So how tall is Michael Beasley? Apparently this is a multiple choice question. At Kansas State, he was listed at 6′10″. I’ve got a report at ESPN that he was measured 6′ 8.25″ at the NBA pre-draft camp. The Sun-Times says 6′ 7.5″. And now the Chicago Tribune reports he’s merely 6′ 7″.

I can understand a discrepancy between a college listing and a tape measure. Back when I was in school, I remember Iowa coming to town and our center making some derisive comments about Acie Earl being listed at over 7′ tall. 7′ to the top of his hair? Maybe. 7′ to the top of his skull? Nope. He was eventually measured at 6′ 10″ with long arms.

Does ESPN have bad information? Does the Tribune?

The ESPN piece does quote Beasley as saying “Nothing’s normal. The average height is 6 feet. I’m seven inches over. That’s not normal. Nothing’s normal. That’s just the path that I went. Everyone has a different path, and mine was just a little longer.”

Could it be ‘ole KC at the Trib. just heard that quote, did the math and put him at 6′7″?

That still wouldn’t account for Brian Hanley at the Sun-Times being in between the ESPN height and the Tribune Height.

Unless Beasley is the Incredible Shrinking Man (or if you’re in a comic book frame of mind, The Atom or Ant-Man), there’s some seriously erroneous information going around. 

There are those who say that 6′8″ is a little under-sized for the power forward position. Obviously, Charles Barkley isn’t one of those people, but the closer Beasley’s height shrinks in the direction of 6′7″, the more you have to wonder how he’ll deal with an NBA-quality power forward who stands 6′10″ or 6′11″. And as he starts to approach 6′7″, conventional wisdom will lead you down the path of “he’s got some range on his shot, maybe we draft him as a small forward.” Which, of course, leads directly to “I hope he isn’t a tweener.”

I was leaning towards Derrick Rose as a better fit for the Bulls (unless they could cook up a deal to trade one of their power forwards for a quality “true” point guard), but a fellow can’t really comment intelligently if the height of a power forward is in flux that much.

Now to be fair, there are those players who through strength, speed, coordination and a really bad attitude towards any opponent that steps between them and the basket, can function well at the professional level. Charles Barkley is probably the best example of somebody much shorter than normal for their position having a huge impact. Mark Aguirre would be an example of a guy with a power forward’s post game who happened to play small forward and still scored like a demon. Corliss Williamson, while not as celebrated, also fit into the undersized power forward, low post small forward continuum.

With all these heights floating around, you’re going to get speculation down those paths. Speculation is reasonable if you’ve been given the right information.

Alas, multiple people seem to have their wires crossed when it comes to Beasley’s height. Could we get a notary witness account of a measurement, please?