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This story is an online exclusive from ESPN The Magazines Nov. 28 Tall Ball Issue. Subscribe today!IN HINDSIGHT,?Anthony Davis adolescence was like a science experiment: What happens if you hold skills constant while increasing height??Back in the fall of 2008, Davis was a pretty good 6-foot-2 sophomore guard on a pretty bad Perspectives Charter School team in Chicago. He already towered over his mom, and was eye-to-eye with his dad, so Davis figured he was done growing. Cleveland State was the only college giving him a look.By the following spring he was 6-8, and, as his high school coach put it, He could still do everything -- pass, shoot, dribble -- he did before. He was just a lot taller. Anthony Sr. bought his son an extralong bed to accommodate his size-14 feet, which had been hanging off the end, while Junior swapped out Allen Iverson as his role model in favor of the Kevins, Durant and Garnett. After his growth spurt, he played one-half of one game in a summer tournament in Virginia and returned home to more scholarship offers than he could read. Two more inches later, he was the top pick in the NBA draft.Davis is living proof of the difference half-a-foot makes -- particularly in todays game, which, like Davis, has grown. The average height is up more than 4 inches since the NBAs inaugural season 70 years ago, even if it is down an inch from the all-time peak of nearly 6-8 in 2001. While the search for bigger and bigger ballers seems to have leveled out (for now), the history of height makes it clear: Whether its through international scouting or sci-fi-like technologies, the game will find a way to grow.?IN THE 1930s,?sportswriters, lacking even rudimentary metrics, explained the glut of Jewish basketball stars as a result of diminutive stature that made for quick feet and deft balance (along with general smart aleckness, as one journalist put it). Last years record-setting Warriors squad confirms that the value of agility -- and perhaps general smart aleckness -- has been transmitted intact to the current generation, its just that theyre a lot taller (Steph and the gang last year had the NBAs 15th-tallest starting five at 79.4 inches). Like a young adult emerging from adolescence, basketball managed to get bigger and more gainly at the same time.Pro hoops isnt alone. As most sports become more competitive, their athletes tend to grow. The rest of us have too, though not as rapidly. For much of the 20th century, the industrialized world grew about 0.4 inches per decade (the average American woman is now as tall as the average 17th-century Frenchman). The primary cause is likely nutrition. In Japans post-World War II economic miracle period, the average height of men increased by 1.7 inches in 20 years, and of women by an inch. In societies where a particular group is nutritionally disadvantaged, inequity leaves a trace in stature. Black American men gained on white American men in recent generations, but are still slightly shorter. Prosperous areas of northern Europe have grown the most; the average Dutchman is now 6 feet. Nutrition, though, hasnt been the only driver of height. A study of 94,500 Dutch citizens over 30 years showed that part of the rise in height was due to more big dudes making the All-Star Procreation Team; yes, tall men average more children than smaller men.Inevitably, sports officials have sought to turn humanitys skyward stretch into a competitive advantage. Before the 2012 London Olympics, Great Britain put generations of European growth to use with a clarion call for tall women. Their Sporting Giants program was sort of like Britains Got Talent, but for wannabe athletes. One auditioner was a rangy teacher-in-training named Helen Glover. At a tryout, she rowed for the first time in her life. That was eight years ago, and Glover is undefeated for the past five of them, including two Olympic gold medals and a world record. China has been more systematic still. Yao Ming was spawned from Chinas tallest dyad, a pair of ex-basketball players coupled by the Chinese basketball federation.Genetics can be telling: A Wall Street Journal study found that nearly half of NBA players have an elite-athlete relative, while fewer than one-fifth of players in the less height-dependent NFL and MLB do. Of the dozens of pairs of NBA brothers, there are a few guards -- like Steph and Seth Curry -- but more frequent are sky-scraping siblings, like Mason and Miles Plumlee, Marc and Pau Gasol, and Brook and Robin Lopez.Thats why a study of a New York egg-donation clinic found that the proportion of customers asking for athletic ability in their eggs increased from 1 percent in 2008 to 17 percent in 2012. Surely, they demanded height. In the dropdown menu at the California Cryobank, height is the only