Durant, the reigning NBA Finals MVP , is quick to point out that his length allows him to make up for other areas, including being far leaner than most NBA players. The average man has a wingspan about 2 inches more than his height. Its nothing that I heard about until I got to the league, or right before I got into the league, theyre like, Wed like to measure your wingspan. They dont really bring it up to us about that in college or high school.. Oakland, Calif. Not until Nate McMillan began being fitted for custom-made suits a few years into his NBA career three decades ago did he understand just how far his arms reached. Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo is nicknamed the Greek Freak in part because he stands 6-11 with a 7-3 wingspan and giant hands. In his first and only All-Star Game appearance (he was selected in 1977 but could not play because of injury), Walton recorded 15 points and 10 rebounds in 31 minutes of play. The operation worked. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. He was already in America, having come over from Nigeria to enroll at the University of Houston, and he went to a Rockets game. Any time you think you're too small to make a difference in the world you've never spent the night alone in bed with a mosquito. Look at John Stocktons arms or Avery Johnsons arms and theyre very long, and their hands are very big. They can control the basketball, they can do things with it. One of the benefits is his ability to corral and slam home lob passes that are high and might be off target. "It's legit. His arms are long and he can block shots. Once limited to descriptions of birds, wingspan has become one of the most important measurements for basketball prospects over the past decade. Bill Walton is an American sportscaster and former professional retired basketball player. He could score, too, but you could run your whole offense through him, and his basketball IQ was off the charts for a 7-footer., Maybe the most exciting thing about the idea of bringing a young Sabonis to the present day is that wed get to see what he wouldve looked like playing against elite opposition every night. Walton, along with George Mullen, penned an op-ed in San Diego Times, in which he advocated for . The controversies that had embroiled Walton up to this point were mild compared to what would follow. Weirdly, though, I can see the older Vlade nestling snugly into the ecosystems of good present-day teams that emphasize passing and defend smartlyoffering, say, a rough approximation of what Marc Gasol gave the Raptors last season? Things didnt improve in Portland, as ankle and foot injuries (along with two separate broken wrists) cost him 78 games over his first two seasons. After the 1984-85 campaign Walton went shopping. But several NBA players pop off the chart because of their long arms. Every game was a challenge, and he didnt let any of us forget that.. From Wilt the Stilt to Hakeem the Dream, we pay homage to the big men who ruled their erasbut would have been even more fun in this one. People followed him on Twitter. 1 overall pick in the 1974 NBA Draft. Grammy Award-winning singer John Mayer talks about the influence Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Walton has had on him during guest appearance on 'Throw It Down . sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. Like all massive 5s, hed have to prove capable of defending in space and handling jitterbug guards on switches in the pick-and-roll. Wingspan is one detail Warriors coach Steve Kerr takes seriously and might consider when deciding on lineups and rotations for the defending champions. The former MVP has adapted and evolved to become an excellent conductor of Phillys offense. He acted as a half-court offensive hub from the elbows and out of the post; as the last line of defense on the other end, he was an ace shot-blocker and defensive rebounder who looked for every opportunity to trigger a fast break and an easy bucket within the flow of the game. When Bill Walton dominated at UCLA in the 1970s, no one ever measured his wingspan from fingertips to fingertips and arms outstretched. Durant, the reigning NBA Finals MVP , is quick to point out that his length allows him to make up for other areas, including being far leaner than most NBA players. Combine that with what would assuredly be a significantly curtailed workload in the age of load managementWilt averaged an absurd 45.8 minutes per game for his careerand youll get fewer mythological stat lines. If your wingspan is more than your height, thats kind of abnormal. Youre able to deflect the pass or block shots.. Bill Walton's unique style and skills led him to 2 NBA championships during his Hall of Fame career. If somebodys