Greg Oden Can (or Could?) Play Tallest in the NBA

Note to Leon Powe:

Be afraid, be VERY afraid.

BNM

 

Kenny Gregory was a McDonald's All-American who went to Kansas in the late 1990's I believe. Solid college player.

 

Clyde said he could come to within a few inches of the top of the backboard, which is ~12'9 feet high. So yes, he would have been higher than anyone listed here. (~12'7")

Though, Vince Carter's max vertical reach is listed as 3ft 6....which is a typo....I wonder if that was supposed to be 13'6....if so that is 9 inches above the backboard...totally insane. But Jamario Moon, who is taller, and has the same vertical, had a max reach of 12' 2" So not sure what Vince's was supposed to be.

 

Vince Carter, 2'11"? LMAO! Oh, how I love typos!

 

The thing I find amusing about The Great Weight Debate is that Oden injured his knee while at the lower weight that everyone claims he needs to be at to stay healthy.

 

No Travis Outlaw?

 

23% body fat?! That is huge!!!! Shaq was 12% his rookie year.

 

And people though Kevin Love was pudgy (12.9% body fat). This guy is a fat tub of goo.

Too bad the database only goes back to 1989. I would love to know Charles Barkley's body fat as a rookie.

The 76ers were considering drafting Barkley with the 5th pick in the 1984 draft, but their owner Stan Katz questioned Barkley's conditioning and work ethic. So, three weeks before the draft, Katz personally told Barkley that if he could lose 25 lbs. in three weeks, he take him with the 5th pick.

Coming for a poor background, Barkley's singular goal coming out of college was to get rich. The thing he craved more than food was a $1 million a year contract. So, he hit the gym, started watching what he ate and lost 22 lbs. in two weeks. Mr. Katz learned of this and was impressed. It was obvious Barkely was going to hit the goal of 25 lbs. in three weeks.

Then 2 days before the draft, Barkley's agent got word that the 76ers would only have $200K to offer Barkley due to the new (at the time) NBA salary cap. Barkley no longer wanted to be drafted by the 76ers and attempted to sabotage himself by going on an epic eating binge. Two days later when he showed up in Phildelphia for his weigh-in he was back to his original weight. Stan Katz shook his head and asked Barkley, "Are you stupid, son? I told you to get in shape". To which Barkley famously responded, "But Mr. Katz, round is a shape".

BNM

 

The weight debate involves more than that, it's how much agility, balance, explosiveness and stamina he'd gain by being lighter.

 

haha awesome post! I love reading about stuff like that.

 

Yes, but those are all measures of fitness, not necessarily weight. His weight isn't the problem, it's his strength to weight ratio... And as was recently revealed, Greg hasn't done any squat work in a very long time. Get that leg strength up and the weight likely is not an issue. Ditto for cardio work. Get the lungs strong through an increased training workload.

There has been absolutely no correlation between his weight and susceptibility to injury.