Size Does Matter
http://www.atomicsportsmedia.com/articles/717/1/Size-Does-Matter/Size-Does-Matter.html
Nick Kanios
Nick Kanios is a journalism major at San Jose State and will be hosting a radio show in the spring. He's also a die-hard Golden State Warrior fan and therefore deserves your pity.
By Nick Kanios
Published on 02/19/2007
With a lack of dominant big men and a bevy of lightning-quick point guards, the NBA is changing. But as Atomic Sports columnist Nick Kanios writes, the new trend of small-ball doesn't exactly have a strong track record for success.
With a lack of dominant big men and a bevy of lightning-quick point guards, the NBA is changing. But as Atomic Sports columnist Nick Kanios writes, the new trend of small-ball doesn't exactly have a strong track record for success.
Size Does Matter
Small ball has never won a championship in the NBA. The first superstar was George Mikan, the recent dynasties were led by Tim Duncan, David Robinson and Hakeem Olajuwon. Even when Michael Jordan won his six titles, he had defensive and rebounding specialists, Denis Rodman and Horace Grant, doing dirty work down low. The best example is last season. There was one competent center in the league, and his team happened to win the title. Throughout history, you need an All-Star power player to win the NBA Championship. This season, two teams are trying to do the impossible, and if it doesn’t happen now, it might not happen ever.
The Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks have the top two records in the league, and they aren’t doing it the traditional way. While Dallas did send its power forward to the All-Star game and Phoenix was represented by both its power forward and center, make no mistake, these teams are going to try to run and gun you.
Dallas does have a deep bench, two legit centers (by today’s standards) and plays solid defense. The Mavs also have one of the top players in the league and rebound the ball very well. Most importantly, last season they knocked off one of the best power players (Duncan) and went up 2-0 on Miami in the Finals. At that point, I think Dirk Nowitzki’s fatigue coupled with Dwyane Wade’s spectacular play was the reason for the collapse, not any mental weakness or a lack of talent. Dallas this season is deeper, so it won’t have to rely on Dirk so much, and more talented overall. The experience from last season should only increase the Mavs confidence and their stellar regular season should give them some momentum heading into the postseason. Dallas does have a legitimate shot this year.
Phoenix, I’m not so sold on. The Suns have three All-Stars, an MVP, coach of the year and sixth-man candidates, and they were successful in the postseason last year. All this is well and good, but I just don’t see them getting to the finals.
Amare Stoudamire represents a new breed of player; talented power forwards whose teams don’t employ a decent center, so that’s the position they end up playing. Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh are the other two young All-Stars filling that need for their teams (on a side note, the first article I ever wrote for ASM was about those three players being the future top three power forwards in the league, I don’t know why that’s interesting to me).
The playoffs are just a different monster; rebounding and defense become even more important, and I just don’t see Phoenix getting by Denver/San Antonio and Dallas/Houston.
But this is the year to do it. With Shaq hobbling around and Yao stuck on a team with Shane Battier as his power forward, none of the top teams employ 7-foot-1 centers clogging up the middle. This is why I still think the title will be between the Spurs and Pistons; they have had the most consistent play in the middle. Dallas is still very much in this race, but my dark horse is the Denver Nuggets. Nene has been playing extremely well coming back from his injury, and Marcus Camby, Eduardo Najeraja and Carmelo Anthony have made this one of the best rebounding teams in the league. Offensively, if the Nuggets can get Anthony and Allen Iverson on the same page, with J.R. Smith fitting into his new role, with there tremendous offensive rebounding they are going to score a lot of points. They aren’t the greatest defensive team, but with that rebounding and offense, they won’t have to be in order to be unstoppable.
Even though size still matters in the NBA, fewer and fewer big men are developing in the league, however, point guards are falling from the sky like raindrops. Again, if we look at recent successful teams, San Antonio and Detroit had All-Star caliber point guards and in last year’s finals, Jason Williams was the third-most important player on his team. Just about every team has a solid point guard now, a young point guard being groomed for the future, or both. The only team that has no direction at that position is Cleveland. However, the Cavs could have the best point guard in the league if they moved LeBron James back there. Last year’s crop of Deron Williams, Chris Paul, Jarret Jack and Monta Ellis could be one of the best of all time.
