03-02-2019, 04:57 PM
I just read an article about Belibi after her latest dunk and one thing jumped out at me. Most of the focus is on the dunking and her vertical (this Denver Post article reported it as 40 inches). That is great. However, what I took away from the article was her wingspan. Wingspan is the measurement from fingertip to fingertip if a person's arms are outstretched and parallel to the ground. NBA coaches like wingspan because players with long arms will more easily grab rebounds, block shots, steal passes and shoot over defenders. This is Steve Kerr on wingspan:
"It's legit. It's much more important than your height. If your wingspan is more than your height, that's kind of abnormal. Most of us have the same wingspan as our height. That's kind of a rule of thumb. A lot of basketball players don't, though, they have wider wingspans. And they're able to get their hands on balls or shots or loose balls. ... I'm a big believer in that."
Bleacher report had an article about what qualified as "freakish" (top 5%) wingspan in the NBA. They took the ratio of wingspan to height and "freakish" was any wingspan that was 8.4% greater than height.
So what is Belibi's wingspan? She is 6'1" tall and has a 6'8" wingspan. Her ratio is 9.6%, so definitely "freakish" by male NBA player standards. And what about just the absolute number? Belibi has the same wingspan as Russell Westbrook!
And how does this translate to basketball? In her senior year, she is averaging 12.3 rebounds, 3.3 steals and 2.5 blocks (along with 22.3 points).
Oh, and while I don't have a number for her, I did find this quote about Haley Jones, "She has an incredible wingspan and she uses her length effectively for defending, shot blocking and rebounding the ball." In high school Jones is averaging 12.1 rebounds, 3.7 steals and 2.8 blocks (along with 26.4 points).
"It's legit. It's much more important than your height. If your wingspan is more than your height, that's kind of abnormal. Most of us have the same wingspan as our height. That's kind of a rule of thumb. A lot of basketball players don't, though, they have wider wingspans. And they're able to get their hands on balls or shots or loose balls. ... I'm a big believer in that."
Bleacher report had an article about what qualified as "freakish" (top 5%) wingspan in the NBA. They took the ratio of wingspan to height and "freakish" was any wingspan that was 8.4% greater than height.
So what is Belibi's wingspan? She is 6'1" tall and has a 6'8" wingspan. Her ratio is 9.6%, so definitely "freakish" by male NBA player standards. And what about just the absolute number? Belibi has the same wingspan as Russell Westbrook!
And how does this translate to basketball? In her senior year, she is averaging 12.3 rebounds, 3.3 steals and 2.5 blocks (along with 22.3 points).
Oh, and while I don't have a number for her, I did find this quote about Haley Jones, "She has an incredible wingspan and she uses her length effectively for defending, shot blocking and rebounding the ball." In high school Jones is averaging 12.1 rebounds, 3.7 steals and 2.8 blocks (along with 26.4 points).