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Older mice still capable of undergoing endochondral ossification

Mice growth plates do not go through the fusion stage but they do cease eventually in longitudinal bone growth due to growth plate dysfunction.  If we can reverse growth plate dysfunction in mice than perhaps we can do so in humans and get more height from the growth plate.

This study however does not discuss reversing elderly growth plate dysfunction but rather states that older mice are still capable of undergoing endochondral ossification outside the growth plate.

Fractures in Geriatric Mice Show Decreased Callus Expansion and Bone Volume.

“Using a small animal model of long-bone fracture healing based on chronologic age, we asked how aging affected (1) the amount, density, and proportion of bone formed during healing; (2) the amount of cartilage produced and the progression to bone during healing; (3) the callus structure and timing of the fracture healing; and (4) the behavior of progenitor cells relative to the observed deficiencies of geriatric fracture healing.
Transverse, traumatic tibial diaphyseal fractures were created in 5-month-old (young adult) and 25-month-old (which we defined as geriatric, and are approximately equivalent to 70-85 year-old humans) C57BL/6 mice. Fracture calluses were harvested at seven times from 0 to 40 days postfracture for micro-CT analysis (total volume, bone volume, bone volume fraction, connectivity density, structure model index, trabecular number, trabecular thickness, trabecular spacing, total mineral content, bone mineral content, tissue mineral density, bone mineral density, degree of anisotropy, and polar moment of inertia), histomorphometry (total callus area, cartilage area, percent of cartilage, hypertrophic cartilage area, percent of hypertrophic cartilage area, bone and osteoid area, percent of bone and osteoid area), and gene expression quantification (fold change).
The geriatric mice produced a less robust healing response characterized by a pronounced decrease in callus amount (mean total volume at 20 days postfracture, 30.08 ± 11.53 mm3 versus 43.19 ± 18.39 mm3; p = 0.009), density (mean bone mineral density at 20 days postfracture, 171.14 ± 64.20 mg hydroxyapatite [HA]/cm3 versus 210.79 ± 37.60 mg HA/cm3; p = 0.016), and less total cartilage (mean cartilage area at 10 days postfracture, 101,279 ± 46,755 square pixels versus 302,167 ± 137,806 square pixels; p = 0.013) and bone content (mean bone volume at 20 days postfracture, 11.68 ± 3.18 mm3 versus 22.34 ± 10.59 mm3) compared with the young adult mice. However, the amount of cartilage and bone relative to the total callus size was similar between the adult and geriatric mice (mean bone volume fraction at 25 days postfracture, 0.48 ± 0.10 versus 0.50 ± 0.13), and the relative expression of chondrogenic (mean fold change in SOX9 at 10 days postfracture, 135 + 25 versus 90 ± 52) and osteogenic genes (mean fold change in osterix at 20 days postfracture, 22.2 ± 5.3 versus 18.7 ± 5.2; p = 0.324) was similar{so the deficiencies of older mice to undergo endochondral ossification in response to fracture may be related to things other than gene expression}. Analysis of mesenchymal cell proliferation in the geriatric mice relative to adult mice showed a decrease in proliferation (mean percent of undifferentiated mesenchymal cells staining proliferating cell nuclear antigen [PCNA] positive at 10 days postfracture, 25% ± 6.8% versus 42% ± 14.5%.
the molecular program of fracture healing is intact in geriatric mice, as it is in geriatric humans, but callus expansion is reduced in magnitude.
Our study showed altered healing capacity in a relevant animal model of geriatric fracture healing. The understanding that callus expansion and bone volume are decreased with aging can help guide the development of targeted therapeutics for these difficult to heal fractures.”

So older mice are still capable of chondrogenic fracture healing which is a lot like endochondral ossification.  Therefore, this provides evidence that older humans may be capable of inducing new endochondral ossification.

