Ask and ye shall receive. I couldnt find anything on Sampson or Eaton but found some others. Bol: 98 inches Muresan: 94 inches Bradley: 94 inches Mutomobo: 92 inches Olowokandi: 92 inches Garnett: 92 inches Magloire: 91 inches Eddie Curry: 90 inches Brand: 89 inches Keon Clark: 89 inches Yao: 89 inches Hilario: 88 inches Gasol: 88 inches Webber: 87 inches I would tend to guess that just based on these other players, Yao does indeed have short arms for his height.
I didn't see the 76er game and Dr. of Dunk in the chatroom verified your statement. I was listening to Gene and though ultimate homer and game-distortionist he is (I love the guy, of course) he's got a pretty good seat and and sometimes has a clear view of the action. A 7'5 guy jumping straight up over a 6'8" guy while the 6'8 guy backs up shouldn't be a foul. It's a tough call for the refs. no doubt, but for all the "rookie" calls Yao's supposedly not getting, the refs. seem to be questioning who's hitting whom. And unless you've got the perfect seat for the play, or the camera angle isn't perfect it's very hard to judge. What I enjoyed about listening to Gene-O was that he said jumping over someone's back is not necessarily an over-the-back foul and a 7'5" rookie isn't going to get many calls in his favor, but "you gotta go for them". I curse everytime Yao gets a foul whether I agree with it or not. But I object strongly to the assertion that an over-the-back foul is a bad foul for Yao Ming whom most posters here weren't sure this guy was going to be able to grab 10 rbs. consistently for several years. I have to give Mr. Mean some props here (he's a fan-friendly guy, but I'd run the opposite way if a ball was in the air), and Yao is still learning how to rebound in the NBA. It doesn't matter if Yao should foul out in a game (or 10) in his rookie season. I won't like it and neither will you. But an over-the-back call is something Dream probably averaged 2 of throughout his career, and when he was rookie, egad. Yao's VERY probably more mature than Dream was at 22, and definitely has some skills at this age Hakeem didn't. But Yao needs to acquire the same ferocity and attitude - the ball is mine, and so far I'm amazed with the results. These, "Yao's gotta quit going over the back" posts will not have any relevance to me until the Rockets aren't above .500 and Rudy doesn't trust him. Weren't we supposed to be a playoff team without Yao? If Yao's absence causes us losses I'll mourn on a daily basis. But he needs to be up in the air and after every ball. He's an unusal rookie indeed, but in the longterm the refs. need to get used to him too, and he with them. In a bygone era Wilt Chamberlain never fouled out in a game in his career, I bet Russell chuckled at the hubris and I know he questioned Wilt's desire. Yao going full-out this year is more important to this franchise than petulant complaints about a 7'5 rookie getting loose-ball fouls when he gets 10+ rebounds. If it's merely a critique of his play fair enough, but if that's a deficency it's a very good one at this point in time for Yao to have.
yes, that's perfectly normal for ordinary people. but i guess basketball players tend to have longer wingspans than their heights. with height being equal, people having longer arms definitely have an advantage and thus are more suitable to play basketball.
I believe Erick Dampier and Adonal Foyle have ridiculous wingspans, too. Dampier's is something like 90-93 inches and Foyle's is something like 88-90 inches.
Now we should know why the diminutive Elton Brand is able to get so many rebounds. He has the same wing-span as Yao! He's listed at 6'8", but he's more like 6'6". He kind of reminds me of a taller Charles Barkley who was listed at 6'6", but was more like 6'4". These guys are rebound-monsters!
WOW Them is some ridiculously long arms there. Just off the top of my head, none of those guys are terrific shooters. Unless you count tons of slams and jump hooks inside of 5'. We were referring to the relation between wingspan and shooting %age, right? Would it be safe to say that people with long arms dont make the best shooters? Looks like it to me, but then again, i cant say that I have watched all those guys play(so I could be way off here) I guess for now, I'll look at it like YM has normal length arms and the rest of those guys on the list have longer than normal arms. Pretty homer-ish of me isn't it?
