Is Diamon Simpson Too Tall To Play Filipino Basketball?

Former St. Mary's star, and more recently post presence for the Los Angeles D-Fenders, Diamon Simpson might be too tall to play in the Philippines.

Simpson was bought out of his D-League contract in February after averaging 15.5 points and 9.6 rebounds in just under 32 minutes of action for the D-Fenders.  Since then, he's been averaging 26.9 points and 16.4 rebounds for the Alaska Aces (the team Rafe Bartholomew followed in his excellent book).

Though imports typically are expected to play well no matter what country they're playing in, Fire Quinito (my favorite blog covering Filipino basketball) says the success of Simpson has people questioning if he's allowed to even play in the PBA -- Not because he's too good, but because Simpson might be over the 6-foot-6 height limit.

Last night, an agent who reps several PBA imports had a series of tweets about another reinforcement campaigning in the Fiesta Conference. This import, she said, was definitely 6'8", a couple of inches taller than the 6'6" height limit for foreigners in the tournament.

So how tall is Simpson?  It depends who you ask.

Back then, pretty much every team was cheating when it came to import heights, but the PBA has since modified its method for measuring an import, now requiring the player to lie down for a more accurate measurement. Simpson was measured at 6'5 15/16" by the PBA.

Also, unlike in years past, actual measurements are more readily available for those who know the right resources. Simpson, a borderline NBA prospect after coming out of college in 2009, was measured at 6'7.5" barefoot at a pre-draft camp last year - a full inch and a half over the PBA limit!

For what it's worth, the D-League had him listed at 6-foot-7.