Why did the Lakers reject 7 foot 9" Sun Mingming?

[cotdt]

doesn't he have some foot deformation rendering him unable to run quickly? i saw the documentary on him on tv a while ago. his lack of speed and stamina have been the main concerns for nba teams, no one other than aba teams are willing to pick him up.

They found a brain tumor causing him to not produce testosterone, so he was slow and unaggressive. They removed the tumor, and now they are giving him testosterone injections to make him more aggressive.

[GiveItToBurrito]

I hate that Yao has made it possible for people to think that any 7'5+ guy can make it in the league. It's almost like they forget that Yao is actually pretty mobile and athletic and, oh yeah, one of the most fundamentally sound players in the league.

[DanielC]

Yao is a very special specimen. He is very agile and smooth, rare for people of that height.

[new noise]

Either way he'd have an incredibly short NBA career. There's a reason that people with giantism or overproduction of growth hormone die at early ages, even after getting it treated. The speed and physicality at the highest level of the game could quite literally kill the guy.

[depletedW]

Just being tall does not instantly make you an nba player. Being that tall, his movement and foot-speed is probably awful. He will likely be riddled with injuries and leg issues his whole life. The human body is just not meant to be that tall.

[kaiteng]

He had a season-high 19 points and 13 rebounds in 33 minute in one of 49 games he played in Japanese Basketball League So, his stamina seems to improve quite well.

[imdaman99]

It is very difficult for someone of that height to have the proper footwork. Even the guys I ball with, the tallest are 6'5 and 6'4 and they play like Centers because they're just taller than anyone else. The 6'5 guy has horrible footwork and anyone with decent speed could blow by them. The 6'4 guy is pretty agile but hes skinny so... it ain't easy.

[shadow]

is this the guy who was on conan (or was it leno) and couldn't dunk?

edit: it was Jimmy Kimmel
http://www.casttv.com/video/by0z01/s...mel-live-video (7 min clip...sorta funny at the end when they play, he blows a dunk )

[Hotshoot]

is this the guy who was on conan (or was it leno) and couldn't dunk?

I doubt it he can just stand there and dunk

[drewdizzle]

Damn look at the size of those hands

[highwhey]

They found a brain tumor causing him to not produce testosterone, so he was slow and unaggressive. They removed the tumor, and now they are giving him testosterone injections to make him more aggressive.

Wait what? You've got it all mixed up. He had a tumor that what pressing on his pituitary gland causing him to overproduce HGH(the hormone your pituitary gland produces which is in charge of growth), this in turn also decreased his stamina/endurance levels. Once his tumor was removed his stamina/endurance levels increased dramatically, of course, if I recall correctly he has some sort of foot deformation which doesn't help when you're a pro athlete.

[crounsa810]

How do you blow a dunk when you're that tall?

[NBA4EVER]

he missed the dunk and was like OH MY GOODNESS then he tried to cover it up by bringing the whole hoop down

[HaNdLe ThE RoCk]

He will get a shot in the league one day

[Darkwing Duck]

because he is a horrible basketball player?