As much as Taco is a good person, and is certainly a freak of nature being 7 foot 7 and all, strength has a part in every sport. I was shocked to hear that Taco couldn't even bench press the bar in workouts. I understand that having arms that long presents a disadvantage. But still, how he'll move a Lebron and other more balanced bigs around in the paint in an NBA game is a mystery.
Where did you hear that? That sounds dubious to me. At the NBA Draft Combine, he managed 8 repetitions in the bench press test. That's not elite like Grant-I-did-20-Williams, but it's fairly middle-of-the-road. 14 players all posted between 7 and 9 repetitions, including several other centers and PFs.
Is it more difficult to bench press with long arms or short arms?
To complete a bench press, you must extend your arms all the way. Simple physics dictates that all other things being equal, it would require more force to move the same weight a longer distance. So I imagine bench pressing the same weight, people with shorter arms have to exert less force to complete the press as compared to people with longer arms because they are moving the weight a shorter distance. So I guess having longer arms makes it more difficult??? Not sure but that seems to make sense to me.
Yes, and it gets worse. The elbow joint has a greater range of motion with a longer arm; the triceps are not just moving the weight farther, but working against gravity for longer.
Tacko's strength issue has more to do with his lower body and core strength than his triceps, though. And he's also got a high center of gravity, which is not something that you can correct in the weight room; there were several factors involved in his getting moved around in Summer League.
I thought that his anticipation was actually pretty good. He runs the floor, which is kind of an awesome sight, and was beating people up the floor. But quickness is an issue - he's got a lot of leg to move. Wasn't very often in a defensive stance in SL; ironically, one of the few times he was isoed, in the Denver game, he showed some good step/slide action in a great-looking stance - but got scored on anyway. Saw him sometimes bending at the waist instead of with bent knees, a bad habit that'll get him benched.
Really good joints for a big, especially for one as giant as he is. Definitely not a stiff. Most guys that big get foot problems; but he might be the exception: most guys that big don't have his joints - so smooth.
I think he's an NBA player.