Glen Saville doesn't even bother with the jokes any more. He realises Zac Delaney has heard them all. ''What are Snow White and the other six dwarfs really like?'' ''Does Gulliver visit you often?'' ''Hey, kid, did you win a spot on the bench in a competition?''
Standing somewhere around 169 centimetres - his teammates think that's an exaggeration, and he swears he hasn't measured himself for years so he doesn't get fed up - Delaney is hardly ''vertically challenged''. But in the land of the giants - the game of basketball - the Wollongong teenager is virtually miniature.
''It's not like it's never been done before,'' Saville says, noting 160cm Muggsy Bogues who played for 14 years in the NBA. ''Everyone makes a big deal about height. You talk to people and they say, 'My son wants to play basketball but he's too short.' It doesn't really matter. You're not seven foot, so you've just got to bring something else to the table, and Zac does.
''He doesn't listen to any of that stuff. I'm sure he's always had people saying, 'You're too small to play.' He's got a great attitude, he's quick, he does find it difficult against taller guards - well, every other guard is a fair bit taller - but that's the challenge for him, and he doesn't back down.''
Hawks coach Gordie McLeod adds: ''Size is an issue but it's only an issue when you're around the basket. If you're 90 feet from the basket, then quickness and mobility becomes an advantage. Because a guy is five-foot-four doesn't mean he shouldn't be playing basketball. If you've got ability, you've got ability. He's not your typical basketball prototype, but Zac loves playing basketball.''
While he might dwarf Bogues, reality is 19-year-old Delaney - whose boyish looks often have him confused for someone younger - is the shortest player in the 30-year history of the NBL. He's 3cm shy of the previous record holders, Wayne Larkins, Peter Stacker and Dean Draper, is 11cm lower than the next level in the league this season, and 52cm shorter than Perth's Sam Harris, the tallest player to ever play in the competition.
He might not have the height, but Delaney was bred to be a basketballer. His mother, Joanne, represented Illawarra and NSW, and he recalls being ''brought up in a basketball stadium because Mum was always playing''.
''My body structure tells me I should have picked another sport, but I love basketball,'' he said. ''Throughout school, I played every sport there was - football, water polo, basketball, everything I could get my hands on I would play.
''A few years back, I was supposed to go to state [basketball] trials, and the day before I was doing the flags at surf lifesaving, and I broke my arm pretty badly. That was when I decided it was time to put all my energy into one chosen thing, and I picked basketball.
''I've played basketball since I was about four or five. I grew up watching a lot of Earl Boykins [165cm] and Nate Robinson [175cm] and Chris Paul [183cm]. I think it's just a big thing to look up to someone when you're vertically challenged like I am. I've looked at them, and they have all made it so it's possible.
''To be honest, I've never really had a problem with my lack of height in basketball until now. At the start of the season, I found it pretty difficult, but I feel as though I'm improving with it. Sure it's hard but it's do-able, it's not impossible.''
Delaney says there was much scrutiny and some criticism of him being picked in the team at the start of the season, and he ''took it to heart'' but he soon realised if he wanted to continue to play he would have to get used it because, ''If it bothers me now, it will forever, so I may as well let it go and not worry what other people say.''
Delaney is the smallest, but hopes he won't be the last of his stature to play the game, and can be an inspiration to others in a similar position. Yes, people actually looking up to him.
As a development player, he does not travel to away games but is on the bench for home matches, and in late October, his moment arrived. Seeing the youngster with the cult following sub on, the fans went into a frenzy.
''I'm not sure what it is,'' he said of the vocal support he did not hear at the time because he was so nervous. ''I'm young, I'm just a bit different. I'm not the same as what everyone is used to. I think that's the main thing. You look at everyone in the league, and I stand out because I'm different. Kids don't have to look up as high when they speak to me after games … most of them are taller than me.
''I just want to become the best player I can. If I don't make the [10-man roster], at least I can look back and say I gave it my best shot and improved as much as I could with the opportunity I have been given, and have make sure I have absolutely no regrets.''
Email a friend