I would venture to guess that Sampson probably had a slightly longer wingspan relative to his height (around 90-92 inches) and that Eaton was probably about average (89-90 inches). Im not sure if arm length/wingspan can be related to shooting% as much as it can be to shotblocking. Overall, I feel Yao will never be a dominate shotblocker, at least not in the mold of a Mutombo, Garnett or even a Bradley or Olowokandi. Im thinking Yao will average somewhere around 2.5 blocks when his career is all said and done. I just dont see him blocking 3.5/4 shots a game consistently. Hopefully though, he can make up for it with timing and instinct. We shall see. PS - Homerish? Watch your language sir.
The %age thing was from earlier when you wondered if "Is there a relation to arm length and FG%? ". I took that at face value, but after re-reading it, I realize you were probably being facetious. Whether or not he can become a good shotblocker has more to do with if he can improve his quickness and jumping with some advanced off-season training. I'm still of the opinion that someone with arms the length of their body isn't "raptor armed" but just normal instead. Sure, having wingspan like some of those guys at the top of your list would help a ton, but if YM can improve his quickness and jumping, I think he can be a respectable blocker. At least good enough to rack up 2.5-3.5 a game. Combine that with Eggie's weak side blocking, and you have a real recipe for dominance in the paint in the coming years. This is all depending on the best possible growth coming from EG and YM, but I think it's a real possiblity. Homer.......heheh........DOH!
Exactly. Yao can suredly make up for his short arms with good instinct, timing, etc. But even with that, if he ever averages 3 blocks, Id be happy. Ya know, the amazing thing about Bol is, for his career, he averaged 3.3 blocks in only 18.7 mins a game, thats a block every 5 or6 mins. Minute for minute, he might be the best shot blocker in NBA history. Imagine if he played 30 mins a game, he would have averaged 6 blocks a game. Imagine if he had played longer in the league. Hakeem might not have had the record.
I am assuming you are not taking into consideration Webber's playoff jump shooting expeditions. (especially against Lakers)
Webber's "playoff jump shooting expeditions" were due to his lack of mental toughness, not lack of shooting touch.
I wouldn't really consider Webber a very good jump shooter though. He's just above average. If he was so great then teams would be all over him, but the player guarding him is often sagging off. Plus, I never see him come off a pick, set, and shoot. I think the short arms can be a factor. After all, it makes his stroke shorter and more compact. Longer armed players probably have a harder time developing the perfect technique. Sort of like in baseball, where players with long swings tend to get into bigger slumps and have to work on fine- tuning more. I'd like to know the wingspans of guys like Bird, Ray Allen, Dell Curry, Tracey Murray, etc.
Hakeem was Defensive Player of the Year in '94. Not sure how many times he won it prior to that year.
3 best Hakeem blocks: 1. Kevin Johnson, '94 Conference semis- Hakeem swipes the ball out of his hands just as he's about to two-hand it in, KJ grabs the rim, is shocked the ball is gone, falls directly on his ass. 2. Rod Strickland, '94 1st round- Still don't believe it. 3. John Starks, '94 Finals game 6- Certainly the most important block.
wow, sounds a lil complicated dont u think? Its easy to just be like Shaq = dominant Yao = most likely to be dominant there u go, no need for confusin stats or anythin like that!!
Yao's winspan is 4 or 5 inches shorter than his height, this is abnormal because normally your wingspan is just as long as your height. One of the other threads currently on has reminded me... an example of long arms is Sottie Pippen, who was 6-8 but had a 7-1? (don't quote me it's something like that) armspan. That's why he got so many steals. Runyun: As per the pigeon hole principle... this is a moot point but I don't think you can use it directly to prove that someone would be open. Unless you're saying that off a double team, there are now only three holes/defenders available for four pigeons/rockets, and each hole cannot contain more than one pigeon. The general principle itself doesn't make this assumption. But it really made me laugh though! Are you a mathematician? Hakeem was a good defender because he was so athletic. Yao has been playing bball all his life so perhaps he will become more skilled but Hakeem was one of the most athletic centers ever. I remember ~95-6 his matchups with Shaq were just so much fun because Shaq (aka big shark fish ) was so much bigger but Hakeem could compensate with his athleticism. Hakeem was probably not bigger than C-Webb but you don't see C-Webb stopping Shaq in the paint! But then again Shaq has gotten a little better since then. Will Yao eventually be all defense first team? Not in the next couple of years... He can be an intimidator like Deke... but until he builds endurance and strength, he can really dominate both ends of the court.
I suggest you read the posts by others before you comment on things. the fact is Yao's wingspan is one inch shorter than his height.
