Small Ball Revolution, Right?

[Big Red Slugs]

I always laugh when I hear a basketball analyst or board commenter say something along the lines of, "The league has changed, man, it's all about stretch 4's and an uptempo pace now. Having two post players on the court is a liability in today's NBA."

Then a team like Memphis comes along with Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol, they refuse to go small with the Clippers and pulverize them, everyone suddenly jumps on the bandwagon but few realize what happened.

Same thing yesterday with the Pacers and Knicks. David West exposed the truth that Melo is not a PF. Period.

I've been saying all season, I can't wait for IND to face MIA in a 7 game series. Not that IND will beat them, but they'll be the toughest test for them in East. Somehow everyone else had the Knicks doing that.

 

[Black Adam]

I always laugh when I hear a basketball analyst or board commenter say something along the lines of, "The league has changed, man, it's all about stretch 4's and an uptempo pace now. Having two post players on the court is a liability in today's NBA."

Then a team like Memphis comes along with Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol, they refuse to go small with the Clippers and pulverize them, everyone suddenly jumps on the bandwagon but few realize what happened.

Same thing yesterday with the Pacers and Knicks. David West exposed the truth that Melo is not a PF. Period.

I've been saying all season, I can't wait for IND to face MIA in a 7 game series. Not that IND will beat them, but they'll be the toughest test for them in East. Somehow everyone else had the Knicks doing that.

well, it's all about match-ups anyway, but i hear what you're saying. size is ALWAYS gonna be an important commodity in the NBA. anyone who says different is smoking something, or as you said is simply riding the bandwagon...

 

[logic]

I always laugh when I hear a basketball analyst or board commenter say something along the lines of, "The league has changed, man, it's all about stretch 4's and an uptempo pace now. Having two post players on the court is a liability in today's NBA."

Then a team like Memphis comes along with Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol, they refuse to go small with the Clippers and pulverize them, everyone suddenly jumps on the bandwagon but few realize what happened.

Same thing yesterday with the Pacers and Knicks. David West exposed the truth that Melo is not a PF. Period.

I've been saying all season, I can't wait for IND to face MIA in a 7 game series. Not that IND will beat them, but they'll be the toughest test for them in East. Somehow everyone else had the Knicks doing that.

Funny, I was just thinking of posting a thread "Despite what she told you, size does still matter" on the same topic. I had decided to wait until the end of this round to see how the Warriors do and make sure game 1 for the pacers wasn't a fluke. But really, size and defense still DO matter come playoff time.

 

[chucksker]

I think that's more a product of matchup a in that particular game though. Miami, OKC, New York, clippers (even though they lost to Memphis), Houston.....all have proved that you can win with small ball

 

[Black Adam]

Funny, I was just thinking of posting a thread "Despite what she told you, size does still matter" on the same topic. I had decided to wait until the end of this round to see how the Warriors do and make sure game 1 for the pacers wasn't a fluke. But really, size and defense still DO matter come playoff time.

LOL, always has, always will, m'man. back on CBS i remember what jefe(the REAL one, not the phony I.D. here) used to refer to the playoffs as. he called it "a war of attrition"(dude always DID have a way with words). i honestly couldn't think of a better way to put it...ESPECIALLY in the light of how much the game slows down during the playoffs...

 

[starbigd]

It's not about small ball per se, but about uptempo offense, and getting in more offensive possessions per game.

Hard to do that with large, typically slow interior players. Big men are important, but you can win without them.

I can't recall a team winning a title without a solid PG or SG. I've seen it done with scrubs at C/PF.

 

[Big Red Slugs]

I think that's more a product of matchup a in that particular game though. Miami, OKC, New York, clippers (even though they lost to Memphis), Houston.....all have proved that you can win with small ball

Matchups are the point of the conversation here, right? Small ball is/was a way of using a mismatch to the smaller team's advantage. I'm a big proponent of allowing the other team to go small and pulverizing them nonetheless.

 

[logic]

I think that's more a product of matchup a in that particular game though. Miami, OKC, New York, clippers (even though they lost to Memphis), Houston.....all have proved that you can win with small ball

Miami, I'll give you. They get by on over all talent though. LeBron is that good (I just threw up in my mouth), and Bosh and Wade are no slouches. OKC has some size in Ibaka and Perkins to handle bigs. NYK and the Clips have done nothing, the regular season is over.
Of course, it's about match ups...size is hard to match up against...ask anyone who played against Shaq (except maybe Ben Wallace).

 

[starbigd]

Miami, I'll give you. They get by on over all talent though. LeBron is that good (I just threw up in my mouth), and Bosh and Wade are no slouches. OKC has some size in Ibaka and Perkins to handle bigs. NYK and the Clips have done nothing, the regular season is over.
Of course, it's about match ups...size is hard to match up against...ask anyone who played against Shaq (except maybe Ben Wallace).

