NBA.


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## NewAgeBaller (Jan 8, 2007)

BG7 Lavigne said:


> 3. Aaron Gray - 7'2"
> 
> He is one of the strongest players in the league. He is very skilled, with one of the best post games in the league.


I hope for your sake that theres more than one Aaron Gray in the league..


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## R-Star (Jun 13, 2002)

Aaron Gray sucks until proven otherwise.


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## luther (Nov 2, 2007)

mysterio said:


> Acromegalic giants are usually way too slow and fragile to play in the NBA. Yao and Z are natural giants. Manute was actually a natural 7'7" too, I believe. Big Georghe was probably the best giant with acromegaly in the NBA.


This is exactly right. The fact is, most of those really tall guys (like legitimately 7-2 or taller) aren't well. They have chronic ankle, knee and back issues. And a lot of them are bad at basketball, too. Sure, you hear about so-and-so being able to shoot. (Podkolzine reportedly could. But he fizzled in his short NBA career, too.) But mostly, they're bad. They are pros somewhere because of their size, but you have to be more than tall. Mark Eaton was a skilled shot-blocker. Mursan was a good player, actually. Manute could block shots and even shoot a little. Yao is remarkable--probably unprecedented. Rik Smits was a great shooter from 15 feet or so. But most of the tallest guys just flat-out suck. NBA scouts will keep looking, and GMs will keep giving guys a chance.


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## BG7 (Jun 25, 2003)

Well Gray did have that one 19 point 22 rebound game. The guy definitely has basketball skills, but his conditioning is what could make him a career bench player.

And after Aaron Gray killed Royal Ivey, he was a winner in my book. That is a good moment for any NBA player, the type you just say after the game, you know, I can't top that, I am just going to call it quits here.

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Of course Royal Ivey got his revenge...by hitting Gray in the nuts.

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## roux (Jun 20, 2006)

BG7 Lavigne said:


> Well Gray did have that one 19 point 22 rebound game. The guy definitely has basketball skills, but his conditioning is what could make him a career bench player.
> 
> And after Aaron Gray killed Royal Ivey, he was a winner in my book. That is a good moment for any NBA player, the type you just say after the game, you know, I can't top that, I am just going to call it quits here.
> 
> ...


Ha, I remember that, Ivey got a 2 game suspension to start the upcoming season, if he's even in the league.


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## mysterio (May 20, 2003)

lol. nobody bother debating babyblueslugga about the value of a Bull. They're all top tier to him.


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## Mr. Hobbes (Jul 1, 2005)

BG7 Lavigne said:


> He is one of the strongest players in the league. He is very skilled, with one of the best post games in the league. Can stick the jumper. He is the old school bruiser type center.


Who is this "Shaq with a jumpshot"?


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## NewAgeBaller (Jan 8, 2007)

Chan said:


> Who is this "Shaq with a jumpshot"?



I believe he is referring to this guy..


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## number1pick (May 24, 2007)

A lot of the 7-footers drafted were drafted because of the "you can't teach height" motto so many GM's/scouts/coaches were using during the "defensive" years of the NBA. With the game more offensive oriented these guys are becoming relatively useless. Unathletic, unskilled post defenders are a thing of the past. The NBA is moving toward an era where everyone on the court will have a developed skill set, dribbling, passing, etc. More offensive oriented play means more offensive oriented people. As big as the "you can't teach height" motto the "you CAN teach defense" motto will be more common as this new era progresses. 

The Collins twins, Bradley, etc all will be 2nd round/undrafted free agents and will have to work their tails off the get a shot at the NBA,


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## croco (Feb 14, 2005)

number1pick said:


> A lot of the 7-footers drafted were drafted because of the "you can't teach height" motto so many GM's/scouts/coaches were using during the "defensive" years of the NBA. With the game more offensive oriented these guys are becoming relatively useless. Unathletic, unskilled post defenders are a thing of the past. The NBA is moving toward an era where everyone on the court will have a developed skill set, dribbling, passing, etc. More offensive oriented play means more offensive oriented people. As big as the "you can't teach height" motto the "you CAN teach defense" motto will be more common as this new era progresses.
> 
> The Collins twins, Bradley, etc all will be 2nd round/undrafted free agents and will have to work their tails off the get a shot at the NBA,


I agree that their value is dropping signifcantly, but I don't think those guys will disappear. There are a lot of very good big men right now and you have to have someone who has size who can bang with them. Ultimately it depends on which teams are going to be successful, that will be always be the trend to build a team.


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## luther (Nov 2, 2007)

They will absolutely never disappear because height always plays a part in basketball. And if the fad is to use smaller, quicker guys, the best way to beat them is to slow it down and put in big post scorers and defenders.


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## Element (Jul 7, 2008)

Roy Hibbert I guess can be considered a giant and he went 17.


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## knickstorm (Jun 22, 2003)

like everyone said, mobility, agility, athleticism.....sure you look at yao and you say he's slow and clumsy, well yea compared to athletic wingmen, you take him and compare him with other people his size who can barely walk without falling or exhausting themselves, he becomes like lebron james.


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## Tragedy (Dec 9, 2002)

lol @ dude. always has to big up the bulls players.


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## rebelsun (Nov 25, 2003)

All things being equal, you'd always want a taller/longer player. GMs/organizations will always do their due diligence, because their job is in jeopardy if they pass on a giant that actually play. We'll see 7'7 guys in the future, because probability will dictate that at least some of the tallest men in the world will have enough athleticism, awareness, and inclination towards the sport to be effective in the game. As players are getting more and more athletic, the biggest guys will have more problems sticking, but they won't disappear forever. There will always be coaches intrigued with a beanpole protecting the hoop on defense.


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## Aram (May 24, 2008)

I think as long as a giant basketball player even has a marginal skill set and mobility they are almost guaranteed to play in the NBA--or at the very least some other pro league. But it's true that the majority of giants just flat-out suck...but just because of their size somebody is going to be interested in them.


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## shazha (Nov 20, 2002)

NewAgeBaller said:


> I believe he is referring to this guy..
> 
> 
> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yHULLbwJ_ag&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yHULLbwJ_ag&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>




Hahahhaah that is hilarious!!


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