Olivier Rioux landed with a size-large exclamation point on Michael Meeks' radar when the Canada Basketball coach opened a photo in his inbox seven years ago.
Rioux was attending a kids basketball camp in Montreal, and posed for a photo alongside then-Detroit Pistons and Canadian team centre Joel Anthony, who stands a formidable six foot nine.
Guinness World Records recognized him as the world's tallest teenager when he was 15 and seven foot five. If he played in the NBA now, he'd be tied with Cleveland's Tacko Fall as the league's tallest player. "People see his size and their expectations are pretty high," said Meeks. "For me, it's the little things like his mobility and agility, how he's moving, how he conceptualizes the game – how much fun is he having competing and playing?
"Back in Montreal I used to go to school every day for at least eight hours. Now I go to school for three hours and practice in the afternoon, It's different," he added with a deep-voiced laugh.Rioux was 5-2 in kindergarten. His dad Jean-Francois is 6-8, his mom Anne is 6-2. But perhaps most important is that Rioux is enjoying the game, which is key since huge expectations come with being super tall.
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