6'9.5" to 6'10" Bill Russell had a greater standing reach than 7'1" Wilt, 7'2" Kareem, and 7'4" Ralph Sampson

[NoDopeOnSundays]

Last post, as we all know Russell had great length, but Victor's standing reach is 9.8". Wilt was 9'6, I believe and Shaq 9'4". A basketball is under just under 10 inches in height, so I am sure we can all see what would be needed to exceed these giants incredible length. I doubt even Victor could even touch the top of a basketball in Wilt's out stretched arm. And I don't think we're going to argue Victor standing reach is less.....

His standing reach is obviously more than 9'8", that's only 1" more than Rudy for instance. Also, I think he's much taller than they're listing, there's an old picture of him and Edey together and we know Edey measured 7'3.75" without shoes at the combine.





If I had to guess he's probably 7'4.25" - 7'4.5" without shoes, and maybe 9'11" standing reach with an 8'0" wingspan, basically slightly less than Tacko Fall who had a 10'2" standing reach and 8'2" wingspan. Everyone that's listed around his height looks considerably smaller than him (Bol/Kristaps/Edey).

[SNPA]

Last post, as we all know Russell had great length, but Victor's standing reach is 9.8". Wilt was 9'6, I believe and Shaq 9'4". A basketball is under just under 10 inches in height, so I am sure we can all see what would be needed to exceed these giants incredible length. I doubt even Victor could even touch the top of a basketball in Wilt's out stretched arm. And I don't think we're going to argue Victor standing reach is less.....

His standing reach is obviously more than 9'8", that's only 1" more than Rudy for instance. Also, I think he's much taller than they're listing, there's an old picture of him and Edey together and we know Edey measured 7'3.75" without shoes at the combine.





If I had to guess he's probably 7'4.25" - 7'4.5" without shoes, and maybe 9'11" standing reach with an 8'0" wingspan, basically slightly less than Tacko Fall who had a 10'2" standing reach and 8'2" wingspan. Everyone that's listed around his height looks considerably smaller than him (Bol/Kristaps/Edey).

Wemby is definitely lying about his height. 7’5’’ or there about IMO.

[Doctor MJ]

Really enjoying these threads about Russell's extreme length relative to his height. I think it's really important to understand how much variation there is between length & height in humans and not to assume that players much be the same simply because they have similar heights and are otherwise talented at basketball.

Also, I think people sometimes just don't think it's possible for a player to have a standing reach 10 feet, but I see this as just a known thing. I believe Manute Bol had a 10'5" reach for example. I doubt anyone in NBA history matches that, someone in deeper history might be a lot closer to it than we expect.

Further tangent I wont to emphasize: I believe the Golden Age Harlem Globetrotters emphasized hand size above any other pro team in history. The guy who was the spearhead on this was Goose Tatum in the '40s shown here:



Tatum was 6'3", and yet had bigger hands than a typical 7 footer in the modern NBA.

So yeah, the idea that a 6'9" guy might have hands and arms that were bigger than most 7 footers in the NBA isn't much of a stretch to me, nor is it exactly a surprise to find out "Hey, y'know that guy in the '60s who dominated NBA defense on a level we've never seen since, turns out he had crazy long arms and big hands compared to what you'd expect based on his height."

[naabzor]

I literally don't see the point of showing all this photos. They mean nothing to prove or reject your point.

[zimpy27]

Thurmond probably had a greater standing reach. That guy's arms were ridiculous.

[FrodoBaggins]

This may be the 1959 pre-game photo op Thomas Boswell is referencing. If the league was trying to promote rookie Wilt as Goliath then I doubt they'd publically release a photo where Russell bests him. Anyways:

[FrodoBaggins]

A great shot of Russell in the 1962 NBA Finals fully extended, contesting Elgin Baylor:



Wilt and Bill going for a rebound:



Wilt contesting Bill's shot, whose arm is way above his head:



Bill contesting Wilt's shot at the rim:

[FrodoBaggins]

Thurmond probably had a greater standing reach. That guy's arms were ridiculous.

Agreed. If Russell did have a standing reach advantage over Wilt, it was only a very small amount. A fingertip. On the other hand, Chamberlain said Thurmond's reach was several inches greater. The quote is featured from 0:39-0:52 in the video below. If Russ and Wilt were around 9'7" in modern 1.25" shoes, then Nate must've been 9'9"+.

