The Eight Foot Two Schlub

[David Sklansky]

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Is this the kind of stuff a brilliant math mind ponders?

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I'm not sure if that was a serious question. But the answer is yes. Not talking about about me either.

[Nate tha\\\' Great]

I think you guys are neglecting the importance of conditioning and training as opposed to the more abstract concept of athletic aptitude.

Playing even 25-30 minutes a game for 82 games per season in the NBA is going to be quite difficult for our schlub at first. Even Manute Bol spent a huge fraction of his adult life in a gym.

I think the schlub would be a bench player if he joined the NBA tomorrow. Maybe he could be a fairly valuable player off the bench. But to actualize his value, he's going to need an offense built around him, and it's asking a lot to rearrange your offense for a guy that's probably limited to 15-20 minutes a game initially until improves his fitness.

By 2-3 years into the experiment, he could be anywhere from about Mark Eaton to Wilt Chamberlain depending on his coaching and work ethic.

As an aside, if the schlub were 20 years old instead of 30, he'd be an odds-on favorite to be one of the greatest players in NBA history. Maybe the greatest player. But at 30, there's a decent chance that the adjustment/learning curve doesn't come around quickly enough to overcome his inherent physical decline.

[nineinchal]

Is he smarter than a fifth grader?

[rakemeplz]

aejones how much longer do you think it takes this guy to go from paint to paint compared to mutumbo? How long can he last running up and down the court?

I think a lot of people are underestimating the speed skill strategy involved in this game...how does he handle the double team...defensively does this guy know how to block shots? He's never done it before. NBA guys will figure out how to pick up fouls driving right at him. IMO other stuff like how he shoots/dribbles is much less important.

[El_Hombre_Grande]

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35% bigger in all directions. Eight foot two inches, 200 kilos

[/ QUOTE ]The guy was 6', 325 lbs and an average athlete? Make him 325 when he's 8'2" and this is more sensible.

And to answer the original question, no, the guy doesn't start just on account of his size. This isn't to say that he couldn't make it in the league, because with a few years' work he could almost certainly be a starter. Make the guy 20 vice 30 and ask if he can ever start in the NBA and this is probably a clear yes. At 30, with the question being whether or not he can start now, the answer is "almost certainly not."

Those who insist that he would, please name a team and a center ahead of whom this random, "average" 8-footer would start.

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Huh? Have you ever attempted to play basketball against someone who was 500 pounds, with a wingspan that approximates a pyterdatyl? (or however that's spelled)

When I was in 7th grade, we played a team that had a 6 foot 9 kid who probably weighed 240, which is almost the equivalent of this hypo. He was average athletically, but it didn't matter. If he missed (and he did alot) he got his own rebound again and again. Even his scrawny 7th grade friends could lob him the ball again and again, and even though his was the same proportionally (ie height to weight) you couldn't affect the kid in any way-- ie he can't be boxed out, you can't push him out of the lane. Our new hero has 150 on Shaq and at least 200 plus on most NBA centers. He will own the boards; he will block shots from everywhere, and he will stand anywhere he wants to receive lobs from quite capable NBA guards. He will dominate every one of them, with Shaq holding him to 30. His main problem will be to learn how not to goaltend.

[sternroolz]

It already happened with Mark Eaton, whom I only saw mentioned once in this thread. He started for the Utah Jazz in the late 80's...for a team that took the dynasty team of the decade Lakers to a 7th game in the second round of the 1988 Western Conference semifinals....a Laker team that had won the championship the year before and would go onto win the championship in 88 also.

Mark Eaton was 7'4 and very unathletic and a near zero offensively. Basically he could catch the ball under the basket and make a 1 ft shot once or twice a game. But he learned the fundamentals of rebounding and especially defense. He was such a monster defensively that he started despite his offensive shortcommings and is one of the few players that was able to alter how the opponent handled their offense. His highlight(to me) was blocking an aging Kareem Abdul Jabbars hook shot. FWIW, I think his contributions to the Jazz are underrated.

Eaton was an auto mechanic when discovered by the Jazz.

[KUJustin]

Didn't read the thread but UNC-Asheville has a guy who's 7'7" (he can dunk flat footed) and he doesn't even start... for UNC-Asheville. So athleticism is extremely important even if you're huge.