Many N.B.A. hopefuls exaggerate their height while in high school or college to make themselves more appealing to coaches and scouts who prefer taller players. Collins, for example, remembers the exact day he picked to experience a growth spurt.

"Media day, my junior year," Collins, a Stanford graduate, said. "I told our sports information guy that I wanted to be 7 feet, and it's been 7 feet ever since."

And:

Victor Dolan, head of the chiropractic division at Doctors' Hospital in Staten Island, said players could increase their height by being measured early in the morning, because vertebrae become compressed as the day progresses. A little upside-down stretching does not hurt, either.

"If you get measured on an inversion machine, and do it when you first wake up, maybe you could squeeze out an extra inch and a half," Dolan said.

-- http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/15/sports/basketball/tall-tales-in-nba-dont-fool-players.html