short, hopefully theyre quick. Walton received a minute-long standing ovation from the Boston Garden crowd after walking onto the parquet floor at his first exhibition game. Today, a prep prospect with Chamberlains physical attributes and skill would probably be given the green light to create at an early age, sanding off some of the rough edges in his ball handling and footwork. In the book Basketball: A Love Story, Olajuwon describes the first time he saw an NBA game. Every asset that a player has might make up for something else. Its not like adjusting for pace and contemporary minutes management would make Wilt just another dude, though. His old national teammate Sarunas Marciulionis emphasized in Basketball: A Love Story that Sabonis hadnt yet fully developed his face-up game, his 3-point shot, or his court vision before playing in Spain following the 88 Olympics, so a younger model wouldnt necessarily have resembled a more explosive version of the finished product. The wingspan sure helps a lot of people, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said . Weve seen him block guys at the rim and also get his hands on some basketballs off the dribble.. "It's nothing that I heard about until I got to the league, or right before I got into the league, they're like, 'We'd like to measure your wingspan.' When it comes to Arizona, he prefers to refer to the Wildcats as "the kitties." Bill Walton III. Glass Onion Brought Knives Out to the Next Level. He is also one of the greatest college . Determined to get back into uniform, Walton ignored the skepticism of doctors who said he would never play again. This fact was shown indisputably in 1975 after Burleson graduated, and State tried to repeat their National Championship without him. (Nearly.) He acquired Walton by sending popular forward Cedric Maxwell to the Clippers along with a first-round draft pick. Fewer possessions means fewer shots, rebounds, assists, and block opportunities to go around. Theres a lot of guys, Draymond (Green) is the same way, small, undersized power forward but can guard plenty of guys because of his length. While at UCLA in the early 70s, he was arrested during an anti-Vietnam War rally, publicly criticized Richard Nixon and the FBI, and reportedly flirted with leaving basketball to pursue spiritual enlightenment. If somebodys short, hopefully theyre quick. Neither knew their wingspans then, and they still dont. A pioneering sixth man, Kevin McHale won three titles with the Celtics in the 1980s. But the biggest question about Harden remainsand it wont be answered until the playoffs. The Trail Blazers finished the season 58-24 and Walton received the NBA MVP award. Walton played in 55 games in 1983-84 and 67 in 1984-85, while the Clippers won 30 and 31 games, respectively. But dozens of injuries, most infamously a chronically broken bone in his left foot, robbed Walton of the storybook career that seemed sure to be his. Every asset that a player has might make up for something else. NBA legend Bill Walton co-authored a byline explaining why one plot of land outside San Diego could be a way to help end the homeless crisis in the city. They can control the basketball, they can do things with it. When he was healthy, Walton had few peers. Former American Basketball Player. Some of the best players Kerr faced had incredible reach. Yet each visit he made, among the first things measured was his wingspan, 7-6. He would need to stay trim and explosive enough to cover a ton of ground, because you can bet that every modern offense would make it Job No. Warriors 7-foot center JaVale McGee went through only a handful of pre-draft workouts for NBA teams, hardly a prized prospect after a career at Nevada. In Loose Balls, Terry Plutos iconic oral history of the ABA, former ABA commissioner Mike Storen recalls that in negotiations over trying to get Walton to come to the counterculture league, Waltons representative made it clear that the two wanted Bill to be the highest-paid professional athlete in the history of mankind, and to be on a great team surrounded by a lot of talent so that the responsibility for winning and losing does not fall directly on Bill. Again: He might fit in just fine today.). There will be some statistical cherry-picking, because cherries are delicious, and there will be some decisions made purely on aesthetics, because we hold it as true that things that look dope should be prioritized. 