Shooting: your shots are harder to block you can reach closer to the rim than a shorter-armed player.ĭefense: your long arms can better disturb passes and shot attempts also an inch can make the difference between getting to a lose ball and not getting to it. Wingspan comes into play in several areas, such as. That length allows players to “play taller” than their listed heights. Basketball players are long individuals, both vertically and horizontally. 2017 NBA Rookie of The Year Malcolm Brogdon is 6’5” and has a 7 foot wingspan. With size being at such a premium for the game, many basketball players tout a wingspan that is disproportionately greater than their heights.ĭwyane Wade, for example, is 6’4” and has a 6’10” wingspan. The “normal” human being has a wingspan - the distance from fingertip to fingertip when arms are outstretched wide - equal to his or her height. Generally speaking, Shorter players can change directions and move laterally much more efficiently than taller players can. This is why SUVs come with warning stickers about making sharp turns at high speeds, as the vehicle, with its high center of gravity, can flip over. There’s a reasons Ferraris and Lamborghinis are so low to the ground: the closer our center of gravity to the actual center of gravity, known as earth, the faster we can move. The other possible weakness that I’ll address is quickness. Tall players with thin legs and small butts (think Anthony Davis, or a young Dwight Howard) have a harder time dominating in the post because their high centers of gravity make it hard to overpower or resist a defender who possesses a lower center of gravity, or big ass (Demarcus Cousins, Kevin Love, playing-days Shaq or Charles Barkley). A taller person has a naturally higher center of gravity, which makes it harder to resist external force - think boxing out or holding post position- against his lower body. If we were to assume a person is playing basketball, they’re likely standing upright (as opposed to sitting or laying down) or running. Although technically, a human’s center of gravity changes with each movement of the body and also varies based on body type. I’ll define it as the area from mid-thigh to belly button. (Some mitigating factors are arm length and how low the player gets via bending at the knees or waist).Īnother is center of gravity. The dribble of a taller player, I’ll assume in making this point, has a further distance to travel from hand to floor than a shorter player’s dribble does. If someone is to steal the ball from you while you’re dribbling (at any height), it has to happen while the ball is traveling between your hand and the floor, or back from the floor to your hand. Now, height does come with some (possible) disadvantages.įor one, dribbling could be more of a task. The game of basketball reflects this belief: The average American male is 5’9” tall, and 99% of men are 6’4” or shorter (your author is 6’4”). Since scoring baskets is the object of the game, this is a huge advantage for (s)he who holds it. The taller a person is, the logic goes, the closer they are to the basket, thus the easier it would be for him/her to score a basket. The hoop in basketball is 10 feet above the playing surface.
CHARLES BARKLEY HEIGHT 6'4 FREE
I’ll help you do that with my free daily Work On Your Game Podcast and my book on confidence, The Super You. Use it as even more reason to double down on your self-belief. If you are on the other end, and have what you may see as the opposite of one of these, don’t feel sorry for yourself. If you happen to have one of theses, congratulations! You have an advantage which you did not earn or work for. The purpose of this post is to inform you of some physical characteristics that are natural advantages for playing ball. A lot of basketball players who want to “make it” ask me questions about their chances, with myriad questions that are based on limitations: Size, athletic ability, heritage etc.