Basketball’s tallest, sometimes gangliest, often limited centers.

I’ve never stood beside a seven-footer. But twice in my life — once when I was a teenager, and once in grad school — I found myself looking up at six-foot-ten basketball centers, both of them now retired NBA players. Hall of Famer Bob Lanier was the first “big” I met, at a charity event in Milwaukee. Egyptian-born Alaa Abdelnaby, a Duke University star before getting drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers in 1990, was the second.

Meeting Lanier was like meeting a giant. I still remember his catcher’s mitt-sized left hand (the Dobber, as he was nicknamed, was one of the greatest lefties to ever hit the hardwood). To raise money for charity, Lanier, then a Milwaukee Buck, had donated a pair of his size-22... Read More