“At 10 days postfracture, corresponding to peak cartilage, young adult mice produced more total cartilage than geriatric mice (302,167 ± 137,806 versus 101,279 ± 46,755 square pixels”

“No difference was found in the percent cartilage content of the callus at 10 days postfracture (41.17% ± 10.13% versus 28.94% ± 8.74%) and in the percent of total cartilage that was hypertrophic at 15 days postfracture (88.76% ± 14.56% versus 70.21 ± 16.05%; p = 0.078). Osseous tissue formation did not reach high levels until 20 days postfracture with cartilage resorption nearly complete for both groups. Geriatric mice exhibit decreased total cartilage production and delayed resorption”

This Simple Amino Acid Supplement Combination Produced A Small Growth Spurt – Easy To Find At Your Local Drugstore

This Simple Amino Acid Supplement Combination Produced A Small Growth Spurt – Easy to Find at Your Local Drugstore

Amino Acid ComboThere has been a very active and notorious male enhancement forum that many young guys have noticed in the last 2-3 years. I have personally referenced to the forum at least once, called the Good Looking Loser. The main guy who runs the website, Chris, seems to be a honest guy, who seems to be quite transparent in what he is teaching guys. I used to actually be in the Pick-Up-Artist scene myself for a while and remember seeing Chris in a David DeAngelo Program (Man Transformation) DVD where Chris is proactively trying to improve himself and was working on focusing on his goals in life. It is sort of amazing to see how far some of those guys in the Male Self-Improvement Community has progressed in just 5 years or so.

The focus of the website is focused on the same usual subjects young guys care about (attracting good looking females, improving sexual performance, increasing penis size, getting a more muscular body, improving’ one’s fashion sense, Nootropics, and how to make money quickly or Improve their professional life and reach their goals.)

Those things, I have always felt was rather easy to accomplish. Anyone with a strong enough desire, proactive attitude, and drive would be able to get all those areas of their life handled. There are some other aspects of self-improvement like body odor, bad breathe, feeling more confident, less anxiety, etc. but we didn’t care too much about those. We focus on the big stuff, the hard problems.

The one factor that that seems to get a lot of interest and comments, as well as a lot of emotions are the threads in the forum posts about how to deal with being a guy of short stature. Height is a really big deal for most men, and it might be an even more big issue for these guys who are trying to change their body to be what the Western culture thinks is super masculine.

Going to the gym, and working out would make any normal young guy…

  • Loss weight that is from fat
  • Gain weight in the form of muscle
  • Develop stronger bodies
  • Give them more energy
  • Look stronger and more imposing
  • Improve their stamina for sexual performance
  • Make them feel good and more confident
  • Make them more attractive to the opposite sex

However, the benefits of the gym may not be enough for the primary issue of short stature. There is no way a guy can just exercise their body to become taller. Muscles grow from exercise, not bones, at least not longitudinally.

I decided to just scour through the posts and forum threads yesterday and many height related issues are brought up every once in a while. There are plenty of posters who realize that they are sort of stuck in a position which they can’t do anything about.

Just imagine how frustrating it must be for any one of those success-driven young 20 something recent college graduate guys who are so focused on improving their life (fashion, body, women, etc.) but they always run into the wall of being naturally short. I would highly recommend the forum to any guys who feel like their lives are not where they dream it should be and want to accelerate their growth process. We are not affiliated with the website but it seems to genuinely try to help guys who are stuck.

Incsecure over height

The picture was taken from here. It shows that there are many guys (and girls) out there that realize the futility of trying to improve their life when there is something so blatantly obvious that sets them back which they can’t do anything about or change. Height will be something that millions of people will forever get hung up about until we find a solution (we are close though).

It was in one of those threads which a poster made a comment which made me rethink over the benefits of using an amino acid supplement combination as a possible way to increase one’s height.

The combination is….

