[BennyMac]

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Manute Bol did not have average athletic ability; he had well below average. Remember how akward and gawky he was? Since this guy is just an enlarged regular 6 foot tall guy, that's what he would look like. Comparing him to Bol is absurd...he would have half a foot and 150 pounds on Bol, AND he would have better athletic ability.

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Having actually played basketball with and against Manute I can tell you that this isn't true. Bol had above average athletic ability, he ran fairly fast and moved laterally well and had excellent hand/eye coordination. He was an above average athlete, but his problem was how he was built. He had extremely long legs (think of a regular 6' guy, but make his feet his knees and double the lenght of his legs. Because of this he was at a disadvantage in the post, since his hips were so high he had no leverage when fighting for position and his frame prevented him from gaining any weight. His doctors told him not to weigh more than 240 lbs. Thus he was easily pushed around down low. Although not much of an offensive force, he was an excellent defensive player, who made it difficult for opponents to score (although he was weakest at defending his own man if said player was very strong and built thick down low, think Karl Malone for example). Shawn Bradley had the same problem, he had excellent offensive skills, although he much less heart than Bol and was easily intimidated. Shaq is an extraordinary athlete, he has a vertical leap of over 30" which is unheard of for guys his height. His foot speed, hand/eye coordination and lateral quickness are absolutely sick for someone of his size and strength. Unlike almost all other 7 footers Shaq is normally proportioned. His biggest problem is a complete lack of shooting touch due to a broken right wrist which never healed properly. The bones fused and prevent his wrist from having the normal range of motion, something that is essential to the act of shooting a basketball. BTW, the 8' guy starts for the worst 1/3 of the teams in the league (that need a center), but he does play for 6-8 years as a backup for almost any team. And it is unlikely that he is anything more than mediocre (think of a taller Mark Eaton)

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Is it allowed to know what you're talking about in these threads?