Lying about heights; was it worth it?

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Lying about heights won’t make me stop watching NBA but it makes me think less of the NBA.


The promoted 6’ 7” Magic Johnson as being 6’ 9”, why? What did NBA gain from lying about Magic’s height?
The Majority of NBA players have their heights inflated by in inch or 2.

NBA says “Oh, but these are heights in sneakers; we are not lying about heights.” The rest of the world measures heights barefoot so yes the NBA has lied.

Guys like KG who did not want to be 7 foot tall and Bird were allowed to be listed at their true heights. Maybe Bird is 6’ 9” because Indiana was so podunk that they did not know that they are supposed to lie about heights. I might be the colleges and not the NBA that has the incentive to lie about heights to make their teams more impressive. NBa teams are impressive and don’t need to lie. The NBA might be lying about heights to not not embarrass the college teams by exposing that the college teams about heights.

I would think that for the NBA the practice of lying about heights would be a very mild negative in terms of money and respect rather than a positive. Does calling a 6’ 8” man 6’ 10” make a ten year old boy more excited about the basketball team? Calling a 6’ 11” guy a 7 footer might make the team a bit more exciting.

Overall my guess is that lyiing about height costs the NBA a small amount per year like a few hundred thousand dollars per year from slightly diminished respect and enthusiasm from large numbers of fans. If half of NBA fans produced 25 cents less profit per year for the NBA because the NBA lying very very slightly dampened their enthusiasm then that would add up into millions of lost dollars for the NBA.

But, is it possible that lying about heights slightly increased enthusiasm more than it slightly decreased enthusiasm about the NBA?

Was lying about heights a smart mofe for the NBA?

[NO-KG-AI]

It makes guys feel better when they are hyping their favorite player. You give your guy the 2.5 inch boost that the NBA goes by, and whoever you are talking down about, you list their actual height to undersell them. It's actually the opposite for small guys. They like to remind you they are actually even smaller to make it more incredible.

Also, every hyped prospects immediately grows 2 inches when they are drafted for hype reasons. This is even more prevalent if the guy declined getting officially measured, because then no one can actually prove you wrong. because you know, a player that sprouted 2-3 inches, wouldn't want teams to know about it, so they'd rather not get measured.

Also, saying a guy is 6'9.5 or 6'10 with guard skills just doesn't sound like a mythical creature like calling a guy a 7' guard.

[Blame Rasho]

I care more about how a player performs rather than their listed height… but that is just me.

[henshao]

It's just not the same when you dunk on a true 6'10.5" center

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

It makes guys feel better when they are hyping their favorite player. You give your guy the 2.5 inch boost that the NBA goes by, and whoever you are talking down about, you list their actual height to undersell them. It's actually the opposite for small guys. They like to remind you they are actually even smaller to make it more incredible.

Also, every hyped prospects immediately grows 2 inches when they are drafted for hype reasons. This is even more prevalent if the guy declined getting officially measured, because then no one can actually prove you wrong. because you know, a player that sprouted 2-3 inches, wouldn't want teams to know about it, so they'd rather not get measured.

Also, saying a guy is 6'9.5 or 6'10 with guard skills just doesn't sound like a mythical creature like calling a guy a 7' guard.

Don’t the colleges inflate heights as much as the NBA does?

[NO-KG-AI]

It makes guys feel better when they are hyping their favorite player. You give your guy the 2.5 inch boost that the NBA goes by, and whoever you are talking down about, you list their actual height to undersell them. It's actually the opposite for small guys. They like to remind you they are actually even smaller to make it more incredible.

Also, every hyped prospects immediately grows 2 inches when they are drafted for hype reasons. This is even more prevalent if the guy declined getting officially measured, because then no one can actually prove you wrong. because you know, a player that sprouted 2-3 inches, wouldn't want teams to know about it, so they'd rather not get measured.

Also, saying a guy is 6'9.5 or 6'10 with guard skills just doesn't sound like a mythical creature like calling a guy a 7' guard.

Don’t the colleges inflate heights as much as the NBA does?

Sometimes. Sometimes a guy will be listed at 6'10, immediately measure at like 6'9, then 2 months later all the reports come out about how he's grown an extra 2.5 inches or whatever. It's mostly just fluff from local beat writers that don't have anything to talk about during the summer, and fans lap it up and will find whatever bad angles they can to prove they are right. It's just something to do when you're waiting on a young team to break out. Also "Player X added 25 pounds of pure muscle" every summer is another one.