The game is moving faster, so the importance of having someone who can bring up the ball, distribute, and negate opponents is becoming more and more important. Still, all the best point guards of my era, John Stockton, Gary Payton, Jason Kidd and Steve Nash have a combined zero titles. The last time the best point guard in the league won a title was Magic Johnson (Hello, LeBron James comparison).
So as the NBA continues to evolve, this season has an extreme amount of importance. If Dallas and Phoenix fall short again, there will be a mad dash for seven-footers with any kind of potential in the draft and free agency. If one of those teams wins it all, you may see more and more teams buying into the small-ball philosophy. As many as 20 teams could be implementing new-wave offenses. We’ll just have to wait and see.
The Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks have the top two records in the league, and they aren’t doing it the traditional way. While Dallas did send its power forward to the All-Star game and Phoenix was represented by both its power forward and center, make no mistake, these teams are going to try to run and gun you.
Dallas does have a deep bench, two legit centers (by today’s standards) and plays solid defense. The Mavs also have one of the top players in the league and rebound the ball very well. Most importantly, last season they knocked off one of the best power players (Duncan) and went up 2-0 on Miami in the Finals. At that point, I think Dirk Nowitzki’s fatigue coupled with Dwyane Wade’s spectacular play was the reason for the collapse, not any mental weakness or a lack of talent. Dallas this season is deeper, so it won’t have to rely on Dirk so much, and more talented overall. The experience from last season should only increase the Mavs confidence and their stellar regular season should give them some momentum heading into the postseason. Dallas does have a legitimate shot this year.
Phoenix, I’m not so sold on. The Suns have three All-Stars, an MVP, coach of the year and sixth-man candidates, and they were successful in the postseason last year. All this is well and good, but I just don’t see them getting to the finals.
Amare Stoudamire represents a new breed of player; talented power forwards whose teams don’t employ a decent center, so that’s the position they end up playing. Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh are the other two young All-Stars filling that need for their teams (on a side note, the first article I ever wrote for ASM was about those three players being the future top three power forwards in the league, I don’t know why that’s interesting to me).
The playoffs are just a different monster; rebounding and defense become even more important, and I just don’t see Phoenix getting by Denver/San Antonio and Dallas/Houston.
But this is the year to do it. With Shaq hobbling around and Yao stuck on a team with Shane Battier as his power forward, none of the top teams employ 7-foot-1 centers clogging up the middle. This is why I still think the title will be between the Spurs and Pistons; they have had the most consistent play in the middle. Dallas is still very much in this race, but my dark horse is the Denver Nuggets. Nene has been playing extremely well coming back from his injury, and Marcus Camby, Eduardo Najeraja and Carmelo Anthony have made this one of the best rebounding teams in the league. Offensively, if the Nuggets can get Anthony and Allen Iverson on the same page, with J.R. Smith fitting into his new role, with there tremendous offensive rebounding they are going to score a lot of points. They aren’t the greatest defensive team, but with that rebounding and offense, they won’t have to be in order to be unstoppable.
Even though size still matters in the NBA, fewer and fewer big men are developing in the league, however, point guards are falling from the sky like raindrops. Again, if we look at recent successful teams, San Antonio and Detroit had All-Star caliber point guards and in last year’s finals, Jason Williams was the third-most important player on his team. Just about every team has a solid point guard now, a young point guard being groomed for the future, or both. The only team that has no direction at that position is Cleveland. However, the Cavs could have the best point guard in the league if they moved LeBron James back there. Last year’s crop of Deron Williams, Chris Paul, Jarret Jack and Monta Ellis could be one of the best of all time.
The game is moving faster, so the importance of having someone who can bring up the ball, distribute, and negate opponents is becoming more and more important. Still, all the best point guards of my era, John Stockton, Gary Payton, Jason Kidd and Steve Nash have a combined zero titles. The last time the best point guard in the league won a title was Magic Johnson (Hello, LeBron James comparison).
So as the NBA continues to evolve, this season has an extreme amount of importance. If Dallas and Phoenix fall short again, there will be a mad dash for seven-footers with any kind of potential in the draft and free agency. If one of those teams wins it all, you may see more and more teams buying into the small-ball philosophy. As many as 20 teams could be implementing new-wave offenses. We’ll just have to wait and see.