High Hopes

SUN MING MING has a simple goal. "I hope to make it big," he says. In one sense he already has. At 7'9", Sun, who last week signed with the Maryland Nighthawks of the ABA, is the tallest player in professional basketball history. "He makes Greg Oden look like Nate Robinson," says one NBA scout, referring to Ohio State's 7-foot phenom and the 5'9" Knicks point guard.

A native of Bayan, China, Sun, 23, started playing basketball at 15—when he was 6'10". With his sights set on the NBA, he moved to the U.S. in 2004 but was diagnosed with acromegaly, a pituitary-gland disease, and had surgery to remove a benign tumor from the gland in 2005. Sun then played sparingly for the Dodge City Legend of the USBL before signing with the Nighthawks. Maryland owner Tom Doyle says he hopes to showcase Sun alongside former NBA giants Manute Bol and Gheorghe Muresan (both are 7'7"), but Sun has his sights set higher. "I want to play in the NBA," he says. Scouts aren't so sure that will happen. "He's horribly slow," says one. "He can't move laterally. He has bad hands. Guys shoot layups over him because he can't get his arms up fast enough." In his debut last Saturday, Sun had eight points and three blocks. If the NBA didn't take notice, fans did. The game was played before a sellout crowd of 1,800.