There is literally entire articles and tweets, and even Joel Embiid himself saying he's over 7'2. There was a guy that was like "I'm bringing a tape measure, no way Embiid is only 7'2!!" There was a poster here that used to get mad here if we didn't acknowledge Embiid is 7'3 in shoes, lmao.

“I get a text from Joel a few weeks ago in the middle of the night that said: ‘Guess how tall I am.’ And so I guessed seven-foot. Two minutes later he texts back ‘You’re wrong, I’m 7’2″.’ I text back ‘How do you know this?’ He texts back ‘Doctors. I’m 7’2″ in sandals.’ And when you stand next to him, when you’re around big men you understand the difference between seven-foot and seven-two, and he is 7’2″.”


Then the Sixers were one of the few teams that actually released legit heights a few years back when the NBA was trying to get more accurate measures, and low and behold, Embiid was 6'11.75.

It's great that they did that. Because now unless you're taller than Embiid, we know you're not 7' tall. And a bunch of guys that are clearly not as tall as Embiid get called 7'.

I think what honestly happens is that guys come into the league listed at one thing, and then they see them next to their favorite player that has his own height inflated by 2-3 inches, and they are like "Wow, if he looks like that next to him, he must have grown 3 inches!!"

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

It makes guys feel better when they are hyping their favorite player. You give your guy the 2.5 inch boost that the NBA goes by, and whoever you are talking down about, you list their actual height to undersell them. It's actually the opposite for small guys. They like to remind you they are actually even smaller to make it more incredible.

Also, every hyped prospects immediately grows 2 inches when they are drafted for hype reasons. This is even more prevalent if the guy declined getting officially measured, because then no one can actually prove you wrong. because you know, a player that sprouted 2-3 inches, wouldn't want teams to know about it, so they'd rather not get measured.

Also, saying a guy is 6'9.5 or 6'10 with guard skills just doesn't sound like a mythical creature like calling a guy a 7' guard.

Don’t the colleges inflate heights as much as the NBA does?

Sometimes. Sometimes a guy will be listed at 6'10, immediately measure at like 6'9, then 2 months later all the reports come out about how he's grown an extra 2.5 inches or whatever. It's mostly just fluff from local beat writers that don't have anything to talk about during the summer, and fans lap it up and will find whatever bad angles they can to prove they are right. It's just something to do when you're waiting on a young team to break out. Also "Player X added 25 pounds of pure muscle" every summer is another one.

There is literally entire articles and tweets, and even Joel Embiid himself saying he's over 7'2. There was a guy that was like "I'm bringing a tape measure, no way Embiid is only 7'2!!" There was a poster here that used to get mad here if we didn't acknowledge Embiid is 7'3 in shoes, lmao.

“I get a text from Joel a few weeks ago in the middle of the night that said: ‘Guess how tall I am.’ And so I guessed seven-foot. Two minutes later he texts back ‘You’re wrong, I’m 7’2″.’ I text back ‘How do you know this?’ He texts back ‘Doctors. I’m 7’2″ in sandals.’ And when you stand next to him, when you’re around big men you understand the difference between seven-foot and seven-two, and he is 7’2″.”


Then the Sixers were one of the few teams that actually released legit heights a few years back when the NBA was trying to get more accurate measures, and low and behold, Embiid was 6'11.75.

It's great that they did that. Because now unless you're taller than Embiid, we know you're not 7' tall. And a bunch of guys that are clearly not as tall as Embiid get called 7'.

I think what honestly happens is that guys come into the league listed at one thing, and then they see them next to their favorite player that has his own height inflated by 2-3 inches, and they are like "Wow, if he looks like that next to him, he must have grown 3 inches!!"

Warriors drafted a kid Baldwin who was listed at 6’ 9” but is now 6’ 11”. I don’t know if the numbers are real or inflated but growing 2 inches this year makes him a better prospect. Even though he is the tallest Warrior and the Warriors desperately need a back up center the kid is apparently not strong enough to play center yet.

[ronnymac2]

Was it worth it? Of course it was.

Why wouldn't you bill these guys to be larger than life? This is the entertainment industry. These athletes are on the biggest TV networks and drawing live gates, filling stadiums with thousands of people. The bigger they are, the more otherworldly they are, and thus are bigger attractions.

Honestly, if they aren't already, they should only hire short interviewers to do post-game interviews to make the players look even more imposing. Or have them only do interviews backstage where they can stand on a platform that raises them up 3-4 inches without anybody seeing.

[Jaivl]

Alternatively, Pau Gasol was listed at 7'1" (2.15 m) in Barcelona, but 7'0" in the NBA.