physical trait you can sort sperm donors by. Over on the sidebar, you can search for look-a-like donors. Theres just one Andrea Bargnani look-a-like, and -- given the rarity of 7-footers -- hes a mere 15 inches shorter, at 5-9. (But, ladies, he is a natural born entrepreneur.)The gift of ginormity is so terrifically precious because it is so exceedingly rare.IN 2016, THE?industrialized world seems to be past its growth spurt. Even the soaring Dutch are finally holding steady. So if weve nearly maxed out gains from nutrition, Tindering for tallness and Bargnani look-a-likes -- at least in the U.S. and Europe -- whats next? Artificial selection will continue in sports. Usain Bolt will prompt more lanky kids to realize their speed, while Kevin Durant will inspire tall teens to eschew the lane. And while rule and strategy changes friendly to 6-3 shrimps may lessen our dependence on foreign height, scouts continue to import inches -- the average height of foreign NBA players is 6-9, whereas its a bit under 6-7 for Americans. As Americans and Europeans slow in their skyward stretch, scouts will look elsewhere: to a few billion residents of China and India, who have a growth spurt coming as their economies modernize.Tim Olds, an Australian scientist who studies how sports body types change over time, says that already we certainly see a lot of tall Chinese and Indian people in Australia. In China, men are 5-6 on average, and women 5-1.5. Move the average up just a touch, and the far right tail of the Chinese height curve makes for a whole lot more bigs. Round up every American man of viable NBA age who is at least LeBron James height, and you could seat them all in Quicken Loans Arena. If China one day has the same average height as the U.S., the number of LeBron-sized men of NBA age would not fit in Quicken Loans; it would overflow the Cowboys AT&T Stadium.According to the Chinese Basketball Association, there are 300 million basketball players in China. As a group, that would be the fourth most populous country in the world, and -- despite Chinas greater success in diving and gymnastics -- basketball is the peoples sport. Even when Chairman Mao Zedong waged war on parts of Western culture, he wanted every soldier to be able to sink a free throw. Young Chinese basketball players later idolized Michael Jordan -- Qiao Dan of the Red Oxen -- and Kobe Bryant. Take that fervor and transpose it onto a first-world height distribution, and we may one day laugh at the thought of Yao Ming as a rare basketball emissary from the Far East.BUT WHAT IS the future of height at home? Are most of us doomed to get sized out of our sports? As someone who was regularly asked by a high school coach, When are you gonna grow? Im quite sure that humans will avail themselves of technological means to reach for the heavens. Reports from India describe height surgery, in which leg bones are broken and fitted with braces to elongate them. Earlier this year, an ethics committee in India convened surgeons to discuss the unregulated procedure after it was performed on a young man who was 5-7. Then theres human growth hormone. Its banned in all sports, but nobody minds that Lionel Messi used it as a child to attain normal adult height. One endocrinologist I spoke with mentioned a kid who took HGH because his parents were concerned about his size, and he became a 6-8 college basketball player. In 2008, Congress convened a hearing about increasing use of HGH, at which one of the expert witnesses told me that he regularly heard from parents wanting HGH for normal-height children. Mark Cuban recently funded a University of Michigan study on whether HGH can speed surgical recovery. If HGH goes mainstream -- its already more widely used in Canada -- would you get it for your child?If you could, would you even employ the cutting-edge gene-editing technology CRISPR, which allows scientists literally to customize genes -- a sort of unnatural selection? Perhaps fortunately, we have no clue what most genes do. Then again, maybe we dont have to. We know that a pituitary gland tumor causes overproduction of growth hormone. Gheorghe Muresan, the 7-7 former NBA player, famously had such a tumor removed after he was drafted. We also know of the GHRH (growth hormone-releasing hormone) gene, which is involved in signaling the pituitary to release growth hormone. Defects in that gene can cause dwarfism, or gigantism. So what if we could alter just that gene? Well, we can. The steady increase in height might be winding down in the U.S. -- but thats exactly why the next growth industry may be growth itself.Bob Griese Youth Jersey . Collaros, 25, was solid last season, posting a 5-2 record as the starter while incumbent Ricky Ray was injured. Collaros also started Torontos 23-20 regular-season finale loss to Montreal — Ray didnt dress because the Argos had already clinched first in the East Division — but was one of three quarterbacks to play that day. Christian Wilkins Jersey . The Vikings announced Thursday that Priefer will be one of seven holdovers from the previous staff, along with offensive line coach Jeff Davidson, wide receivers coach George Stewart and others. Norv Turner will mark his 30th year of coaching in the NFL as the offensive co-ordinator, as widely reported for weeks, and George Edwards will be the defensive co-ordinator. http://www.dolphinsrookiestore.com/Dolphins-Dan-Marino-Jersey/ . Louis Blues teammates who would also be participating in the Olympics, Alex Pietrangelo felt right at home, no different in some ways to the travel experience of any old road trip – save for the length of the journey, that is. Mark Clayton Dolphins Jersey . However, he did make them miss him a little less. Cundiff, who had the unenviable job of replacing Dawson last season, agreed Thursday to a one-year, $1. Josh Rosen Womens Jersey . "Hes going to have hip surgery on Jan. 7, and hell be expected to rehabilitate for four to six months beyond that," Canucks general manager Mike Gillis said Friday in an interview.SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The NCAA announced Tuesday that 77 percent of black mens Division I basketball players who entered college in 2009 earned a degree within six years, up five points from a year earlier and a record high.That improvement helped the overall Graduation Success Rate match last years record of 86 percent of athletes graduating within six years, the NCAA said. Of all black Division I student-athletes, 74 percent graduated within six years. NCAA President Mark Emmert said in a news release the improved rates were hugely significant.Over the last 15 years, the overall Graduation Success Rate has dramatically improved, but the really good news is how college sports helps more and more minority students, especially those playing our highest-profile sport, earn a degree that will help them long after their athletics career is over, he said.The graduation rate for black basketball players is up 31 percentage points over the past 15 years, the NCAA said . Overall, all black male athletes have increased their GSR by 19 percentage points to 70 percent during that time. Black female athletes improved their rate 13 points to 84 percent over that same time.For all Division I athletes, the rate increased 12 percentage points during the past 15 years.B. David Ridpath, an associate professor and sports business and president of The Drake Group, an NCAA watchdog, said the GSR provides only a partial picture, pointing to reports of athletes at North Carolina taking courses aimed at boosting their GPAs in a department popular with athletes.Are we essentially practicing eligibility maintenance, potentially in a major with friendly faculty? he said. Are these kids graduating with a very meaningful, vital degree that can benefit them for the next 50 to 60 years of their life? In some cases, yes, this is happening. But all too often -- aand I know this because I worked in college athletics -- were essentially pushing these kids through, keeping them eligible and in cases where they do graduate they might not be graduating with the requisite skills.ddddddddddddAmong football teams in The Associated Press Top 25 , the only teams with a GSR 65 percent or lower were No. 25 Troy at 65 percent and No. 13 Oklahoma State at 50 percent. Among Top 25 mens basketball teams , No. 4 Oregon had a GSR of 38 percent, No. 25 California 40 percent, No. 5 North Carolina, No. 18 Syracuse and No. 24 Cincinnati all had GSRs of 50 percent, and No. 13 Michigan State has a GSR of 63 percent.The University of Connecticut mens basketball team had one of the lower graduation rates at 22 percent, according to the latest results. But those 2009 numbers were actually a big improvement over previous years. The teams GSR rose from just 8 percent in 2006, 17 percent the following year and 20 percent in 2008.School spokesman Mike Enright said the poor graduation rate reflects the same time period for which UConn was sanctioned by the NCAA and missed the 2013 postseason because of an another indicator, the Academic Progress Rate, which measures whether players are in good academic standing.The school has reported perfect or near perfect APR scores since 2012-13 and is expecting similar numbers this year, Enright said. He also said all current members of the basketball team are on track to graduate.The academic achievement of our mens basketball team has been outstanding the past several years and I have a full expectation that this will continue, athletic director David Benedict said.---AP Sports Writer Pat Eaton-Robb in Storrs, Connecticut, contributed to this report. ' ' '