Yasutaka Okayama

Yasutaka Okayama (岡山恭崇, Okayama yasutaka^?, born November 29, 1954 in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan) was the tallest basketball player drafted in National Basketball Association history.^[1] This 7'8" center was selected by the Golden State Warriors as the 10th pick of the eighth round of the 1981 Draft, although he did not sign with them.^[2][3]

Okayama practiced Judo at junior high school and high school, and obtained a second degree black belt. He started playing basketball when he was eighteen at Osaka University of Commerce. He attended the University of Portland but never played for their basketball program as he was a project. After graduation, he joined the basketball club of Sumitomo Metal Industries. He represented Japan between 1979 and 1986 before he retired in 1990. He still works for Sumitomo Metal and is very active as a basketball coach.^[4] He has also written a book for young basketball players. ^[5]

References

1. ^ NBA.com: Draft Oddities
2. ^ 1981 NBA Draft on Basketballreference.com
3. ^ BBC SPORT | Other Sport | US Sport | Rising Sun creates Japanese first
4. ^ Sports Just magazine, April-May issue 2005
5. ^ Tanoshii Basuketto Boru

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Name	Okayama, Yasutaka
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Date of birth	1954
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