  • Ornithine – Dosage: 6 pills of the Orni-Lys-Arg Amino-Mix – No dosage info
  • Lysine – Dosage: 6 pills of the Orni-Lys-Arg Amino-Mix – No dosage info
  • Arginine – Dosage: 6 pills of the Orni-Lys-Arg Amino-Mix – No dosage info (Other sources say to take 10 grams of Arginine a day)
  • GABA (Gamma-AminoButyric Acid) – Dosage: 3 grams per day

Refer to the picture below. It was taken from the thread Height and Weight Lifting…
Amino Acid Supplement

(Note: We always acknowledge the possibility that any claims of height increase that is not from our website will always be subjected to scrutiny. We can’t back up these claims because the articles an stories we reference may have only worked for that one particular person. The internet is full of people who lie or stretch the truth, for whatwever reason. We are just reporting on what we find and say that this amino acid combination worked for at least 1 person who got something out of it. Maybe it might work for others)

So who can get results from this? How old do they have to be?

Answer: I suspect that the amino acid mixture will work only for people who are between the ages of 17-21, for those guys & girls who have not gained any noticeable changes in height for a few years.

If nothing else works, this amino acid represents one of the last, easy to obtain supplement combo which has a chance which almost anyone who lives close to a drug store can get for less than $30. Ornithine, Lysine, Arginine, and GABA are extremely common supplements which any normal drug store will carry for sure.

It is true that the gain is minimal, at just 1.5 cms as the guy claims. He said he went from 180 cm starting high school to 183 cm at the end. We realize that he made a height difference discrepancy. Is it 1.5 cm or 3 cm that he gained?

How much should a normal person expect to gain?

Honestly, the normal person should expect close to no results, but for certain people, who have not grown at all since maybe ages 15-16, there is usually some bit of growing left in them. By taking the right type of compound in a high dose in a rapid succession, it can shock the latent cartilage to go into one last bit of growth spurt. We are going to be realistic and say that if anyone is going to see any results, it would be maybe 1-1.5 cm at most, which is really not that much.

What is the science behind this stuff? Why does it work

LysineI don’t know. As for the science, I don’t know why orally consuming amino acid supplements would ever work. I can’t explain it. I can only write posts showing that in the rare cases, taking high amounts of amino acid has resulted in a small growth spurt. In the last 2 weeks, I have found too unrelated cases of people ending up slightly taller from swallowing high doses of amino acid combos.

I was not a biochemistry major in college, but a chemical engineer. All I know is that Ornithine, Arginine, and Lysine are all one of the 20 main amino acid building blocks created by different nitrogen groups. From these simple amino acids, you can make every single protein in the human body, just like how the 26 letters in the alphabet can form over 100,000 different words when arranged slightly differently. As for Glutamine, I even know even less.  The one resource I found says that Glutamine like Arginine increases the level of endogenous HGH in the adult body. As for GABA, I do know that GABA has been traditionally been used for helping people get calm and reduce anxiety, and has some type of effect where a neutrotransmitter gets up-regulated or something. I am not a neurologist either. I study stem cells that has chondrogenic potential, not neurogenic. I recently told a friend that for their sake, I will look into the research and potential of using stem cell technology and gene therapy for treating neurological disease.

Conclusion

This article has almost the exact same type of advice as a recent post I wrote entitled “Take This Easy To Obtain Supplement To Gain Lean Muscle, Stay Young Longer and Maybe Grow Taller“. In that post, I referenced this girl who was 19 at the time, and had not grown since she was 16. After taking about 10 grams of L-Arginine everyday for a week, she stopped taking it because she was getting nauseous. She grew an entire inch as a result.

What I do know for a fact is that Dr. Oz (yes, the one associated with Oprah) wrote on his website that eating fenugreek (found in Indian spices) and taking L-Arginine Supplements does increase the level of HGH in an adult persons system (for the ages 25-45). Arginine has been claimed by a national television doctor to increase HGH levels in adults. That is good enough evidence to me to give this claim of the amino acid-mixture some level of credibility. Maybe it might NOT increase in height for adults, which I would assume is going to be the majority of cases, but it will definitely help cut down on fat, and increase lean muscle mass, and maybe even improve one’s energy level.

The source from the previous post said that to keep up the stimulation and release of HGH levels seen when we were younger, we should be taking around…

  1. 10-30 grams of Arginine a day
  2. 2 grams of Glutamine

Here is what I am going to suggest…

Take either the amino acid combo with GABA as well as Glutamine.