His noticeably smaller brother being listed at 7'1" was all the funnier.

[AussieBuck]

Giannis grew and absolutely nobody believed it because of the standard exaggerations/lies. I could see listing Embiid as 7'2 when they drafted that bust C who's name briefly has escaped me who was cleary way shorter than Embiid. Nobody wants to say we picked a redundant 6'9 C who can't play D because we didn't trust our franchise guy to get to the court I guess.

[AussieBuck]

Okafor! Forgot the guy and then looked it up and still missed his spelling lol

[Gooner]

Inch based system in itself is not as precise as the one based on cm's, and then you have the fact that some player's listed heights are in shoes, and that leaves a lot of room for manipulation. I see Domantas Sabonis is listed at 7'1''. That's way off. He is not that tall even in shoes. But that's the only example I can think of that's way off. Other heights are more or less accurate, I would say. Some players are listed shorter. Donovan Mitchell is definitely taller than 6'1'' for example. KD and AD are listed at 6'10'' when they are closer to 6'11'' realistically and about 7 feet in shoes. I would say Russell Westbrook is a bit taller than 6'3'', but again, this system of measurement is not that precise so it depends on how you round it up.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

I care more about how a player performs rather than their listed height… but that is just me.

it's much easier to sell the "potential" on fans if there are spectacular measurements

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Alternatively, Pau Gasol was listed at 7'1" (2.15 m) in Barcelona, but 7'0" in the NBA.

His noticeably smaller brother being listed at 7'1" was all the funnier.

was he? I remember him as being listed at 2.12m

[Jaivl]

Alternatively, Pau Gasol was listed at 7'1" (2.15 m) in Barcelona, but 7'0" in the NBA.

His noticeably smaller brother being listed at 7'1" was all the funnier.

was he? I remember him as being listed at 2.12m

Pau? Listed at 7'1" in spanish Wikipedia, the ACB website, NBAdraft, actually listed at 2.16 m now in the Euroleague website.

Marc is at a more reasonable 6'11" now, but he was listed at 7'1" before 2019 or so, when the NBA changed to actual heights.

[Bobbcats]

I've always just assumed the draft combine heights were accurate, and they've got with/without shoes. I don't know why anyone uses other numbers

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Alternatively, Pau Gasol was listed at 7'1" (2.15 m) in Barcelona, but 7'0" in the NBA.

His noticeably smaller brother being listed at 7'1" was all the funnier.

was he? I remember him as being listed at 2.12m

Pau? Listed at 7'1" in spanish Wikipedia, the ACB website, NBAdraft, actually listed at 2.16 m now in the Euroleague website.

Marc is at a more reasonable 6'11" now, but he was listed at 7'1" before 2019 or so, when the NBA changed to actual heights.

I mean at the time of the draft, because I have this memory of him being listed at 212cm and then during the draft process being called 7-1 because they considered his height on shoes.

[penbeast0]

It makes guys feel better when they are hyping their favorite player. You give your guy the 2.5 inch boost that the NBA goes by, and whoever you are talking down about, you list their actual height to undersell them. It's actually the opposite for small guys. They like to remind you they are actually even smaller to make it more incredible.

Also, every hyped prospects immediately grows 2 inches when they are drafted for hype reasons. This is even more prevalent if the guy declined getting officially measured, because then no one can actually prove you wrong. because you know, a player that sprouted 2-3 inches, wouldn't want teams to know about it, so they'd rather not get measured.

Also, saying a guy is 6'9.5 or 6'10 with guard skills just doesn't sound like a mythical creature like calling a guy a 7' guard.

Don’t the colleges inflate heights as much as the NBA does?

. . . and AAU ball and high school. My last year connected with my old school we had 3 players listed at 6'11. One went on to Texas A&M where he was listed 6'9 and 6'8 at NBA draft express. It makes you a more attractive prospect. Even if the extra height is debunked, people still retain that initial impression. (great discussion of how this works on the brain in Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman)

[Cavsfansince84]

I think it does start at the high school level without a doubt to try and get college offers. I was in the mvd about 3 years ago and there was a kid in there who I could tell was tall(probably like 6-5 or 6-6) and a guy came in who he knew and he started talking about offers he was getting and how he was 6-8. It gets inbred into all these kids at a young age that the taller you are the more special it makes you as a prospect and coaches go along with it all trying to prop up their kids. I don't think the nba really cares. They just report w/e height that players want to go by.

[Medbrat]

Pau was always listed at 2.12 in Eurocups and Olympics, I remember that.