To put it mildly, there seem to be multiple perspectives on this. It's accepted that his arms are not proportional to his height, but does that mean he's got "T-Rex" or "alligator" arms, or is it more like he's 7'5" with the wingspan of a 7'2" or 7'3" player? If so, what difference does it make?
7'2" or 7'3" player, but its blown out of proportion because almost no one in the NBA is 7'2" or 7'3". It leads me to believe, though, that he won't get as many blocks as the freakish guys before him have had. Make no mistake about it, Ming will be the best 7'5"+ player in NBA history, but that's not saying a whole lot.
Here's another guy with short arms that was a pretty good rebounder and had a pretty good career. REBOUNDS YR TM G MIN FGM FGA PCT FTM FTA PCT 3PM* 3PA* PCT BLK ST TO PF OFF DEF TOT AST PTS 84-85 Atl 82 21.8 3.9 8.4 .467 1.5 2.2 .657 2 9 .222 0.6 0.4 1.3 2.8 2.2 4.2 6.4 0.4 9.3 85-86 Atl 82 28.0 5.1 9.9 .517 2.1 3.2 .654 0 6 .000 0.5 0.8 2.2 3.6 3.0 5.6 8.6 0.5 12.3 86-87 Atl 81 32.4 6.6 12.4 .536 2.8 4.0 .709 1 4 .250 0.8 0.8 2.1 3.9 4.0 6.5 10.5 0.8 16.1 87-88 Atl 75 27.9 4.7 9.2 .518 2.1 3.3 .649 0 2 .000 0.5 0.9 1.8 3.2 3.1 4.2 7.3 0.4 11.6 89-90 Atl 81 28.1 5.2 9.9 .519 2.1 3.0 .683 2 7 .286 0.6 0.8 1.8 3.2 3.1 4.8 8.0 0.7 12.4 90-91 Atl 80 29.7 5.6 11.0 .504 2.0 3.0 .668 4 10 .400 0.5 0.8 1.9 2.9 3.2 5.6 8.8 1.2 13.1 91-92 Atl 81 36.6 7.3 15.1 .483 3.6 4.5 .804 6 37 .162 0.7 0.9 2.4 2.8 5.2 10.4 15.5 2.1 18.3 92-93 Atl 80 36.0 7.7 15.2 .506 2.5 3.8 .653 7 29 .241 0.5 0.9 2.7 3.3 4.2 8.7 12.9 2.1 17.9 93-94 Atl 80 35.8 7.8 15.7 .499 3.4 4.7 .713 9 24 .375 0.5 1.0 2.4 3.1 4.2 7.9 12.0 1.9 19.1 94-95 Atl 2 44.5 8.0 20.5 .390 5.0 7.5 .667 0 1 .000 1.5 0.5 3.5 3.5 5.0 13.0 18.0 1.5 21.0 ... Mia 65 35.4 7.0 15.0 .469 3.0 4.3 .691 3 14 .214 0.5 0.9 2.4 3.2 3.3 7.4 10.7 1.3 17.1 Season 67 35.7 7.0 15.1 .466 3.0 4.4 .690 3 15 .200 0.5 0.9 2.4 3.2 3.4 7.5 10.9 1.3 17.2 95-96 Mia 47 28.9 4.1 8.8 .473 1.9 2.7 .712 0 5 .000 0.5 0.4 2.1 3.4 2.9 6.1 8.9 0.7 10.2 ... GS 28 27.8 4.6 10.7 .433 1.9 2.8 .701 1 4 .250 0.6 0.5 2.2 3.4 2.6 5.1 7.8 0.7 11.3 Season 75 28.5 4.6 9.5 .456 1.9 2.7 .708 1 9 .111 0.5 0.4 2.1 3.4 2.8 5.7 8.5 0.7 10.6 96-97 Hou 75 26.2 4.7 9.7 .481 1.9 2.7 .693 2 14 .143 0.4 0.6 1.6 2.9 1.9 5.5 7.5 0.9 11.2 97-98 Hou 81 31.2 6.6 12.9 .510 3.0 3.8 .793 1 7 .143 0.5 0.7 2.1 2.9 2.9 5.5 8.4 1.0 16.1 98-99 Tor 42 29.0 4.5 10.6 .418 3.1 3.7 .839 0 2 .000 0.7 0.7 2.0 3.2 2.6 5.7 8.3 1.6 12.0 99-00 Tor 79 21.3 3.0 7.2 .415 1.7 2.1 .799 1 3 .333 0.6 0.5 1.2 3.2 2.5 3.6 6.1 0.6 7.6 00-01 Tor 35 22.0 3.5 7.7 .461 1.7 2.3 .753 0 2 .000 0.6 0.5 1.1 2.2 1.9 4.4 6.4 0.6 8.8 ... Den 43 24.6 4.2 9.8 .428 1.2 1.5 .788 1 4 .250 0.7 0.9 1.1 3.2 2.5 4.7 7.2 0.7 9.6 Season 78 23.5 4.2 8.8 .441 1.2 1.9 .769 1 6 .167 0.7 0.7 1.1 2.8 2.3 4.6 6.8 0.6 9.3 01-02 Hou 52 16.6 2.4 5.5 .440 1.3 1.7 .747 0 1 .000 0.4 0.5 0.8 1.9 2.0 3.7 5.8 0.3 6.1 G MIN FGM FGA PCT FTM FTA PCT 3PM* 3PA* PCT BLK ST TO PF OFF DEF TOT AST PTS Totals 1271 28.9 5.4 11.1 .488 2.3 3.2 .716 40 185 .216 0.6 0.7 1.9 3.1 3.1 5.9 9.0 1.0 13.1 His name was kevin willis. Look at the 5 yr span when he was 17+ pts and 12+ rebs for a guy with short arms.