So I suggest two different options/amino acid supplement combo…

Option #1:

  • L-Arginine – Dosage: 10-15 grams daily for 2 weeks straight
  • L-Glutamine – Dosage: 3 grams a day

You can get the L-Arginine w/ 1 gram tablets from Amazon Here! (Price: $14)

Amino Acid ComboOption #2:

  • 3 Amino Acid Combo (Arg-Orni-Lys) – Dosage: 6 tablets each day –
  • GABA – Dosage: 3 grams a day

You can buy the Arg-Orni-Lys Combo From Amazon Here! (Price: $13)

Personally, I don’t think the GABA will do much for body remodeling, but would make people calmer and feel a drop in their anxiety level, if it works. And yes, those are Amazon affiliate links, which means that if you go through the links and buy something from there, we get around a 6-7% commission from each purchase you make.

What about the Glutamine? – I don’t know, since I have not looked deep enough into the compound. Maybe it is worth taking just to see if there is some type of additional beneficial effect which we weren’t aware of before.

Warning: Only take this combo if you are between the ages of 17-21, and have not seen any changes in height gain in the last 2-3 years. This easy to obtain supplement combo is one of the few things I have found which has more than just one anecdotal story but has some evidence backing it up. The high dosage might give the body one last bone growth push and that would be the end of any natural growth that the person will be able to go through.

As always If you don’t believe that this stuff works, then don’t buy it. There are enough people who don’t believe us and call us liars and scams and that is fine. This is the internet. We just try our best and move forward with the research.

Cyp26b1

If you’re deficient in Cyp26b1 then having a Vitamin A deficient diet may be a way to grow taller.

Cyp26b1 Within the Growth Plate Regulates Bone Growth in Juvenile Mice.

“Retinoic acid (RA) is an active metabolite of vitamin A and plays important roles in embryonic development. CYP26 enzymes degrade RA and have specific expression patterns that produce a RA gradient, which regulates the patterning of various structures in the embryo.  Localized RA activities in the diaphyseal portion of the growth plate cartilage were associated with the specific expression of Cyp26b1 in the epiphyseal portion in juvenile mice. To disturb the distribution of RA, we generated mice lacking Cyp26b1 specifically in chondrocytes (Cyp26b1Δchon cKO). These mice showed reduced skeletal growth in the juvenile stage. Additionally, their growth plate cartilage showed decreased proliferation rates of proliferative chondrocytes, which was associated with a reduced height in the zone of proliferative chondrocytes, and closed focally by four weeks of age, while wild-type mouse growth plates never closed. Feeding the Cyp26b1 cKO mice a vitamin A-deficient diet partially reversed these abnormalities of the growth plate cartilage. Cyp26b1 in the growth plate regulates the proliferation rates of chondrocytes and is responsible for the normal function of the growth plate and growing bones in juvenile mice, probably by limiting the RA distribution in the growth plate proliferating zone.”

“Cyp26b1 is expressed in the distal region of developing limb buds, and mice that lack Cyp26b1 show severe limb malformation due to the spreading of the RA signal toward the distal end of the developing limb, causing abnormal patterning of limb skeletal elements”

“In juveniles, focal closures of the growth plate in the distal tibia, the proximal tibia, the distal tibia, elbow, proximal femur and distal femur are caused by the treatment of acne with retinoids or the treatment of hyperkeratinosis with cis-retinoic acid. In guinea pigs, the application of RA caused closure of the growth plates in the proximal tibia”

“Excess intake of vitamin A causes growth impairment and skeletal pain in juveniles”

Why Female Naked-Mole Rats and Meerkat Bones Grow Longer During Pregnancy

Why Female Naked-Mole Rats and Meerkat Bones Grow Longer During Pregnancy

Naked Mole RatsIn the last month, I wrote the stunning post which suggested that a chemical that is associated with human reproduction might be the key to remodel and realign the human skeletal structure. Now, I show evidence that the phenomena of a female who is going through pregnancy is much more common that most people would believe.

