bb recruiting

[Pelado]

It seems silly for grown men to be arguing over two or three inches of height in a high school basketball player. But really it is a big deal, if you want to project what kind of player he will be at BYU, especially immediately. At 6'10, with his current skill set, he can step in and be a very imposing starting center as a frosh. At 6'8, he's the shortest center BYU has had since I can remember, and that's not to say he won't succeed, but throw in a height disadvantage along with experience disadvantage as a frosh, and it's more doubtful he'll be an immediate impact guy.

No grown man should argue over two or three inches.

That's a huge head. He could be 7'.

[YOUTUBE]qRmLGYSc0XQ[/YOUTUBE]

[MarkGrace]

How high his head reaches doesn't matter depending on his length. Listening to Jay in here is like reading draft reports from the early 2000s. As Reggie Miller said, you don't block shots and grab rebounds with your head!

[jay santos]

How high his head reaches doesn't matter depending on his length. Listening to Jay in here is like reading draft reports from the early 2000s. As Reggie Miller said, you don't block shots and grab rebounds with your head!

If it's not obvious, I'm being facetious about his head height.

[MarkGrace]

It seems silly for grown men to be arguing over two or three inches of height in a high school basketball player. But really it is a big deal, if you want to project what kind of player he will be at BYU, especially immediately. At 6'10, with his current skill set, he can step in and be a very imposing starting center as a frosh. At 6'8, he's the shortest center BYU has had since I can remember, and that's not to say he won't succeed, but throw in a height disadvantage along with experience disadvantage as a frosh, and it's more doubtful he'll be an immediate impact guy.

If this is you being facetious, yeah I missed it.

[jay santos]

If this is you being facetious, yeah I missed it.

That is me being dead serious. But what does that have to do with Reggie Miller's quote on rebounding with your head?

[MarkGrace]

That is me being dead serious. But what does that have to do with Reggie Miller's quote on rebounding with your head?

What do you mean what does it have to do with it? It's pretty self-explanatory.

[jay santos]

What do you mean what does it have to do with it? It's pretty self-explanatory.

Reggie Miller's quote means height is irrelevant in basketball?

I understand it's a little silly for us to be discussing a high school kid in this kind of detail, whether it be height, weight, 40 time, or anything else. But ignoring that aspect of it. The height of a future center is pretty damn relevant, I would think.

[Flystripper]

Reggie Miller's quote means height is irrelevant in basketball?

I understand it's a little silly for us to be discussing a high school kid in this kind of detail, whether it be height, weight, 40 time, or anything else. But ignoring that aspect of it. The height of a future center is pretty damn relevant, I would think.

He is alluding that reach / length is more important than height. Reach and height is obviously correlated but sometimes you have extend-o-necks (Bosh), T-rex arms (Araujo), and freaky wings (Durrant). You don't rebound with your head!

[MarkGrace]

Reggie Miller's quote means height is irrelevant in basketball?

No. It means 2" of height doesn't mean anything without any consideration length (in terms of wingspan and standing reach). Hoffa's 6'11" didn't allow him to play big because of those tyranno arms. There are 6'8" guys (Elton Brand, Ben Wallace, et al.) that played far bigger and more imposing than he did despite giving up a few inches.

So just knowing how high his head reaches (6'8" vs. 6'10") is not only not a big deal, it could possibly not mean anything at all. If these are the options for Mika:

A - 6'10", wingspan 6'10", standing reach 8'8"
B - 6'8", wingspan 7'1", standing reach 8'11"

And you hold constant his athleticism, skill set, etc., option B for his measurements is an easy pick. Doesn't matter that his head reaches 2" higher in the first.

[wapiti]

Reggie Miller's quote means height is irrelevant in basketball?

I understand it's a little silly for us to be discussing a high school kid in this kind of detail, whether it be height, weight, 40 time, or anything else. But ignoring that aspect of it. The height of a future center is pretty damn relevant, I would think.

Jared Jensen contributed as a Freshman playing Center at 6'8".

[jay santos]

Jared Jensen contributed as a Freshman playing Center at 6'8".

And no hops. He seemed to get worse the longer he was in the program.

[Donuthole]

No. It means 2" of height doesn't mean anything without any consideration length (in terms of wingspan and standing reach). Hoffa's 6'11" didn't allow him to play big because of those tyranno arms. There are 6'8" guys (Elton Brand, Ben Wallace, et al.) that played far bigger and more imposing than he did despite giving up a few inches.

So just knowing how high his head reaches (6'8" vs. 6'10") is not only not a big deal, it could possibly not mean anything at all. If these are the options for Mika:

A - 6'10", wingspan 6'10", standing reach 8'8"
B - 6'8", wingspan 7'1", standing reach 8'11"

And you hold constant his athleticism, skill set, etc., option B for his measurements is an easy pick. Doesn't matter that his head reaches 2" higher in the first.

[jay santos]

No. It means 2" of height doesn't mean anything without any consideration length (in terms of wingspan and standing reach). Hoffa's 6'11" didn't allow him to play big because of those tyranno arms. There are 6'8" guys (Elton Brand, Ben Wallace, et al.) that played far bigger and more imposing than he did despite giving up a few inches.

So just knowing how high his head reaches (6'8" vs. 6'10") is not only not a big deal, it could possibly not mean anything at all. If these are the options for Mika:

A - 6'10", wingspan 6'10", standing reach 8'8"
B - 6'8", wingspan 7'1", standing reach 8'11"

And you hold constant his athleticism, skill set, etc., option B for his measurements is an easy pick. Doesn't matter that his head reaches 2" higher in the first.

I see your point if we had all those other stats and we were ignoring them. But all we can do is assume typical standing reach for a 6'8 guy vs 6'10 guy. Also remember I've mentioned a few times my questions about his height and how quickly his game will transition to the D1 level is based on seeing him play in person.

Now watch, all this is going to be taken that I'm a Mika hater. That is not the case.

The threshold here is what Goat threw out as a question Mika frosh vs Davies soph. Can we expect Mika to be as good or better than Davies as soph? Davies was an 11/6 guy who was improving a lot as the season went on. He was the third best player on the best BYU team in 30 years if not ever. That's a high expectation for a freshman big man.

I'm on the fence on that question, but part of my analysis has to do with asking how tall he is.

[MarkGrace]

I see your point if we had all those other stats and we were ignoring them. But all we can do is assume typical standing reach for a 6'8 guy vs 6'10 guy. Also remember I've mentioned a few times my questions about his height and how quickly his game will transition to the D1 level is based on seeing him play in person.

Now watch, all this is going to be taken that I'm a Mika hater. That is not the case.

The threshold here is what Goat threw out as a question Mika frosh vs Davies soph. Can we expect Mika to be as good or better than Davies as soph? Davies was an 11/6 guy who was improving a lot as the season went on. He was the third best player on the best BYU team in 30 years if not ever. That's a high expectation for a freshman big man.

I'm on the fence on that question, but part of my analysis has to do with asking how tall he is.

What is typical standing reach for 6'8" vs. 6'10"? Guys that hit that height are so far out of normal growth patterns and proportion distribution that I'm not sure there's anything normal about them -- every guy is really just a different consideration.

I'm not suggesting a scenario where we have all the facts and people are ignoring them. I'm suggesting that without the facts it just seems like a short-sighted discussion. His head reaching 2" higher may not have any tangible impact on his play on the floor at all. Without more facts it just seems silly to assume it's a big deal.

[Jeff Lebowski]

This thread has taken a turn for bizarro land.