Watch on YouTube

[FrodoBaggins]

A great jump ball between Bill and Wilt from G6 of the 1969 NBA Finals. Chamberlain gets off the ground earlier but Russell gets up a little higher. Footage thanks to 70sFan's YouTube channel.

[FrodoBaggins]

Small correction: Wilt Chamberlain had a 9'6" standing reach in Converse Chuck Taylors, not barefoot. According to Celebheights, Chuck Taylors add 0.7" of height:

https://www.celebheights.com/sneakers/2.html

Watch on YouTube

So, Wilt's average modern shoe 1.25" adjusted standing reach would be around 9'6.5". That's assuming the classic Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars design has remained unchanged since the '50s. Which I believe to be true.

In my opinion, the three closest guys proportions-wise to Bill would be Giannis Antetokounmpo, Mark Williams (drafted 2022), and a Nigerian who was measured at the 2009 Eurocamp called Aboubakar Amadou/Roger Zaki. All three have narrower clavicles that suppress their wingspan measurement which understates the length of their arms, high-set shoulders, shorter necks, smaller heads, and flexible shoulders. Here are their measurements:

Mark Williams:

- 7'0" barefoot height
- 7'6.5" wingspan (9" hand length)
- 9'8.25" standing reach (1.25" shoe adjusted)







Giannis Antetokounmpo:

- drafted at 6'9" and experienced a growth spurt. Celebheights has him at 6'10.5" barefoot.

http://journaltimes.com/sports/basketball/bucks-beat-antekokounmpo-green-but-growing/article_c3048dda-5bd5-11e3-ad1c-001a4bcf887a.html

Not only is Antetokounmpo’s game growing, so is his body. When the Bucks drafted him in June, he was 6-9. Now, just more than five months later, he has added more than an inch to his lanky frame.

“I am now 6-10 and one quarter,” Antetokounmpo said smiling…

- 7'3" wingspan according to DraftExpress leading up to the draft. Could potentially be 7'4" or 7'5" now. Listed as 7'4" in some articles. 9.8" long hands.

Adetokunbo stands out first and foremost thanks to the tremendous physical profile he brings to the table, reminding somewhat of a Nicolas Batum or Thabo Sefolosha on first glance. He has great size at 6-9, 196 pounds, to go along with a developed upper body and an overall terrific frame that should fill out considerably in time. His wingspan has reportedly been measured at 7-3, but perhaps most interesting is the size of his hands, as he's able to palm the ball like a grapefruit which helps him out considerably as a passer, ball-handler and finisher.

- Source: https://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Giannis-Antetokounmpo-7223/ ©DraftExpress

https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/bucks-rookie-giannis-antetokounmpo-is-still-physically-growing

When measured at Adidas EuroCamp last year, Greece’s Giannis Antetokounmpo measured 6’9” with a reported 7’3” wingspan.

- No official standing reach measurement. Recorded a max vertical reach of 12'2" in May of 2015. Has routinely displayed an ability to hang off the rim and touch the ground on his tippy toes at the same time. Some have estimated his standing reach to be somewhere in the 9'5" to 9'7" range.

Read on Twitter

Roger Zaki:

- 6'10.25" barefoot height
- 7'5" wingspan
- 9'6.5" standing reach (1.25" shoe adjusted)

Watch on YouTube

[Lalouie]

here's something i never knew

russell cleared his height IN HIGH SCHOOL (actually 6'9.25)
so what we're talking about is a straddle jumping 6'10 athlete with LIFT

he tied someone name charlie dumas who went on to win the gold in the '56 olympics

[FrodoBaggins]

here's something i never knew

russell cleared his height IN HIGH SCHOOL (actually 6'9.25)
so what we're talking about is a straddle jumping 6'10 athlete with LIFT

he tied someone name charlie dumas who went on to win the gold in the '56 olympics

Damn. 81.25". I wonder how much vertical jump that translates to with the old-school straddle technique. If the bar is his height then he'd have to get his center of mass over the bar, right? The fact that half of that height is a little over 40.5" gives me confidence that his max vertical was somewhere in the high thirties at worst. And potentially low-to-mid forties at best.

The Fosbury Flop really was a cheat code.

Prior to Fosbury, high jumpers would use techniques like the “scissor kick” that force their center of mass, or the average position of their body, to pass over the bar, which they faced head-on. They threw themselves over in something closer to an upright position.

Regardless of technique, the maximum height that a high jumper’s center of mass can reach is established as soon as they leap off the ground, Goff explained.