Yes, but there's a HUGE difference in simply having size vs DOMINANT size. Very few teams have a dominant frontcourt presence.

 

[logic]

I can't recall a team winning a title without a solid PG or SG. I've seen it done with scrubs at C/PF.

Really? When was a title won without a solid C or PF? Maybe Dallas when Miami choked since I barely count Dirk as a PF.

 

[Big Red Slugs]

It's not about small ball per se, but about uptempo offense, and getting in more offensive possessions per game.

Hard to do that with large, typically slow interior players. Big men are important, but you can win without them.

In the regular season, maybe. The game slows in the playoffs. Plus, if/when the bigger team slows the pace, the smaller team has no shot at all in the halfcourt defensively.

I can't recall a team winning a title without a solid PG or SG. I've seen it done with scrubs at C/PF.

What are you talking about? Look at the history of the league beyond the past two seasons. The league has been dominated since day one by big men winning championships. And we're not talking about guards here, it's about stretch 4's versus traditional power forwards, really. Centers are relevant here, too, but . . .

 

[starbigd]

In the regular season, maybe. The game slows in the playoffs. Plus, if/when the bigger team slows the pace, the smaller team has no shot at all in the halfcourt defensively.



What are you talking about? Look at the history of the league beyond the past two seasons. The league has been dominated since day one by big men winning championships. And we're not talking about guards here, it's about stretch 4's versus traditional power forwards, really. Centers are relevant here, too, but . . .

And nearly all those teams got great guard play. SHOW ME the teams with garbage backcourts that won on nothing but a great frontcourt.

I'm saying bigs are important.....but they don't handle the ball the majority of the game. Without quality guard play you WILL lose. Won't matter who your bigs are.

 

[logic]

And nearly all those teams got great guard play. SHOW ME the teams with garbage backcourts that won on nothing but a great frontcourt.

I'm saying bigs are important.....but they don't handle the ball the majority of the game. Without quality guard play you WILL lose. Won't matter who your bigs are.

Basically, you can say it both ways since you need a great TEAM to win the championship.

 

[Big Red Slugs]

Funny, I was just thinking of posting a thread "Despite what she told you, size does still matter" on the same topic. I had decided to wait until the end of this round to see how the Warriors do and make sure game 1 for the pacers wasn't a fluke. But really, size and defense still DO matter come playoff time.

I can't explain my recent obsession with the Warriors, considering they're far from a traditional position team. I am curious though what they'd look like with a healthy Bogut and Lee together on the court at the same time.

Also, in case any of you guys haven't seen the Warriors new SF arena drawings, it's absolutely sick:

Warriors New Arena 2017

 

[logic]

And nearly all those teams got great guard play. SHOW ME the teams with garbage backcourts that won on nothing but a great frontcourt.

I'm saying bigs are important.....but they don't handle the ball the majority of the game. Without quality guard play you WILL lose. Won't matter who your bigs are.

And I wouldn't be trading much for the backcourt of the Rockets in either of their championship years. It was the bigs that carried those teams to the Back to back 'ships.

 

[starbigd]

Basically, you can say it both ways since you need a great TEAM to win the championship.

Technically true......but we tend to put a bigger emphasis on getting that sure fire HOF big guy more than we do having a solid backcourt. It's this kind of reasoning that leads to a LOT of tall dudes with no talent getting drafted over guards that will anchor and run your offense for a decade

 

[starbigd]

And I wouldn't be trading much for the backcourt of the Rockets in either of their championship years. It was the bigs that carried those teams to the Back to back 'ships.

No it wasn't. Without Horry, Kenny Smith and Sam cassell hitting timely 3s there are NO titles in Houston right now.

 

[Big Red Slugs]

And nearly all those teams got great guard play. SHOW ME the teams with garbage backcourts that won on nothing but a great frontcourt.

I'm saying bigs are important.....but they don't handle the ball the majority of the game. Without quality guard play you WILL lose. Won't matter who your bigs are.

Considering when you say "guard play" you're talking about 40% of the team on the court, sure. If you want to talk about championship teams with so-so PG's, I've got a litany of recent Lakers squads for you with rings and D. Fish at the helm.

 

[logic]

Technically true......but we tend to put a bigger emphasis on getting that sure fire HOF big guy more than we do having a solid backcourt. It's this kind of reasoning that leads to a LOT of tall dudes with no talent getting drafted over guards that will anchor and run your offense for a decade

That's because if one of those big guys pans out you are set where guards seem to be a dime a dozen. Look how many quality PGs there are right now versus solid bigs.

 

[starbigd]

Considering when you say "guard play" you're talking about 40% of the team on the court, sure. If you want to talk about championship teams with so-so PG's, I've got a litany of recent Lakers squads for you with rings and D. Fish at the helm.

D Fish wasn't a scrub like say a Luc Longely was, or Stacy King - he was SOLID. Not a HOFer but no slouch either.