ESPN NBA Draft

CHICAGO -- Emeka Okafor's draft stock got a huge surge over the weekend when the NBA measured him at 6-foot-10 with shoes on and 6-8¾ in his stocking feet.

"I thought they gypped me a quarter inch," Okafor told Insider with a smile. "I know I'm 6-foot-9 in my socks."

Okafor

He has the same standing reach as Chris Kaman. He measured a quarter-inch taller than Amare Stoudemire, and his standing reach is two inches taller than Stoudemire. Okafor's reach is nearly on par with that of Dwight Howard (9-3½), the top high school prospect in the draft, and no one is complaining about his size. Add in Okafor's explosive vertical jump and he even gets a little taller still.

Once reporters couldn't chirp about his size, everyone began focusing on his back. Over the course of an hour, Okafor heard the question a hundred times.

"My back is back, baby," Okafor proclaimed. "It's rested. It's ready. It's ready for people to quit talking about it. Most of the pain I've felt has come from having to deal with you guys talking about it all the time."

Okafor even claims his back never hurt him during the Final Four. "I felt fine," Okafor said. "It was you guys who kept writing about it."

One source familiar with the medical testing done in Chicago over the weekend claims Okafor's back checked out fine and he won't get a medical red flag from league doctors.

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