If I was an NBA owner, I would send some scouts to South Sudan. I'd set up a few basketball courts and look out for tall people. Manute Bol was 7'6" tall. One of his sons is 7'2" and was recently drafted into NBA. Manute Bol's great-grandfather was supposedly even taller (7'10"). Other tall people from South Sudan include NBA player Luol Deng (6'9") and beauty queen Aheu Deng (6'5"). Apocryphal data suggest that the average man from the Dinka tribe is 6'4" which would be 99th percentile for men in the United States.
Even better is that Manute Bol's wingspan was much larger than his height. Wingspan is the "secret sauce" behind the success of most NBA players. It gives you all the advantages of height with none of the disadvantages. Michael Jordan, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, and Anthony Davis all have ridiculous wingspans that far exceed their height. Ever wonder how Giannis can touch the rim with his feet on the ground? Wingspan.
Any theories as to why they are this tall? If I remember correctly the Masaii are exceptionally tall aswell (one theory I heard was that milk played a factor, for the length of both Masaii and Dutch people, I have no idea about the history and habits of the Dinka tribe).
btw the number I keep coming across is 176.4cm for the average height of the Dinka men, which would be 5'9"/5'10" (not sure if you can write 5'9.4")*
I tried to find your source and looked for 6'4" Dinka but got no results (well more of the 176.4cm ones). I wonder where you got your number from (and how big the sample was and why they were picked, I found another number but that was based on only 50 people and probably selected because they were tall, but still wasn't as high as you average. Not doubting you, but can;t help but wondering if your average wasn;t for a specific family instead of the entire tribe)
On the other hand, if you're too enamored with height and wingspan at the expense of actual skill, you end up with guys like Shawn Bradley, who seemed to fall down every time he ran down the court.
I really appreciate this series of quizzes on countries. I've gotten to where I look forward to logging on each day to see what new quizzes on countries are available.
btw the number I keep coming across is 176.4cm for the average height of the Dinka men, which would be 5'9"/5'10" (not sure if you can write 5'9.4")*
I tried to find your source and looked for 6'4" Dinka but got no results (well more of the 176.4cm ones). I wonder where you got your number from (and how big the sample was and why they were picked, I found another number but that was based on only 50 people and probably selected because they were tall, but still wasn't as high as you average. Not doubting you, but can;t help but wondering if your average wasn;t for a specific family instead of the entire tribe)
*published study:Antropometric Measurements
Had no idea, so I tried "Saharaglades". Hey, it's always worth a shot.