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NBA draft pick Thon Maker likely to be 4-5 years older than he is officially listed

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This is similar case to Joseph Mihala of Lazio Football Club who claim to be a 17 years old.

Although this guy actually prove that he is actually 17 years old in reality.

manala.jpg

maxresdefault.jpg
 

Meier

Member
This begs the question: How the hell did nobody in the NBA and especially nobody in the Bucks organisation figure this out when a random Redditor could? Especially because there were rumours about his age for years.
Let's say he is this older age. What makes you so sure that the Bucks didn't know that? Do you think that fans are privy to all the reasons a player is drafted? Don't take everything that is said on the Internet or sports news coverage of something as gospel.
 
Let's say he is this older age. What makes you so sure that the Bucks didn't know that? Do you think that fans are privy to all the reasons a player is drafted? Don't take everything that is said on the Internet or sports news coverage of something as gospel.

Dude, there is no way they drafted this guy 20 spots ahead of where he was expected to go if they didn't think he had big upside. Males gain all kinds of size and muscle mass between the ages of 18-22.

If he's a 23 year old high school he does not have huge upside.
 

m3k

Member
he is not 19... friends of mine played in the same league as him and they all joke about this. famous australian basketball commentator and ex star said his son played against him years ago and he was claiming he was 19 back then. he knows he is full of shit.

i have to say though this is common with refugee students... you think they all have birth certificates when they flee their countries? sometimes the parents make up the age so their kids can start low and catch up in a lower age group. ive taught some of these kids.... there are some at the school i teach at. but this thon guy is full of shit. good luck to him though he can still ball out and get paid. a good outcome for a former refugee.
 
There's a picture of Thon at a year 12 formal with people who are apparently 18 years old when he was supposedly 13. It's looking more and more likely that Thon isn't quite as young as he's saying.
 

Ape

Banned
I can't open the link but I assume you are referring to the claim made by his agent? That's the same agent being accused of this con btw. and of course he will say anything to save his face. Also, do Bianca and Karine and the other kids look like refugees to you?

H5LZnbL.jpg


Also look at that video again
https://vid.me/ncxK

It looks like an actual high school yearbook and nowhere on the page does it say that it's just the english students but it says that it's the graduation class of 2010. And because the other students don't look like refugees to me, that has to be the actual 12th grade graduation class

Also there is the photo of him in 9th grade in 2007

Damn he graduated in the same class as Stephen a smith?
 

Saya

Member
Thread reminded me of this guy. He's 21.


Due to his physical appearance, Robinson is often questioned of his actual age. Having started playing football at the age of 4, his mother stated that she would bring his birth certificate to games, due to opposing coaches challenging his age for eligibility. "I couldn't play because I was too big and they had to see my birth certificate," said Robinson. This would continue into his adult years; he shared that we was often mistaken for a 35-year-old coach despite while he was actually 20-year-old student athlete.
 

Haribi

Why isn't there a Star Wars RPG? And wouldn't James Bond make for a pretty good FPS?
I have a new theory about this.

I think at this point no one can deny that he graduated in 2010 as a regular High School student which would mean that his legal date of birth used to be 1993 or 1992 and was changed to 1997 by his agent.
But now I truly believe that neither of these two is his true biological date of birth. I don't have evidence on this theory but I just don't believe that that's an 18 year old in those old videos and photos.

There is no way that this is an 18/19 year old
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAqpd1Ky3bc

Does this look like an 18 year old to you?
http://i.imgur.com/ivBRWBR.jpg

In this picture he would be 16 or 17
https://i.imgur.com/6yIi77Z.jpg
First of all the guy to his left looks much older than him and second of all he was just an above averaged sized dude there. Are we really to believe that he grew from like 6'2 to 7' between the ages of 16 and 19? People usually don't grow that much that late.

So here is how I think it went down:
When refugees don't have birth certificates, they are told to guess their age. Thon's family went to Australia in 2003. I believe that they just misguessed his age and said"Well we don't know how old he is, probably around 10?", the authorities mark it down as 1993, he is put into 5th grade and graduates in 2010.

TLDR: His legal date of birth was changed from 1993 (or 92) to 1997 by his agent but I believe that he was actually born around 1995 but was falsely registered as 1993 because of his parents misguessing his age when entering Australia

That's the only reasonable explanation to me why he looks much younger than 18 in those photos but not as young as 13
 

cwmartin

Member
Can anyone explain to me why it matters how old he is now? If he has the chops to play in the NBA, and is of legal age to be drafted/play, I'm not sure how him being 3 years older makes a difference.

I can see how it would put him at an unfair advantage in his adolescent play, but at this point, if he is good enough to play, who gives a shit?
 

Haribi

Why isn't there a Star Wars RPG? And wouldn't James Bond make for a pretty good FPS?
Can anyone explain to me why it matters how old he is now? If he has the chops to play in the NBA, and is of legal age to be drafted/play, I'm not sure how him being 3 years older makes a difference.

I can see how it would put him at an unfair advantage in his adolescent play, but at this point, if he is good enough to play, who gives a shit?

Because right now he is not good enough to play. He couldn't dominate High School and was always outplayed whenever he was matched up against another high profile prospect. He was mainly drafted because of his potential. But if he truly is 23 instead of 19, that means there is not much potential left and you're drafting a 23 year old who couldn't dominate High School against kids 5 years younger than him and won't get much better
 
Can anyone explain to me why it matters how old he is now? If he has the chops to play in the NBA, and is of legal age to be drafted/play, I'm not sure how him being 3 years older makes a difference.

