Are big men without range a dying breed?

[BigKAT]

With the pace and space era deeply in motion, is it safe to say that Big men who can't hit a jump shot a dying breed?

The small ball of the last few years was invented imo by the Miami Heat, with the transition of Bosh (And his ever improving 3pt range) to Center.

It was then perfected by the Golden state warriors famous 'Death lineup'.
Now, small ball is not the subject, but it is a symptom of big men who can or can't shoot.

Coachs prefer to give up size for shooting, as seen with Draymond green at C, Paul George/KD at PF and players like Anthony Davis, Cousins and KAT picking up a 3 point shot.

Do you guys think this is a trend and soon we'll see Dwight Howards/Deandre Jordans and Drummonds return to being the majority and not the rule?

Side note:
All the last few top picks who were big men could at least hit a medium range shot,

Okafor, Porzingis, Towns, Turner and many others.

[Sarcastic]

It's correlated to big men without a post game.

[fourkicks44]

'Big Men' in general are a dying breed.

[BigKAT]

'Big Men' in general are a dying breed.

Well tall players can still thrive,

Durant, Giannis, Karl Anthony Towns and such.

[retaxis]

TT was the centre and he doesn't have range yet he played a much more important role in the championship than a stretch 4/5 in Love.

All this stretch talk is really just bs. Teams are just stacking it these days with 3 or 4 or even 5 all-star calibre players e.g. Durant/Klay/Dray/Steph/Iggy etc. Its not small ball or whatever, its simply putting as many all-star players on the court together as possible, something you couldn't do in the past.

I bet anything if you put a team of Lebron, Dwight Howard, Irving, Paul George and Melo, you could beat up the GSW without much issue.

[swagga]

It's correlated to big men without a post game.

amen.

[swagga]

TT was the centre and he doesn't have range yet he played a much more important role in the championship than a stretch 4/5 in Love.

All this stretch talk is really just bs. Teams are just stacking it these days with 3 or 4 or even 5 all-star calibre players e.g. Durant/Klay/Dray/Steph/Iggy etc. Its not small ball or whatever, its simply putting as many all-star players on the court together as possible, something you couldn't do in the past.

I bet anything if you put a team of Lebron, Dwight Howard, Irving, Paul George and Melo, you could beat up the GSW without much issue.

they could beat up ANY team in history ... they'd even give '92 and '08 us teams serious runs.

[keep-itreal]

put Jahlil Okafor on a contender and you wouldn't be making this thread

[Jasper]

we would assume this because of the pase and outside shooting , but a team that uses a big efficeintly will have a place for him , as does rebounds and out let passes...

they have to run the floor better than they have , and that is hard for big guys .. ASK DIRK.

[BigKAT]

put Jahlil Okafor on a contender and you wouldn't be making this thread

I hope you're right.

Noel/Okafor really make me feel bad. I hope one of these two get traded to a situation that is going to be better for them, with less question marks.

But yeah, I'd love to see Big Men do well, just wondering if you guys are optimistic about their overall projections in the future.

[fourkicks44]

I hope you're right.

Noel/Okafor really make me feel bad. I hope one of these two get traded to a situation that is going to be better for them, with less question marks.

But yeah, I'd love to see Big Men do well, just wondering if you guys are optimistic about their overall projections in the future.

Why they make you feel bad, they getting paid aint they?

[ralph_i_el]

put Jahlil Okafor on a contender and you wouldn't be making this thread

Jahlil has a good J. He's a better off the dribble shooter than 99% of bigs right now too.


Players without J's are a dying breed in general, not just at the bigs. Teams basically expect their point guard to be an elite shooter, or they are considered a detriment (see: Rubio and Wall)

[Sarcastic]

Jahlil has a good J. He's a better off the dribble shooter than 99% of bigs right now too.


Players without J's are a dying breed in general, not just at the bigs. Teams basically expect their point guard to be an elite shooter, or they are considered a detriment (see: Rubio and Wall)

Yea, that's not true. Otherwise Jimmer Fredette would be in the NBA, and Rubio/Rondo/Wall/Rose/etc would be out of the league.

[ralph_i_el]

Yea, that's not true. Otherwise Jimmer Fredette would be in the NBA, and Rubio/Rondo/Wall/Rose/etc would be out of the league.

The talk about Rubio/Rondo/Wall's jumper hurting their teams has been ongoing for their entire careers.


I didn't say that anyone who can shoot is successful. I said that people expect guards to be elite shooters, and they ride them endlessly if they aren't.

Jimmer is a slow, no defense, team cancer. The only thing he does is shoot. Bad example

[ClipperRevival]

The last 2 finals indicate that it's more important for bigs to be able to defend the P&R in space rather than stretch defenses offensively. Someone mentioned Tristan Thompson. We all saw how well he defended when he cross matched and had to defend wings in space. And guys who couldn't (Bogut, Ezeli, Love) were deemed liabilities at times and didn't play for long stretches.

Another thing to consider is the possibility that the GSW type small ball might've been a one and done deal. They won in 2015 but lost nearly twice in 2016 to the more physical teams.

I think we are in the midst of the peak or near peak era for small ball before teams realize they can't win this way in the playoffs with the added physicality. GSW kind of caught the world by surprise in 2015 but I think the rest of the NBA is catching on now. If you get physical with them, you can affect them. There is also the fact that GSW did not have anyone who could create their own shot against set defenders and set defenses in the playoffs and that affected their offense too. Most of their players get their shots within the flow/rhythm of the game but sometimes you just need someone to get you a bucket when the D is set. But they do now have KD but he's also a guy who can get pushed around at times.

This game requires too much skills in different areas for a pace/space type ball to work forever. The league eventually adjusts and catches up. I see bigs making a comeback within the next 5 years. At some point, there will be too many guys down low who can dominate down low and teams will have to adjust.

Okafor is a guy who can REALLY accelerate this trend.