So far, there has been two other vertebrates that researchers have studied and seen bone growth during pregnancy. They are the naked-mole rate and the meerkat. Tyler once asked me to look over the study on pregnancy of naked-mole rats and I decided to go back on those studies to look them over.

It seems that the reason these smaller mammal rodent-like creatures goes through body size increases is because they were kept from going through puberty.

As we might know, not all animal species has the same type of social structure as ours. When it comes to the naked-mole rats, they are what is known as eu-social.

There is just 1 female in an entire colony which can have babies, and somehow they can control the other females in the colony from ever going through puberty. It might be due to a certain chemical released or a completely social aspect. As the article states… “In most other mammals, puberty begins with the release of GnRH and activation of the hpg axis (Terasawa and Fernandez, 2001)”

The increases in the length of the lumbar spine region happens when the former subordinate females who could not go through puberty and become reproductively active is removed from the groups that they are in. Whatever was controlling them is removed.

The researchers not only removed the subordinate female out of the group, but also put them in a cage alone with a male, which caused in a few weeks vaginal perforation.

The result, even before the onset of pregnancy is that the female who is not no longer suppressed ends up much bigger in weight and length (by 82% and 37%, respectively).

Not only that, during pregnancy, the female also increases in length. If is only after she has given birth, and had not enough time to have pregnant again yet does the increase in lumbar length stop.

The researchers have now used this phenomena in the study to show that even the smaller, mammals seem to go through a phase similar to what we humans go through in puberty.

When we looked at the same type of phenomena happening the meerkat species, (Article: Adaptive Size Modification by Dominant Female Meerkats), we found that the bigger females and males were always the dominant one in the group, and would block reproductive chances by the other members of the group of the same sex. Only the most dominant and largest of the ones would mate and have litters.

When the researchers measured the levels of the hormones…

  • Luteinizing Hormone (LH)
  • Estradiol
  • Cortisol

…In the females, they found that these hormones were raised in the dominant members.

The same was true when they looked at all the male members in the group and compared the…

  • Testosterone
  • Cortisol

….levels in the male and found the dominant one to have a higher level of the hormone.

I refer to three studies, “Cessation of Reproduction-Related Spine Elongation After Multiple Breeding Cycles in Female Naked Mole-Rats” and “Skeletal mass, chemistry, and growth during and after multiple reproductive cycles in the rat. Bone. [PubMed]” and “Growth and factors affecting body size in naked mole-rats.”

From the 1st study, the reason for the increase bone size is due to… “In other mammals (such as rats and humans), pregnancy-induced bone growth occurs to prepare the skeleton for the demands of lactation–a time of rapid bone depletion….While we did not measure bone loss in this study, it is possible that bone mineral resorption was occurring in naked mole-rats during the lactation period.“

It seems the the Meerkat subordinates suffer from the same type of endocrinology effect as what is seen in the subordinates in Naked-Mole Rats.

They lack both the circulating sex hormones & mature glands. This means that which they have all the right tools in their bodies, they are not triggered, until you give them a chance to be free from the suppression from the larger members of their groups.

This shows that the phenomena that we see in the smaller mammals is NOT another case of females pregnancy induced bone growth, but more of a puberty-like phase.

It seems that estrogen and progesterone, the chemical we already know effects human females during pregnancy, is also elevated in this rodent-like mammals during their pregnancy. However, that doesn’t help us much in our endeavor. Both of the hormones do contribute in bone formation and remodeling, but in us humans, almost all of us past a certain age have already gone through with puberty. There is a big difference in the reproductive patterns between humans and naked-mole rats and meerkats.

Click Here for more information and see the radiology pictures on how much a small subordinate female can change her body when she is allowed to grow and reproduce.

 

On The Height And Growth Of 7 Footer Connor Vanover

On The Height And Growth Of 7 Footer Connor Vanover

Connor VanoverOnly recently have I heard about this 15 year old boy (just turned in June) from Little Rock, Arkansas who has reached national news after he went through an insane growth spurt going from a listed height of 6′ 6″ to 7′ 1″ in the last 9 months. This reminds me of the type of insane growth spurts which turn relatively unknown quick point guards from the thousands of the high schools around the country (which are a dime a dozen) to a potential future NBA team franchise star.

