OK Dopers need a little help here on a Basketball question.
In lieu of the Milwaukee Bucks drafting Joel (Godzilla) Przybilla from Minnesota I have a question about another Bucks center from the U of M.
Yes, I am talking about the immortal, legendary Randy Breuer.
I have a friend who claims that Randy could not dunk the ball despite being in excess of 7 feet tall. Now try as I might I can not remember ever seeing Breuer dunk. Yet I find it nearly impossible to believe at his height that he could not dunk. I will agree the man had essentially no vertical, but how much would he need???
So Dopers, specifically Bucks Fans and Golden Gophers, could he dunk?
And as a side note will that nickname stick for Przybilla or did he have it already in his short tenure at Minnesota?
Someone over 7 feet tall should be able to touch the rim with little or no effort. They shouldn’t even have to jump unless they have abnormally short arms.
I’m 6’5" and I can touch an 8 foot ceiling with little strain. Someone at least 7" and even more would also have longer arms.
I’ve seen photos of Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell posed where they were just hanging on to the net with their fingers while standing flat-footed.
If the guy was good enough to be a good college player and get drafter by an NBA team, he had to have some athletic ability. Presumably, the guy could jump a little.
That’s just it guys I agree he should have been able to dunk. At the same time Randy breuer was tall but not real athletic. If you remember him he was a stringbean. Not a lot of muscle mass to give him any hops.
Like I said, I don’t remember ever seeing him dunk.
Not much of a B-Ball fan these days, but when I was growing up in Western Wisconsin, I remember going to Gopher games and watching Kevin Mchale play, awesum (ugliest man to play the game but that is a different post). Now I live real close to Milwaukee and can name maybe two of the players on the whole team. Go figure.
Sledman, my official guess is that you will be unsuccessful in your quest to get all 8,000 members of this message board to post that no, they have never seen the guy dunk. Perhaps you might have better luck on an NBA board?
I have never seen Randy Breuer dunk, but, I think there is a good question in here: Shouldn’t a 7’3" man be able to dunk a basketball?
It appears to me that height alone is only one of several determining factors that give the person the ability to dunk. I come up with a list of seven (I am sure this not the finite list, but my point is that height alone is not the determining factor):
Height
Arm Length (wingspan)
Palm size/strength (determines ability to “palm” the ball, if he can’t palm it we’re probably looking at a two-handed dunk)
Vertical leap (see Spud Webb)
Timing (this is certainly required for any dunk which involves approaching the basket at a run/jog)
Opportunity (if you’re referring to a dunk in an actual game situation)
Need/Desire (maybe he never wanted/needed to dunk, after all, at that height a layup is about an 18" shot)
Now, if we can gather the data to fill in the above (most notably 1-4), we should be able to determine if anyone has the ability to dunk.
Point taken Manhattan… However I figured that someone must be able to answer this on the board. Not so much a search for 8000 people to say they haven’t seen him dunk as to have 1 person say yes Randy Breuer was able to dunk the ball.
Gazoo’s rational makes it harder to believe the guy couldn’t.
I guess I could send a letter to Paul Mokeski in jail and see if he remembers his teammate dunking or if he remembers anything.
Ahh, Mokeski and Breuer… how the hell did we get 50 wins a season with those two???
Yes, Breuer could dunk. Hell, he could dunk in high school (Lakeville? I forget.) Anyway, he could, but rarely did.
As for Pryzbilla…I don’t recall the Godzilla moniker being widely applied to him. He does have a monster-sized ego, and he did sort of trample on his education, so it might be appropriate.
The first Garnett/Pryzbilla encounter at the Target Center should be interesting. Then Joel will begin his real education.
Przybilla did sounf like a bit of a chump towards U of M but the Gophers are stilling recovering from the Clem Haskins ordeal so who’s to say. That being said I think Mr. Garnett will tune him up. That pick worked out for you!!! He’s a thing of beauty to watch play. Garnett is such a pleasure to watch I actually found myself rooting for a Minnesota team despite the fact you have Terrell(ow, my ankle) Brandon.