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David Robinson only played in 987 games.
I was listening to a prospect profile podcast about Webanyama, and one of the hosts made a very sad, but startling point. Yao Ming did not even play a full 500 regular season games in the NBA during his career (486 regular season, 28 playoffs). So, I decided to take a look at the tallest players in NBA history to see how many players 7'3" or above managed this feat.
If Wikipedia is to be believed, it looks like the total number is 6. They are:
- Mark Eaton, 7'4", 875 games
- Rick Smits, 7'4", 867 games
- Shawn Bradley, 7'6", 832 games
- Žydrūnas Ilgauskas, 7'3", 771 Games
- Randy Breuer, 7'3", 681 games
- Manute Bol, 7'7", 625 games
None of these players averaged 30 minutes or more per game for their careers, with the typical range being 28 mpg to 18 mpg. Simply put, human beings are not meant to be that tall, and for that reason, I struggle to see Wemby playing more than 7 or 8 seasons in the NBA for his entire career. I understand why the Spurs still need to select him number one overall, but I dont think he's a guy you can truly build a franchise around -- at least not for more than 5 or 6 seasons.
I really, really hope to be wrong.
David Robinson only played in 987 games.
Some of those guys played the equivalent of 10 seasons. That doesn't seem minor to me.
Advances in science and the way Wembanyama has been training for this at a very young age puts him a step above all those guys. Not to mention he also carries a lot less weight then most of those that you listed. Don't think anyone is expecting him to have a 19 year career like Duncan but there's no reason to think he can't play 10-15 seasons if he continues to take care of himself and has a little luck along the way.
wemby is extremely dedicated to his physical condition the way lebron has been, with a pretty expansive and dedicated staff looking out for him. hes not some lazy fat like zion
I have the at ude of that we'll see what happens. If he can't then it is what it is. I'm just going to enjoy the next several years and see what he brings to the table.
Spursfan: Victor's body will break down!
Also Spursfan: Victor needs to put on 30 lbs of muscle!
A note to Spurs fans: Don't listen to Rockets podcasts. They are bitter AF right now.
Wemby has zero in common with any of those players besides his height. Not only that, but the sample of players his size is so small that you can't draw any real conclusions from it. Like who gives a if Yao couldn't stay on the court? That has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not Wemby will
Already discussed in another thread...
- There are much more if you consider the euro players who had a career un Europe before and/after the NBA...
- All the guys mentioned were stiffs (Yao wasn't honestly that skilled of a player, he was just tall) and their value diminished with age.
-they mostly played more than 15 years ago or more.
- They weren't prepared since they were 15.
-They didn't have Guillaume Aulquier to watch their toes.
- They weren't Wemby.
I doubt Wemby plays Center as the players on your list, but instead a SF/PF type. So yes I’m sure he could play over 500 games like KD has.
Not going to lie, these injury takes are getting so ing annoying.
Almost every NBA player got injured at some point, comparing Wembanyama with players that have completely different builds and played decades ago is just straight up dumb.
Yeah, he might get injured, he might be an ironman, there's nothing we can do about it.
As already said, he's on Lebron level when it comes to taking care of himself. If he gets injured, well, happens.
But all the clickbaity articles and videos guaranteed that he'll get injured are disgusting.
Nice post and you could not have made it any more clear, you are the messenger not the message.
Here's hoping Wembys strength management team keeps it real for as long as possible.
The denominator is 25. IOW out of 25 7-3+ players to ever play in the NBA 6 of them went on to have 8+ year careers.
The problem is lack of context. What do you think the average success rate is for players that are shorter held to the same standard? I guarantee you it is less than the 17% here.
Kareem Abdul-Jabaar 7'2- 19 seasons
The average NBA career is 4.5 years.
Psssh Yao went toe to toe with Fatquile and got the better of him more then once.
Many times dealt a loss by LakerRef, in one of the prime LakerRef eras.
Also played in the era of Prime Timmy Duncan with ditto on GNob and Parker.
The were you expecting Yao to do?
Also i believe the gov't forced Yao to play for the National team every summer. Could be wrong.
Nonetheless Yao was a legit All Star and no way in the NBA was going to let Houston rise during the Kobme Snaq erz.
Victors body type is closest to Kareem. He will be FINE. Can we stop worrying about potential injuries until it looks like he may be injury prone? He just played 70 games in france.
Why keep the lower end arbitrarily at 7'3''.. Whats the scientific reason for that?
'Cos if you drop to 7'2'', you will enter Kareem Abdul-Jabbar/ Dikembe Mutombo territory and not very far off from Robert Parish (7' 1''). And KA-J played 1,560 games, Mutombo: 1,196 games and Parish - 1,611 (!) games.
'Cos if you then look at what Abdul-Jabbar and Mutombo did to have long careers, one might understand that they had far better work ethics and basketball regimens over time than the list you have put up with the lower limit at 7'3''.
It's been pointed out and it's definitely a concern.
On the other hand the denominator is quite small and many of these players where just not very good.
Smits was playing 79 games and 22 playoffs at age 33- he allegedly had problems with his feet- but listed as nerve problems from bad shoes as young player. I'm little uncertain about that.
Big Z played until 35.
Sabonis 7'3" played 78 games at age 38 despite a ton of injuries early his career and probably sub optimal care.
Kareem not far off the height as mentioned earlier played 19 seasons
Wemby's commitment to fitness seems to be more in line with Kareem than the others.
So fingers crossed
Yao Ming's career was ended by being forced to play through a stress fracture in his foot in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. If Durant was from China and had the communist government expecting him to play through his stress fracture to glorify them on their showcase to the world he would have probably been out of the league years ago too. I also find that 7'3" number to be conveniently cherry picked since there were some very high end 7'2" players like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dikembe Mutombo, and Artis Gilmore who played long and successful HOF careers.
I think best case scenario for Victor is to be skinny strong like KG. I dont think his feet will hold up if he bulks beyond that.
here come the cliff jumpers
Every measurement listing I've seen on Wemby has him between 7'3" and 7'5"
rockets fans before the lottery-wemby will change this franchise and lead us back to greatness! he's going to be the next dream!A note to Spurs fans: Don't listen to Rockets podcasts. They are bitter AF right now.
rockets fans after the lottery-wemby will never live up to the hype and is bound to have an injury plagued career.
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