The Bismack Biyombo age "controversy": "A half-dozen NBA scouts and executives told Sports Illustrated that they had concerns if he was older than his listed age of 18. Biyombo is physically more mature and also exhibited leadership skills to suggest he is older than his age." Not exactly a smoking gun. He's a man child who is playing in the best league in Europe. There are plenty of other examples of 18-year olds who are/were more physically mature than average. And, given his professional experience, it's not unexpected that he would show more leadership skills than the high school kids he's playing against. BNM
People speculated Mutombo was old, even when he wasn't. I think it's kind of a "them furriners are always up to something". Blame it on those middle-aged Koreans in the Little League World Series.
If Oden had not been from the US where his history was documented, nobody would have believed his age. People would have claimed he was 30 when entering the league.
BTW, thanks for posting this. We thought about attending the Nike Hoop Summit on Saturday. but my kids voted for a day at the coast instead and then we watched the game on TV Saturday night after we got back. So, we got to do both. I had no idea what ROOT was, or that I even had that channel, until your post. I've got FIOS with about 5 billion channels, most of which I've never heard of and never watch. So, thanks for working the game and posting the info. BNM
I've only had FIOS since December. Before that DirecTV. I've never had Comcast and never will. So, I'm still learning my way around. Of course, my two most watched channels on FIOS are 577 (CSNNW HD) and 589 (NBATV HD), plus a little ESPN HD and Showtime HD for "Shameless". And, of course ESPN, KGW or TNT when they are brodacastsing the Blazers games. That's really all I watch. No time, or interest, for anything else. BNM
I spent some time as an intern at Nike a few years ago, and had the opportunity to take a prep school coach to the employee store one day. He happened to be a former Georgetown teammate of Mutombo, and we got to chatting. He said without doubt, he knew that Mutombo was "at least a few years older than he said he was publicly." He made it sound like it was common knowledge among his teammate at Georgetown. The one thing I will regret for the rest of my life is not asking him if he ever went to parties with Mutombo when he would enter and say "Who wants to sex mutombo?"
The problem is, in many African countries they don't issue birth certificates until the child is brought to the hospital. In rural areas, several years often pass, making people a few years older than their documented age. It's not intentionally misleading on the athlete's part, there's just way of knowing the truth.
Draftexpress now has Biyambo at #7 in their latest mock. Amazing what a good week at the Hoop summit can do. He went from a fringe first-rounder to a top-10 pick in one week.
His quick leaping ability was similiar to Kemp, but his offense was no where near Shawn's. Shawn was so gifted that in the Indiana state championship game, he got bored and started shooting 3's. It was similiar to watching Ben Wallace shoot a jump shot with Biyombo. Loved watching him though. Other players that stood out to me were Ponitka, Davis, and Rivers. Not a shocker with Davis and Rivers since they are already slated to be drafted high in 2012. Thought Nogueira, Bertans, and McAdoo were disappointing. Looking forward to seeing how all of them progress.
I thought you hated overseas basketball players and rookies, HCP? Are you coming around to potentially accepting a Biyambo pick?
