Height is might

HEIGHT is might in basketball, a game best served to tall men and women.

Since Canadian physical education instructor Dr. James Naismith invented the game in mid-December 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts to keep youthful students in excellent physical shape during the cold months (winter) in the United States, international basketball has been dominated by athletes standing 6 feet and 4 inches on the average and as tall as 7-foot-7.

In the American pro league National Basketball Association, there are currently as many as 15 players on the rosters of the 30 member teams that are taller than 7-foot-1 – as if a player standing 7 feet flat is no longer worthy of a mention.

Of the 11 giants, four are even listed as taller than 7-foot-1.

The tallest of the lot is undrafted NBA rookie Tacko Fall, a two-way contract player with the Boston Celtics out of the University of Central Florida who is officially listed by the league at 7-foot-5 without shoes on.

For the first time this season, the NBA has required its teams to give official data listings for player profiles, requiring every player to be measured with their shoes off.

Fall, who was listed at 7-foot-6 or 7-7 in college, also plays for the Maine Red Claws, the Celtics’ affiliate in the G League, under the two-way contract that allows him to spend most of the season in the developmental league but can be called up and be on the Celtics roster for up to 45 days.

Born and raised in Dakar, Senegal, Fall, who turns 24 on December 10, made his NBA debut last October 26, in a 118-95 Boston win over the sad-sack New York Knicks at the Madison Square Garden.

In garbage time (final 3:38) and the game’s outcome already decided, the 311-pound Fall finished with four points (both dunks – the first on a standing stuff) on 2-for-4 field shooting (both of his misses were hook shots) and grabbed three rebounds. Perhaps out of curiosity or in amusement, he was loudly applauded by Knicks fans, who went wild each time he touched the ball.

More than his height, Fall is also unique in that he graduated from UCF with a 4.0 GPA (grade point average).

Following Fall in the height department are Dallas’ Boban Marjanovic and Kristaps Porzingis at 7-foot-3, another Maverick Salah Mejri at 7-foot-2, and Orlando’s Mo Bamba, Milwaukee’s Dragan Bender, Houston’s Tyson Chandler, Toronto’s Marc Gasol, Utah’s Rudy Gobert, Chicago’s Luke Kornet, Atlanta’s Alex Len, Miami’s Meyers Leonard, New York’s Mitchell Robinson and the Los Angeles Clippers’ Ivica Zubac, all of whom stand 7-foot-1.

In the NBA’s 74-year existence, the tallest player ever was Romania’s 7-foot-7 Gheorghe Muresan (1993-97 Washington Bullets/1998-2000 New Jersey Nets).

Next was the late Manute Bol (1985-88 Washington Bullets/1988-90 Golden State Warriors/1990-93 Philadelphia 76ers/1994 Miami Heat).

A native of Sudan, Bol was officially measured and listed at 7-foot-6.75 tall by the Guinness Book of World Records.

A son of Manute, rookie pro Bol Bol, is a two-way contract player with the Denver Nuggets this season.

There were two NBA players in the past who stand 7-foot-6.

Shawn Bradley (1993-95 Philadelphia 76ers/1995-97 New Jersey Nets/1997-2005 Dallas Mavericks), who was born to American parents in the former West Germany, was one.

The other was Chinese icon Yao Ming (2002-11 Houston Rockets), the tallest player ever to see action in an NBA All-Star Game and the tallest player ever to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.