Think Anthony Davis, who grew from 6′ 3″ to 6′ 10″ over a 1 year time frame, which catapulted him into basketball superstardom. Of course, we could make the claim that every single NBA player (except maybe point guards) went through at least one dramatic growth spurt at some time in their vertical growth period which put them in the spotlight and get scouts to notice them. So is it fair to already claim that this kid who hasn’t even started his high school classes yet will become a future professional basketball player due to a super-growth spurt? He is supposed to be 7 feet tall and has a great fluid mid to long jump shot, and can even do the fadeaway so he is not going anywhere, barring a horrible injury.

Of course, no one has analyzed the X-rays of his bones so maybe he is still growing. Some people on the NBA Draft forums have gone so far as to claim that he might have a growing problem since he is still so young. I don’t have any sources which mention his father or mother’s height, but he seems to be normally proportioned so he is probably always going to be idiopathically tall statured. The recent news about 7 footer Isaiah Austin having Marfan Syndrome makes us really take a cautious look at this kid (Refer to post “What 7 Feet Tall Isaiah Austin Having Marfan Syndrome Suggest To Professional Basketball Players“) and hope that Connor Vanover doesn’t have Marfan as well. It might be safe however at least to get a full blood work done on this kid and have an MRI of his brain area to check for any increased pituitary gland activity. There is no indication based on the kid’s facial features that he has a pituitary tumor or irregularity but his extremely skinny and long limbs might make use a little bit worried. It is just normal long bone interstitial growth, or is there something else going on, like Marfans Syndrome, Weaver Syndrome, or Klinefelters Syndrome. I would never claim that the kid has it, but is just naturally tall, like his parents, but if his parents are just average in size, we would need to get him checked out immediately.

Hopefully, when he gets older, he will fill out. When NBA analysts talk about a skinny potential NBA player filling out, they are usually looking at the wide of the kid’s shoulder blade bone width so see how wide he will become on the top part of his torso. The perfect example to see whether a NBA freshmen will fill out is to look at their relative shoulder width. Just look at the pictures where I had compared Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis (How Tall Is Kevin Durant’s True Height Compared To Anthony Davis’s Height?), Kevin Durant will not be filling out, while David will fill out.

What about this kids’s game and shot-making?

Above average, and some people are already saying he has many game similarities to Dirk Nowitski, which I sort of agree. He can shoot fadeaway jumpers, which is almost light to the touch, which reminds me of when the first videos of Yao Ming was shown back when he was still with the Shanghai Sharks. Connor is fast in getting up and down the court, and has improved his ability to play with his back against the basket, just like how the tradition big men have played, while still having the power forward type of ball handling skills only seen in Dirk and maybe Tim Duncan. He is got the mid-range and the 3-point shot down at a high percentage as well. His lack of a go-to post move may be the only thing missing in his basketball skill set right now, but that is something we wouldn’t need to worry too much. He seems to have a high basketball IQ, and can learn quickly since he is so young and eager to learn the details of the game to take his own game to the next level. There are some NBA centers that are in the game right now who still hasn’t been able to develop a go-to move to take their offensive game to the next level (ie Dwight Howard) so this kid has at least another decade to work on and perfect that post move.

When the time comes when he is ready to go to the NBA, the scouts and analysts will list him at 7′ 2″ to make him seem even bigger than he already is. If I had to make a guess, the kid is probably not yet 7 feet tall though. The pictures that shows of him makes me believe that Connor is probably closer to 6′ 10″-6′ 11″ than over 7 feet.

Most analysts have already said that he will most likely be in the class of 2018 or 2019 NBA Draft, assuming he is not injured or some unlucky event happens to him, and he avoids trouble.

