Random FP: Giants in Basketball: Mystery of the 8 Footer

by TyboOSU on Jul 4, 2010 1:13 AM PDT

Being bless/cursed with ADD, I had a random thought the other day about why don't we see ANY basketball players over 8 feet tall? Sure 7'6-7'' is pretty dang close with Mursean, Bradley, Yao etc, but why not anyone over 8 feet? Do you think in the next 10 years we will see someone play in the NBA that is over 8 feet?

There must be some type of biological cieling to this, and from just my brief off the head ramblings, it appears that 8 feet and over starts getting into the realm of gland disorders/gigantism.

Obviously for the NBA and basketball in general, managers/coaches/scouts just swoon when they hear of or see a teenager who is already aproaching 7 feet, and try and get that man developed as much as possible, but it's no small feat for sure.

We all know the myriad of health problems associated with tallness, even Mr. Oden falls in this category and he's right at 7 feet. Foot, ankle, knee issues, bearing that weight for years and living in a world not designed for such huge people takes it's toll.

Do you think these giants are more a gimmick than anything? I think history has shown not many super tall men do well in the pros, with Yao being the lone exception currently. And as the game seems to shifter further away from dominating big men, and more to speedy wing players, do they become a liability with their plodding styles? Until a 7'8'' Lebron type comes around(yeah..) I don't see it really paying off to invest in such extremes.

http://www.articlesbase.com/basketball-articles/top-10-tallest-players-in-nba-history-645997.html

http://nbahoopsonline.com/History/Leagues/NBA/tallest.html

Some more Interesting sites talking about this:

http://www.thetallestman.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_people

Look at this insane growth chart for the world's tallest man Robert Wadlow:

Height chart

Age	Height	Weight	Notes
0		8 lb 6 oz (3.8 kg)	Normal height.
4	5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)		Started rapid growth.
8	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
10	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	220 lb (100 kg)
13	7 ft 4 in (2.24 m)		World's tallest Boy Scout, averaging a growth of 4 inches (100 mm) per year since birth, wearing size 25 (U.S.) shoes.[5]
16	7 ft 10.5 in (2.40 m)	365 lb (166 kg)
17	8 ft 1.5 in (2.48 m)	400 lb (180 kg)	Weight is approximate.
18	8 ft 4 in (2.54 m)	390 lb (180 kg)
19	8 ft 6 in (2.59 m)	435 lb (197 kg)
21	8 ft 9.5 in (2.68 m)	491 lb (223 kg)
22	8 ft 11.1 in (2.72 m)	490 lb (220 kg)	At death, Robert Wadlow is the world's tallest man according to the Guinness World Records.[1]

[edit] See also

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Comments

1. how many 8 footers have you ever seen in your live (yes they are rare)

2. usually they also come along with dysfunctional bodies that don’t allow them the extreme movment and quickness that their 7 foot counterparts would.
3. I don’t think a 8 footer would be able to keep up just becuase of the mechanics of moving something that big.

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by faith on Jul 4, 2010 7:56 AM PDT reply actions