From <a href="http://nbadraft.net/2002predraftmeasurements.htm">NBADraft.net's Pre-Draft numbers</a> Note that they do not believe Chris Christoffersons standing reach to the rim of 9'11, since Yao measured 9'7" <b>Condors (Large Wing Spans)</b> Jason Jennings checked in with the longest wingspan at 7-7. Frederick Jones is 6-3 1/2 with a 6-11 wingspan. 8 1/2 inches between his without shoe height and his wingspan. <b>Dajuan Wagner has a whopping 6-8 1/2 wingspan. almost 8 inches more than his height without shoes, and 5 inches more than similar sized Jay Williams.</b> Elvin Mims is 6-5 1/2 with a 7-1 1/2 wingspan. Smush Parker is 6-4 with a 6-10 wingspan. Rolan Roberts is 6-6 3/4 with a 7-1 wingspan. Lenny Cooke is 6-6 1/2 with a 7-1 wingspan. George Williams is 6-6 3/4 with a 7-0 1/2 wingspan Vincent Yarbrough is 6-7 with a 7-0 1/2 wingspan. Lubos Barton is 6-7 3/4 with a 7-0 wingspan. Same for Rod Grizzard. Uche Okafor is 6-10 with a 7-5 1/4 wingspan. <b>T-rex's (No arms)</b> Players who have shorter wingspans than their heights with shoes: Lynn Greer who is 6-1 1/2 with a 6-1 wingspan. <b>Yao Ming, with a 7-4 3/4 wingspan is the only player taller than his wingspan without shoes.</b> JR Bremer has the same height with shoes as his wingspan, 6-2 1/4.
Who's basing it on just the last two years? I'm basing it on the last few years with Atlanta and all the years he's been with the Rockets...are you sure we are talking about the same Kevin Willis here?
Turns out Frederick Jones and Dejuan Wagner do. Check out the list I posted. I didn't know that until I just now posted. Ely has a 7'4 as well. He actually has a higher reach that Hilario.
This is getting ridiculous. Kevin Willis' hands have to do with just that...his hands. Long arms are an advantage in basketball. Coordination can be trained, and to be at their level, they have enough coordination between their arms and themselves where it doesn't matter. Willis being a good rebounder is besides the point...he's a good rebounder because he has a sense for the ball, and a frame built out of granite. Willis had a LOT more upper body strength than Yao, please don't compare the two. Rodman was a great rebounder-is the ideal NBA rebounder 6-8 230 or so? As for the shooting argument...Kevin Willis has short arms, and his shot isn't very pretty either. Ray Allen is a shooting guard. His job is to shoot. Rogers is a scrub PF/C. His job is to be active around the glass. Using Allen as a comparison makes little sense. Generally, shooting is not the #1 priority of a center. Long arms are an advantage-they help people play the passing lane for steals and block shots, and in some cases, nab rebounds. Long arms don't seem to hurt ball handling-Pippen is known for having long arms, and certainly plays his share of point forward (when not dribbling the ball off his ankle in crucial playoff games). Odom and McGrady, two more point forward types, also have long arms for their size. Fact of the matter is, whether Yao has short arms or not (IMO, his arms are normal size, which are a little short by NBA standards), it doesn't matter all that much. He's still 7-6, and has a vertical reach of 9-7. That's still better than a 7-0er with a "long" wingspan. Not every single trait of Yao is perfect. He's human. This argument is like saying Steve Nash is more physically gifted than Steve Francis because since Nash can't jump 40 inches, he's less injury prone.
Just to put things in perspective, from an anatomical point of view, a person wingspan should be roughly equal to his height. Measure your own fingertip to fingertip wingspan some time and you'll probably be surprised how close the result is to your height. So in Ming's case, 7' 4 1/2" is not that far from 7'5". In short (no pun intended), he doesn't have short arms; he just doesn't have freakishly long monkey arms either.
hahah this post is funny...... well he sorta look like one. He probably dominate like a T-Rex......:eeks:
For some players with long arms who're doing fine, there is an equal or more amount of players with long arms who can't shoot. No matter how hard they train they just can't. There's several factors, hands, arm length and motor sense etc... those who have good coordination with long arms can make up for it with better hands and motor sense. In Yao's case, since the degree of these other factors are not known, it's hard to tell that his coordination would remain the same if his arms are lengthened. I only agree with the point that his horizontal reach suffers a lil with his narrow shoulders.
Looking at all the evidencve presented here it seems that the African American Players are the ones generally with extra long arms! That was my experience years ago when I was fitting Clothes.
Not the case really at all...simply because the majority of NBA players/prospects are African American, you see the most examples in them. The guy with the longest wingspan mentioned, Jason Jennings is Caucasian. Lubos Barton, a European, also had a longer than usual wingspan.
The silliest thing about this whole post (not the first post but all the replies) is that small WINGSPAN does not necessarily imply SHORT ARMS!!! Truly they are proportional due to the fact that wingspan is dependent on arm length but there is another factor in there. The size of your chest! Has anyone seen Yao Ming? Unless someone here knows the length of Yao's arms and how that fits proportionatly with his HEIGHT, who can say how short his arms are? Doesn't he have the highest or 2nd highest REACH in the draft?
Ming has the highest reach no doubt... he's 7'5 w/o shoes and 7'6 w/ shoes......... so he doesn't need long arms to have the highest reach.. he's arms are normal size... not particularly long... but I don't consider them short.
NIKEstrand:- I think you didn't get my point. I didn't say only African Americans I said generally they have longer arms. If you fitted as many people (of all races)as I had over many years, you would know that the impossible cases, needing made to measure were mostly African American Clients of mine. Some whites do have extra long arms. I am 5'8'' and have a span of 6'2''.
DaveS--What Yao loses in arm length, he gains back in height <b>and jumping ability from his strong legs.</b> I disagree with you about Yao's jumping ability. He just does not have that explosiveness that some like KG have. Yao does have short arms for his height, but considering how tall he is, he still should have no problem at all getting rebounds and blocking shots once he is stronger. Panda--"For some players with long arms who're doing fine, there is an equal or more amount of players with long arms who can't shoot. No matter how hard they train they just can't. There's several factors, hands, arm length and motor sense etc" That thing about people with long arms not being able to shoot as well is so ridiculous. I could give you examples the opposite of what you gave, but why bother. Your jumpshooting ability can be just as good with longer arms, if not better because you have the follow-through extension further away. Wingspan has something to do with your chest, but more to do with your arms. Anyways, what really matters is height reached, not wingspan.
tozai: Yao does not have short arms for his height! He does not have extra long arms for his height! If you check the measurements you will see that they are in proportion, although when you look at him with his long trunk, they do seem a little short, but in fact are not!
If Yao jumps too high, he will miss something. It is kind more difficult to block with upper arm than hand.