The tricky thing about that average position of an object is that it doesn’t have to be located on an object itself. The center of mass of a donut, for example, is the empty hole in the middle, Goff said. The pastry is wrapped around its center of mass.

The Fosbury Flop is sort of like bending your body into a donut shape in order to manipulate your own center of mass. By jumping head first and arching his body upward, Fosbury moved his center of mass under the bar and made his jump more efficient.

“The Fosbury Flop allows a jumper to clear a bar height that’s greater than the maximum height of the jumper’s center of mass, which was not possible with the scissor technique,” Goff said.

Until the 1960s, jumpers used a variety of techniques to clear the bar, including the Eastern cut-off, the Western roll, and, most commonly, the straddle technique. They all involved, in some form, launching and rolling the body, downward-facing at its apex, over the bar. In 1963, as a high school student, Dick Fosbury developed a completely new style of high jump, and he eventually brought it to the world’s attention by winning an Olympic gold medal in 1968. His technique, referred to as the Fosbury flop, facilitated a greater bar clearance via a curved approach run and backward somersault. This motion lowered the effective center of mass of the jumper as he traveled over the bar, allowing him to clear greater bar heights for a given center-of-mass excursion. The Fosbury flop is thus 5–7 cm more efficient in its center-of-mass movement than the previously eminent straddle technique(Figure 2) and allows some jumpers to even clear bar heights above that of the body’s center-of-mass apex during the jump (Dapena,1980,2002). Today, virtually all high jumpers at all levels of ability use this more efficient technique (Nicholson, Bissas, & Merlino,2018).



-Common high-jump techniques and their center-of-mass positions relative to the jumper and the bar.

[Lalouie]

here's something i never knew

russell cleared his height IN HIGH SCHOOL (actually 6'9.25)
so what we're talking about is a straddle jumping 6'10 athlete with LIFT

he tied someone name charlie dumas who went on to win the gold in the '56 olympics

Damn. 81.25". I wonder how much vertical jump that translates to with the old-school straddle technique. If the bar is his height then he'd have to get his center of mass over the bar, right? The fact that half of that height is a little over 40.5" gives me confidence that his max vertical was somewhere in the high thirties at worst. And potentially low-to-mid forties at best.

The Fosbury Flop really was a cheat code.

Prior to Fosbury, high jumpers would use techniques like the “scissor kick” that force their center of mass, or the average position of their body, to pass over the bar, which they faced head-on. They threw themselves over in something closer to an upright position.

Regardless of technique, the maximum height that a high jumper’s center of mass can reach is established as soon as they leap off the ground, Goff explained.

The tricky thing about that average position of an object is that it doesn’t have to be located on an object itself. The center of mass of a donut, for example, is the empty hole in the middle, Goff said. The pastry is wrapped around its center of mass.

The Fosbury Flop is sort of like bending your body into a donut shape in order to manipulate your own center of mass. By jumping head first and arching his body upward, Fosbury moved his center of mass under the bar and made his jump more efficient.

“The Fosbury Flop allows a jumper to clear a bar height that’s greater than the maximum height of the jumper’s center of mass, which was not possible with the scissor technique,” Goff said.

Until the 1960s, jumpers used a variety of techniques to clear the bar, including the Eastern cut-off, the Western roll, and, most commonly, the straddle technique. They all involved, in some form, launching and rolling the body, downward-facing at its apex, over the bar. In 1963, as a high school student, Dick Fosbury developed a completely new style of high jump, and he eventually brought it to the world’s attention by winning an Olympic gold medal in 1968. His technique, referred to as the Fosbury flop, facilitated a greater bar clearance via a curved approach run and backward somersault. This motion lowered the effective center of mass of the jumper as he traveled over the bar, allowing him to clear greater bar heights for a given center-of-mass excursion. The Fosbury flop is thus 5–7 cm more efficient in its center-of-mass movement than the previously eminent straddle technique(Figure 2) and allows some jumpers to even clear bar heights above that of the body’s center-of-mass apex during the jump (Dapena,1980,2002). Today, virtually all high jumpers at all levels of ability use this more efficient technique (Nicholson, Bissas, & Merlino,2018).



-Common high-jump techniques and their center-of-mass positions relative to the jumper and the bar.

just the sheer athleticism of lifting a lengthy human body is a feat. i always felt the biggest encumbrance for a basketball players to play other sports was coordinating all that length - seems almost impossible