I can see how it would put him at an unfair advantage in his adolescent play, but at this point, if he is good enough to play, who gives a shit?

People aren't sure he's good enough to play in the NBA right now, he was drafted because he was a 19 year old project with a lot of potential.
 

maxiell

Member
Can anyone explain to me why it matters how old he is now? If he has the chops to play in the NBA, and is of legal age to be drafted/play, I'm not sure how him being 3 years older makes a difference.

I can see how it would put him at an unfair advantage in his adolescent play, but at this point, if he is good enough to play, who gives a shit?

It's very unusual to improve your body and even some of your skills once you pass the age of 21. He can become better, but it's unlikely you would see drastic improvement in his game and he's a fringe player right now.
 
Can anyone explain to me why it matters how old he is now? If he has the chops to play in the NBA, and is of legal age to be drafted/play, I'm not sure how him being 3 years older makes a difference.

This thread has covered this numerous times. You draft a 19 year old thinking that both his game and his body will continue to develop. You draft knowing that he's raw. You don't typically take the same chance on someone that's 23 or 24, who is physically mature and whose game may not improve as much.

You're not drafting a player for what he does for you today, you draft him for what he's going to do a few years from now.

Edit: Late! Covered again!
 

Amory

Member
The Bucks absolutely knew that he might be / probably is older than what they were being told before the draft. It all factored into the risk/reward of drafting Maker. And they still took him 10th overall.

Personally I think he's going to be a great player in the league. Wish he was still on the board for the Celtics at #16.
 
Can anyone explain to me why it matters how old he is now? If he has the chops to play in the NBA, and is of legal age to be drafted/play, I'm not sure how him being 3 years older makes a difference.

I can see how it would put him at an unfair advantage in his adolescent play, but at this point, if he is good enough to play, who gives a shit?

It's important because he was assessed based on his play against high school kids with the assumption that he had several years of basketball growth before he would even approach his athletic prime.

A 7' high school kid with his skills is a prospect that can become a legit NBA contributor. A 23-year old with his skill set is an afterthought center for an NBA-D League team
 
The Bucks absolutely knew that he might be / probably is older than what they were being told before the draft. It all factored into the risk/reward of drafting Maker. And they still took him 10th overall.

Personally I think he's going to be a great player in the league. Wish he was still on the board for the Celtics at #16.

Even seeing all the evidence that he's a 65 year old man I'd take a shot on him with the 16th pick but that's very different from using your only lottery pick on him.
 

kingslunk

Member
Who the fuck cares? Really why should I care how old this guy is? If an NBA team is dumb enough to select him that's their fault.
 

kruis

Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
Who the fuck cares? Really why should I care how old this guy is?

The real issue is why he lied about his age in the US. And what if he had sex as an adult with underage girls? He'd be a registered sex offender and would lose any chance at playing professional basketball.
 
The real issue is why he lied about his age in the US. And what if he had sex as an adult with underage girls? He'd be a registered sex offender and would lose any chance at playing professional basketball.

LOL at a professional sports league banning a guy for being a sex offender.
 

Amory

Member
Even seeing all the evidence that he's a 65 year old man I'd take a shot on him with the 16th pick but that's very different from using your only lottery pick on him.

Well, regardless, Milwaukee didn't do it blindly. There were articles coming out before the draft that questioned whether he was really 19, and if the media knew that, the Bucks and their scouts knew more.

10 seemed like a bit of a reach, but they took him knowing the risks
 

shira

Member
The real issue is why he lied about his age in the US. And what if he had sex as an adult with underage girls? He'd be a registered sex offender and would lose any chance at playing professional basketball.

He was playing in Canada.
 
They've got some fucking WILD hair going on out there. wew lad.

This is all I could think about. In the US I feel they take picture day way too serious. My daughter's yearbook is crazy. Half the girls (elementary school) have full makeup and hair done. It is the south (SC) but it is too much for 8 and 9 year olds. Those pics are expensive to buy so maybe they want to make the best investment but still... they are kids.
 

qcf x2

Member
oh cool an internet witch hunt

But he's PROBABLY much older! Because things that I know based on stuff, being the genius that I am.

Poor kid, glad he's getting paid. Would love it if he told everybody to fuck off but of course it's not in his best interest as a rookie.
 

Emwitus

Member
Poor kid. feel good story after a troubled childhood in war-torn Sudan destroyed by an internet witch hunt about his supposed age.

I'll hold my other comments so as to not derail the thread.
 
Poor kid. feel good story after a troubled childhood in war-torn Sudan destroyed by an internet witch hunt about his supposed age.

I'll hold my other comments so as to not derail the thread.

If Thon does nothing for the rest of his life he'll make $4.2 million from the Bucks. I'm not going to feel too sorry for him because of this. This assumes he's a 24 year old man who sucks at basketball and the Bucks don't pick up his 3rd and 4th year options.
 
His former schoolmate provided some more yearbook photos

Thon as an 11th grader in 2009
6yIi77Z.jpg

So he is 12 here. And was only in the high school as part of a special program for learning English. Which also had him graduating. And then he went to high school in Canada when older.

Works for me.
 
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