3x NCAA All-Region. The explosive Russell Westbrook is 6-3, with a wingspan of 6-8, which helps him be one of the best rebounding guards in history. In his 58 regular-season appearances, Walton averaged 18.9 ppg, 13.2 rpg, 5.0 apg and 2.52 bpg. Finally, there is Johnny Kerr, who was . I think its something that makes a big difference, especially defensively, he said. "I've always been tall. Here was a man who once claimed to have bested a mountain lion in single combat. That might seem like a bit of an exaggeration: After all, Sabonis still starred in the States, averaging a double-double in Year 3, posting a player efficiency rating over 20 in six of his seven NBA seasons, and playing an integral role on Trail Blazers teams that went to consecutive Western Conference finals, including one that came within a hellacious fourth-quarter comeback of beating Shaq, Kobe, and the Lakers in 2000. Neither knew their wingspans then, and they still dont. 1 to play a stretch-5 against him to try to draw him out of the middle and keep him from walling off the paint, or run dozens of pick-and-rolls aimed at getting him switched onto guards and forcing him to defend in space. "Every asset that a player has might make up for something else. The average man has a wingspan about 2 inches more than his height. Its no coincidence that Jazz center Rudy Gobert, who stands 7-1 and led the NBA in blocks last season, has the longest wingspan in the league at 7 feet, 9 inches. But todays players arent the only ones with the right skills to tick those boxes; plenty of their predecessors could, too. Before he got to the NBA, McGee wasnt even aware of his wingspan. But a modern Wilt would profile, at minimum, as a mammoth rim protector and interior deterrent; think a thicker Rudy Gobert (a close analogue in terms of measurables) with a collegiate high jumpers hops. Everything else is said for me or explained to me, right? Seems like our man Bill wouldve made for an interesting podcast guest! One of them was fellow Time Machine All-Star Andrei Kirilenko, who was also one of just two players in NBA history with multiple 5x5 gamesat least five points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocksto his credit. Yeah, I found that out once I bought my first suit, the 6-foot-5 McMillan, a 12-year pro now coaching the Pacers, said with a chuckle, realizing his arms stretched more than 3 feet each. Something about Hakeems game always seemed to bridge eras; sure, he was a rim-rocking dunker and an aggressive shot-swatter, like centers of the past, but damn, since when did 7-foot, 250-pounders move and shake like that? Position: Center. Wilt Chamberlain was a great offensive player, Dr. Jack Ramsay, Waltons coach in Portland, told Sport magazine. For one: Decades before Shut up and dribble became a sociopolitical flashpoint, Walton was telling The New York Times In this society, they dont expect an athlete to speak for himself or to be able to lead his own life. Bill Walton, Former ABC/ESPN/NBC Basketball Announcer, NBA All-Star Basketball Player, UCLA All-American, and one of the fifty greatest players in NBA history, provides a place to meet and greet fans. But several NBA players pop off the chart because of their long arms. Free) fumed to the San Diego Union at the time. "You're able to deflect the pass or block shots.". How would the fresh-out-of-the-box version look? The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax As Lakers teammate and fellow Hall of Famer Jerry West put it in his autobiography, West by West: Wilt was very self-conscious about his size and strength and he was reluctant to be viewed as a villain. Last, but certainly not least, for the Time Machine All-Stars: the men in the middle. The wingspan sure helps a lot of people, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said . Id never had a player say anything like that to me before. But he had never coached Bill Walton. As the man himself put it in Basketball: A Love Story: Basketball is a symphony, and we could take that ball and become artists ourselves. Itd be cool to hear what kind of music hed make today. (OK, I agree: That was a very Bill Waltonass thing to say.) It was Burleson's tremendous wingspan clearing out underneath the basket that allowed Monte Towe and David Thompson to work their magic. You make up a lot of ground. I'm a big believer in that.". They were the last games he would play for more than two seasons, in which the Clippers won only 36 and 17 games, respectively. Fingertips to fingertips and arms outstretched defending champions to descriptions of birds, wingspan has one... Wilt just another dude, though a player say anything like that to me, right like that me! 2 inches more than his height 2 inches more than your height, thats kind of hed! For pace and contemporary minutes management would make Wilt just another dude, though important measurements basketball. Long and he can block shots. `` home lob passes that high! Embroiled Walton up to this point were mild compared to what would.... 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