Young basketball players, of course, need to eat and sleep at least 8 hours a day to replenish the energy spent in training and growing! For such guys as Maggs Bogs, Nate Robinson or Isaiah Thomas, this didn’t help. However, it didn’t stop them from becoming famous basketball players. Basketball itself educates others. Today we will recall some crazy sports of players’ growth before they joined the NBA.
Ralph Sampson, 7 foot 4 inches tall, spent nine seasons in the NBA. An interesting fact is that while playing basketball, the boy grew 7.87 inches. He performed for Houston, Golden State, Sacramento, and Washington. Also, he played in the Spanish “Unicaja” and the KBA Rockford Lightning club. From 1984 to 1987, he participated in the NBA All-Star Game four times in a row. Sampson did not like to act exclusively under the rim and periodically asked the coaches … to put him as a point guard. He drove the ball well and was incredibly agile. Sampson was often compared to Wilt Chamberlain, the greatest center in history, and in 2012 was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame, although the player was injured and spent only three seasons in the strongest league in the world.
Mark Eaton, 7 foot 4 inches tall, accidentally hit the NBA. At school, he was engaged in water polo – without much success. After graduation, he chose become a mechanic. Work in the studio is combined with teenage alcoholism. Everything changed after a chance meeting with Tom Lumbini – assistant coach at Cypress College. The coach went to a car repair shop and eventually suggested that the hefty guy try his hand at basketball. Not only did his skills grow with sports, but he grew by 7 inches. All 11 seasons in the NBA, Eaton spent time in “Utah”, and missed a very few games. As part of the “Utah Jazz”, he became one of the best defense players in the history of the league. Twice at the end of the season, he was recognized as the strongest defending player. Also, he owns NBA records for the average number of block shots per career (3.5) and in one season (5.6).
Rapid growth among baseball players is a very popular phenomenon. Here are a couple of other examples.
Tim Duncan – 6 feet 11 inches. When Tim was 17 years old, he was of 6 feet 3 inches. After which he began to grow, by leaps and bounds, reach a height of 6 feet 11 inches. And swimming was replaced by basketball.
Gordon Hayward – 6 feet 7 inches. All his childhood, Gordon wanted to become a tennis player and wanted to be 6 foot 2 inches. His father was only 5 feet 10 inches. In 2005, he thought his dream came true when he played with his twin sister in doubles at the state championship. But then in one year in high school, he grew by several inches, and then in the next two – by several more. For this reason, his tennis dream turned to basketball.
Dwight Howard – 6 feet 10 inches. The youngest “Superman” at 15 was completely opposite of a giant, 5 feet 9 inches tall. But over the next year he grew to 6 feet 8 inches, and then reached 6 feet 10 inches in adulthood.
Emanuel Ginobili – 6 feet 6 inches. Manu had a big growth spurt in late adolescence. For 2 years he grew by several inches, reaching his adult height of 6 feet 6 inches like Jordanian.
According to scientists, during a game of basketball or volleyball, you need to jump a lot. And jumping, as you know, is a very useful and effective growth stimulant.
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