Ming's wing span = 7 ft 4 1/2 inches, which is not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but: Eddie Griffin (6'10) - 7 ft 2 inches Nene Hilario (6'10) - 7 ft 4 3/4 inches Shawn Bradley (7'6) - 7 ft 7 3/4 inches Manute Bol (7'7) - 7 ft 9 inches
I guess only guys that bench prees 400lbs can rebound? I bet garnett can't even bench his weight, yet he gets about 10+ rebs a game.
Its not that easy Winkfan. Wingspan is measured from fingertip to fingertip which includes the width of the shoulders and two arms. Also, the height of the shoulders affect reach also. The only way to get accurate reach would be measure it directly which in Yao's case is 9'6" flat footed. That means he can touch the rim on his toes and would not need to jump at all to get rebounds, do layups, or defend. All he would have to do is stay in front of his man and not get knocked over.
I understand. I wanted everyone to remember his reach will still generally be higher than someone with equal arm length, and I was too lazy to go into the qualifiers.
I've always heard that on average, a person's wingspans should equal his height so I think that the length Ming's arms are in proper proportion. However, it does appear that NBA players have longer arms than the norm. I'd be more worried about other issues like can Ming really play and will China really let Ming play.
I like Ming. I think his arms are probably very long, but after watching Tyson/Lewis and then Watching a tape of Bol/Perry and(and a Little funny cig) I wondered about Ming/Bol. I take Ming. I always Take ming. Ming's the man!!!!!!!!
Does anyone know Yao's vertical? That might be useful to know too, especially in comparing him with other big centers.
I know you are kidding. Yao's front teeth could be knocked off by the rim if he has that much vertical. Zhi Zhi Wang's jumping ability is pretty good. He can reach 3.7 m ( around 12 feet 3 inches). Wang's vertical is around 32 inches. Yao's vertical should be below 32 inches.
Another thing to remember is wing span takes into account broad shoulders, which doesn't really help you as far as how high you can reach your arms in the air. Ming doesn't appear to have broad shoulders, so his actual arms could be longer than Hilario who has a slightly longer wing span but also has very broad shoulders. The best measurement for reach would be standing a guy up against a wall and having him reach his arm straight in the air and measure how long that is. I would guess that Ming is longer than just about anyone in the league outside Bradley in that regard, but Ming also has about 40-50 pounds on Bradley to help himself out as far as actually being able to use his reach. Bradley gets muscled too much because of his thinness. However, I'm getting into another topic now so I'll shutup.
