Last year, two gigantic centers joined the ranks of NBA recruits: Chet Holmgren and Victor Vembanyama. At 224 cm, Vembanyama became the tallest active player in the league, while often demonstrating the technique of a real point guard. But soon a new record holder may appear in the league — the NBA has never seen a basketball player with the height of 18-year-old Olivier Rioux. A Sports correspondent talks about the Canadian phenomenon's chances of gaining a foothold among the stars.
The evolution of basketball follows a bizarre spiral trajectory. At the dawn of its formation, when firefighters and taxi drivers played in semi-professional leagues, short and fast ones, so to speak, dominated. Then George Mikan appeared — by those standards a real 208-centimeter giant — and everyone suddenly suddenly realized that basketball had become ill with gigantism. Healthy, athletic “sticks”, sweeping balls from their hoops and placing them on top of others almost without resistance, became an invincible force that first bent the Basketball Association of America (BAA), and then its descendant, the NBA.
The trend did not change until the mid-80s, when Michael Jordan came into the league. The 6-foot-5 shooting guard was so quick and athletic, moved so elegantly, defended so tenaciously, and shot so accurately from mid-range that there was no doubt that he was the future of basketball. Neither players of similar anthropometry nor huge centers with an arm span the size of a street could stop him.
So Jordan brought basketball back to the “little” players, while showing that to dominate you need to have perfect skill and athleticism — and then no giant will simply catch up with you. Thanks to him, NBA club managers believed in undersized talents — and they were right. Most likely, without the Jordan effect, neither Allen Iverson (183 cm) nor Stephen Curry (188 cm) would have gotten so many chances — as a result, the former became a real pop idol of basketball, and the latter changed the game forever with his three-point rain.
And so, everything began to return to normal. There have been many giants in the history of the NBA — Manute Bol (231), nicknamed «the fly swatter», who blocked more shots than he made, Yao Ming (229) — potentially almost the most skillful center in the league after Hakeem Olajuwon, who did not realize his full potential least due to injuries. Gheorghe Muresan (231), who amazingly picked worse than some point guards, Sean Bradley (229), who played as if someone else was chosen as the second pick in the draft, and not him. Taco Fall (226), Sean Eaton (224), our Pavel Podkolzin (226) — finally, the tallest man in the history of the DPRK, Ri Myung Hun (235), for whose transfer to the NBA, according to rumors, the then leader of the North Koreans, Kim Jong Il, demanded tribute wheat.
What do they have in common? Besides the incredible growth, the only thing is that none of them, excuse the pun, jumped above their heads. Only due to his professional qualities, perhaps only Manute Bol remained in history, whose defensive skills were of great value. The rest, having a single basketball skill that cannot be taught, never achieved anything on a large scale. Most of them were plagued by injuries — a consequence, by the way, of their gigantic growth — while the rest simply did not have sufficient competence to offer the league anything other than their size.
But in the last few years the situation has begun to change. It is generally accepted that the prejudice against giants was dispelled by two young men — 22-year-old Chet Holmgren (216) from Oklahoma and 20-year-old Victor Vembanyama (224) from San Antonio. These two are connected not only by the anthropometry of huge grasshoppers, but also by technical skill. By their example, they prove that even very tall people on the floor can do everything — throw from afar, push in the paint, pass passes, and defend not only due to their huge hands, but also their gaming intelligence.
Although in fact it all started a little earlier — with Kevin Durant (211), Joel Embiid (214), Kristaps Porzingis (221) and partly Nikola Jokic (211). It was they who forced the league to finally abandon the stereotype that “big” means practically useless. Vembanyama and Holmgren completed the evolution and established the thesis that even if you look like an alien, you can stay healthy and play without anyone stopping you. But to do this, you, like Jordan in his time, must convince everyone that your generation has taken into account the shortcomings of the previous one.
It is in the wake of this evolution that Olivier Riou, the Canadian wonder of the world, who grew to 236 cm by the age of 18, comes to basketball. Today it became known that he will play for the University of Florida team, which became a two-time NCAA champion in the 2000s. In a word, in the same state, but in a different educational institution, one of the few Russians in the history of North American college basketball, Vlad Goldin, played, but now he has already managed to move to the University of Michigan.
Riu has long attracted the attention of the basketball community, and club scouts are almost certainly already rubbing their hands in anticipation of him declaring for the NBA draft. Given the experience of the giants in recent years, they will almost certainly expect at least something in the vein of Wembanyama, Durant's unblockable shot and/or Embiid's tenacious defense with Rudy Gobert.
But will they wait? Judging by the video footage in the public domain, Riu is too slow for these guys. At the school level, he was not even allowed to take the starting throw-in, although he was taller than almost all the players on the floor combined. He received minutes during the meetings, but was not remembered for either attacking or defensive exploits. Moreover, even in the Canadian national team, due to his age, he does not start. For the position of the main center, they prefer Jayon Pitt, although he is almost 40 centimeters smaller.
At this stage, it seems that the undoubtedly “big” player has few great prospects. It is unknown how his body will behave under serious stress, as well as whether he will be able to produce anything other than the orthodox style of play of centers. In addition, big questions are raised by his mobility, without which he will be an extremely vulnerable figure in defense and a desirable target for size on the arc for everyone who runs with the ball faster than a snail.
He will almost certainly break all imaginable and inconceivable height records at all levels, but what will happen next is a big question. At this stage, it seems that not only will he not become a taller version of Vembanyama, but he will also not be able to displace Goldin from the start of the student team.
And this, by the way, is an alarming bell, because Vlad is still looking at the NBA with caution. And there is a feeling that even if a center like Goldin fits into the modern evolution of the league with great difficulty, then a player with the mobility of Tacko Fall and the efficiency of Muresan may not have enough place in it at all.