wingspan than height. Most people have a 1.0 index (or are equal in other words). I’m 6’0 and have a wingspan of 6’4 (so my index is 76/72 or 1.055) and I was almost always able to guard players a couple inches taller than me in my peak jr high basketball years (lol).


From Wikipedia:

“In basketball, a higher index helps with defense, especially in contesting shots and intercepting passes [citation needed]. It also helps with rebounding, and with dribbling, passing, and shooting when being guarded closely by opponents. David Epstein in his book The Sports Gene devoted a chapter to "The Vitruvian NBA Player" and therein noted "The average arm-span-to-height ratio [i.e., ape index] of an NBA player is 1.063."[10] Having an ape index of less than 1 is very rare among NBA players; only two players in the NBA 2010–11 season had one.[10]”