Why Sim Bhullar Will Be The First NBA Player of East Indian Descent

Why Sim Bhullar Will Be The First NBA Player of East Indian Descent

Earlier this year I had written a post questioning the prospect of the Canadian Sim Bhullar and maybe his brother Tanveer Bhullar of becoming the first NBA Player of Indian Descent (Refer to “The Indian Basketball Player Superstar“). I also looked into whether the 7’ 1” footer Satnam Singh would be the one to make the international cross. Looking at the way that these guys move from the few videos I could find, I had said back then that these guys will not be able to become anywhere in the realm of basketball star statues like what Yao Ming did for the image of basketball from China, which made the sport of basketball much more global. However, there has been some recent news which has come out which show that Sim just make it to becoming the first NBA player of Indian descent. However, I don’t expect him to become a basketball superstar, but he will pave the way for the NBA to become much more noticed by the 1.2 Billion Indians in the world, whose main sport obsession has been cricket. Maybe the people of Pakistan and Bangladesh will also notice, and look for their own super-sized basketball heroes, like the Chinese have been doing for the past few years since Yao Ming retired from professional basketball.

Sim BhullarFirst, Sim is like Yao, who is genetically predisposed for tall stature (supposedly father is 6’ 5” (Although Sim says his father is closer to 6’3′-6’4″ by his own admission) and mother is 5’ 11” with 7’ 2” brother Tanveer), so at least Bhullar will not be suffering any type of serious heart or endocrine problems like so many acromegalic giants. He has got a large frame, with an equally large wingspan which is claimed to be 7’ 9” in length with size 22 shoes. To be exact, his college coach has his height listed at 7′ 3.5″ inches, and with the basketball sneakers, his height would be at 7′ 5″. (He was over 11 lbs when he was born)

Indian Basketball PlayerIf we were to be completely honest about it, if Singh was not 7’5” (or 7’ 4” as some others claim) with a 7’ 11” wingspan the NBA Scouts would not be looking at him. However, he has the size, and the wingspan so basketball recruiters and scouts will always give him a chance. In addition, there are some other attributes while make him a potential NBA level player while still being so “raw”. He blocks shots with a high rate, and has slowly trained himself to have a delicate touch for the mid range shot (Watch the Youtube videos). Some people like New Mexico State coach Paul Weir has said that Bhullar has some other attributes besides his size which gives him a better chance to get into the NBA, like his large hands, high level of coordination, high basketball IQ, intelligence, and passing ability. With his immense size, he is a lane clogger similar to what Kenny George (at 7′ 7″) did at UNCA, and will rack up a lot of blocks per game. When he declared for the NBA after his Sophomore year at New Mexico State, his stats were (10.4 PPG, 7.8 RPG, and 3.4 BPG, 64.8 FG%) which is really decent for a person who is considered so raw and a project for any NBA team who wants to find the next Yao Ming to build their team around, or at least find a wall to block the opposing team’s shots. He has a standing reach of 9′ 9″, which is among the highest of any player that we know of (Shaq’s predraft measurements was around 2-3 inches less, but Shaq’s vertical jump was insane for a man of his size)

Here is where he will need to improve upon, which I feel like can be changed.

His weight makes him very slow. It is his weight and conditioning that is the problem. Sim’s wide frame and incredible weight at around 360 lbs listed on the NBA Draft website suggest that his frame may not be able to take the type of punishment that is expected from the basketball association that is regarded as the pinnacle of the basketball world. When he runs, he looks like he is already out of breathe. I am reminded of how the Tallest Man in Canada Jerry Sokoloski (listed at either 7’4.5” to 7’7”) went from an extremely skinny prospect when he was in his 20s to a now wide 500 lb man who looks like he would never be able to run. These giants put on a lot of weight easily, and keep that weight on unless they have a staff to keep them in the best shape on a daily basis.

In comparison, let’s look at how Sim would match up against some other players close to his size in history.

First, there was Yao. Yao was a 7’ 5” or 7’ 6” player who played for almost a full decade. After being drafted as #1 in the 2002 NBA Draft, he would play before serious injuries to his ankles in the 2009 season. He announced his retired in the middle of the 2011 season. Yao was a true freak. Most guys who are over 7’4” in height have some type of growth problem. Even if they are completely healthy, they are way too slow to be able to move at the NBA speeds.

