Shortest NBA player Muggsy Bogues to Filipino cagers: 'Believe'

MANILA, Philippines —  Basketball is a sport that puts a lot of premium on height, emphasizing that taller usually means better.

But for the 5'3" Muggsy Bogues, it couldn't have been more far from the truth.

Still holding the title of the NBA's shortest player, Bogues had a 14-year career in the league spanning from 1987 to 2001.

Bogues played most of his career with the Charlotte Hornets, and when asked about what made him stand out among taller players, he gave simple answers.

"I understood my position. I knew how to make guys better. I knew how to defend... that gave me all the qualifications to be up there with those guys," Bogues told Philippine media on Wednesday.

The 54-year-old Bogues played as a point guard in the league and his numbers speak for themselves in his effectiveness as a playmaker, leading the Charlotte franchise in assists and steals up to this day.

With Filipino ballers standing shorter than most in the international basketball scene, Bogues had some advice to his fellow "fun-sized" players.

"Believe... get out there and work and learn the fundamentals of this game. Your natural ability will take over but you gotta work, you gotta put the time in," Bogues said.

"Understand both sides of the ball because you gotta be effective on both ends in order to get looked upon the way you wanna be looked at as a legit basketball player," he added.

Rather than looking at a shorter height as a disadvantage, Bogues wants Filipinos to look at it as a chance to make a statement.

"That fun-size is always an opportunity to show people that we're capable of doing something that's impossible," he said.

Bogues is in Manila to grace the NBA 3X Philippines events to be held this weekend at the PICC Forum and the Mall of Asia Music hall.