1943, a giant appeared in Depaul University Team of American College Basketball League, with a height of 207.4 cm and a weight of more than 90 kg, which immediately caused discussion. In the past, people thought that people who were too tall were not suitable for playing basketball. They move too slowly, most of them stoop, can't bounce, are not smart enough, and can't pass people and dribble and lay up quickly. The appearance of this man seems to be challenging the impossible task. More interestingly, the giant still wears a pair of thick myopia glasses. When he is too far away from the basket, he has to squint. Can such a person play ball?

The name of this player is George Mikan (1924-2005). In that season, he changed people's views. He can run, jump, score with the ball, defend himself and move quickly. Led the team to the finals for two consecutive years and won the championship in the third year. Since then, the basketball court has almost become a tall world.

Meet bole

McCann didn't play basketball before he went to college. When he was a child, he was weak and sick. Every time at the dinner table, his mother told him to "eat more, eat more". He kept eating. The longer he ate, the higher he ate. By high school, he was over 200 centimeters tall. He stood on the side of the road, almost like a street tree, and his neighbors called him "tree". The tree can't move. He can't walk well, and it's too high, which is a great load on his knees. Knee problems even took him out of school for more than a year. After graduating from high school, he went to university to study law and wanted to be a judge in the future.

One day, when he was walking on campus, he picked up an empty water bottle and threw it into the trash can in the distance. This scene was just seen by basketball coach Ray Meyer (1913-2006). Meyer is regarded as the greatest coach in the history of American basketball in the 20th century. His famous saying is: "The coach's job is to train players on weekdays. As soon as he set foot on the playing field, the game belonged to the players. I just smiled and watched. " He added: "I have no personal future. My future is to constantly find good players. "

Meyer invited McCann to join the team, but McCann refused at first. He is too tall to play basketball and will be laughed at. This is indeed the reason why many tall people are afraid to play basketball, but Meyer continues to encourage him: "The basketball game is just that you take the ball and put it in the goal door frame." He rented a warehouse off campus and turned it into a basketball court, which became McCann's exclusive private training ground, and McCann agreed to give it a try. In the next nine weeks, McCann came to receive Meyer's one-on-one teaching and training after class. Then McCann felt a little confident before joining the team and practicing with other players.

In addition to basketball training, Meyer also played boxing with McCann and taught him to play fast sandbags to increase the reaction speed; Practice skipping rope again to enhance leg strength; Go to dance classes and learn to relax during activities. A good player is a person who has been trained in all aspects. His jersey number is 99, and he became the main force of the team.