The other would be Shawn Bradley, at 7’6”, who lasted a down years. Drafted #2 in the 1993 draft, he came in with a lot of hype too, due to his height. Shawn was just too skinny. He played until the 2005 season, but his role slowly decreased over time. He would still be an imposing defensive player, who had incredible blocking records. I honestly believe that the main reason why Shawn, Chuck Nevitt, Manute, or Yao was able to last as long as they did in the NBA was because of their skinny, lower BMI frames.

The others who were super tall like Chuck Nevitt, Mark Eaton, Priest Lauderdale, Manute Bol, Gheorghe Muresan, all did not have the touch or agility to do much. It was their size that got them in but they were often just defensive players who racked up blocks well, which is often what a team needs to hold the opposing team to a certain Points Per Game (PPG) level.

The problem is not his heart, or work ethic, which I believe is strong, which he learned from his father, who immigrated to Canada and worked so hard for decades to provide a better life for his kids. He will do fine there.

It is his body. Over time, the level of high intensity play will take a huge toll on his bones and the cartilages that are between the bones which will absorb the shocks to his body. So many articles written about this kid says that he has lost a lot of weight, but every time I see the pictures, he still looks too slow for the most advanced league in the world.

I am sure that some other country would gladly pick him up and get him to play a few years outside (Think San Antonio Aaron Baynes) before he might come back. The other option is to get him into the D-League or do what Sun Ming Ming did and play at some local team.

I remember it was the Discovery Channel which did a documentary series called Extreme Bodies in the episode entitled “Giants” on the changes in the physiology of the 7’ 2” Indiana Pacer Roy Hibbert which showed just how much extra stress is placed on the internal organs of the body to sustain a body that is about twice as heavy as a normal average adult male. (Other giants analyzed are Dave Rasmussen 7’3”-7’4” and Richmond Edwards (7’5”-7’3”)) Hibbert is not the traditional skinny giant type, and his body has to keep up with the demands of being in the professional basketball world. His heart is twice the size of a normal man’s heart, and pumps supposedly 3X the amount of blood through the vessels each second. Hibbert has been lucky so far, but if his weight increases any further, there will be injuries. (It is already bad now when you consider that Hibbert completely collapsed in the past post-season for the Pacers against the Heat. Maybe he is just too mentally unprepared to play at the highest level and be paid the millions he has been for just being big in life)

The last we checked, the Sacramento Kings were interesting in Sim and signed him up into their team for training, but that still does not mean that they are willing to make room in their roster for him with real play time. He will most likely start playing in the D-League, like 7’ 3” Thabeet Hasheem who is now currently with OKC. There will be much more conditioning to get his weight down. He said in the video we linked that he has already lost 17 lbs since he was at the camp in just 1 month from working out. His shots also look good though. He did not even get drafted into the 2nd round in the 2014 Draft but with his size, the NBA teams will always be keeping an eye on him to see if his skills catch up with his size.

If Sim Bhullar did somehow get any playing time in the NBA, he would be put in the same type of position just like Hamed Haddadi, the first Iranian to play in the NBA, or the former Trailblazer South Korean Ha Seung-Jin. I always regretted that Ri Myung-Hun of North Korea was never able to represent his country and play in the NBA. As for Sim Bhullar, He is a giant who is representing a whole nation, a whole ethnic group. They look up to him, figuratively and literally.

While many people have said that they have never seen a basketball player as large as Sim, I personally have, since I live in Seattle and was in Spokane back in the 2004-2008 years and saw Will Foster who is around 7’4”-7’5” play during that time. I am remind of how so many coaches at the college level would try to lure any tall student to play on the university team (think Mark Eaton) since there is just not that much size and any giant would be able to over power the opposing team since players at that level just don’t have that much skill against people larger than them (most people in the general population are un-athletic with bad coordination to begin with)