The Spurs officially announced that new champion Victor Venbanyama is 7 feet 3 and a half inches tall, and Venbanyama also beat Celtic center Porzingis by 1 cm to become the first tall man in the active league. Venbanyama has been named the most anticipated rookie since LeBron James, but there are not many players in league history who are taller than 2.20 meters, so who are the five most successful?
At the top of the list is Yao Ming, who is officially 7'6 (2.29 meters), the only Hall of Famer from Asia. An eight-time All-Star and five-time All-Star winner, the Rockets retired his No. 11 jersey. In addition, Yao Ming won the best of the month twice and the best of the week 6 times. In 486 career games, Yao averaged 19 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game, which is comparable to Tim Duncan (19 points, 10.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks). Yao has three scoring 20+ seasons and two 20+10 seasons. From today's point of view, Yao Ming is an Asian miracle.
In second place is 2015 No. 4 pick Kristaps Porzingis, who was called a "unicorn" at 2.21m in the draft, but he also has been accompanied by controversy. After a full season of reimbursement from an ACL injury, Porzingis never returned to All-Star level. Porzingis has played in 65 games this season, averaging 23.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game, and his career free-throw shooting rate of more than 82% is a testament to Porzingis's defiance of heavenly hands. In 402 career games, Bo Shen averaged 19.6 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, which is almost the same as Yao Ming.
In third place was 1983 champion Ralph Sampson, whose only impression many had was that he was Olajuwon's inside partner. In fact, the Rockets drew the twin towers in 1983 and 1984, and Sampson, who is 7 feet 4 (2.24 meters) and weighs 103 kilograms, is the kind of Fawn player that people think of. He is a Hall of Famer star, a four-time All-Star, a one-time All-Rookie selection, and a 1985 All-Star Game MVP. Like Yao Ming, Sampson doesn't have any team accolades. In 456 career games, Sampson averaged 15.4 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, and overall he was a rougher version of Yao.
In addition to these three, there are many famous players in NBA history, but none of them have reached the height of these three people. The first was Schmitz, who played in the 2000 Finals for the Pacers, and was a 1988 leader, averaging 14.8 points and 6.1 rebounds per game in his career. Then there's "Roof of the World" Arvidas Sabonis, who arrived in his early 30s and ended up averaging just 12 points per game in his career.
Venbanyama is seriously favored because he can do guard moves at 2.22 meters. But less than 100 kilograms is already doomed to poor confrontation, so can Venbanyama grow to the height of Yao Ming in the future?