Friday, December 27, 2019

Traditional Big Man is Dead but should it be?


Luka Doncic made his return for the Dallas Mavericks last night and had a great outing finishing with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists in the Mavericks 102 to 98 victory over the San Antonino Spurs. An interesting topic came up in the postgame press conference when Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle when he spoke about the demand for his star forward Kristaps Porzingis to post up more. Carlisle was asked about the posting up of players and said that the post up is not a good play anymore. He mentioned that analytically it does not work for them to post up any players. Carlisle was defending Porzingis but even when you look when Dirk Nowitzki was playing with the Mavericks, they did not post him up much in games. The Mavericks have the best offensive efficiency in the NBA but they are only the 5th seed in the West at 20 and 10. The statement Carlisle made of the post up being existent to me why many casual fans do not watch the NBA. You have a bunch of players who are 7 footers shooting threes; this would not be an issue if they were shooting at a high percentage. There are only 11 players in the NBA who attempt at least 6 3 pointers a game who make at least 40% of which only 2 players are 6’10 and taller in Karl Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Jaren Jackson Jr of the Memphis Grizzlies. I believe Carlisle's statement is accurate but also the reason why many players struggle to be the best they can because they limit themselves to just being a jump-shooting big which helps the opposing team due to the lack of energy they must exert on the defensive end.  If you post up players who have small guys on them then you wear them down and they become tired towards the fourth quarter and it can get them in foul trouble as well. This helps your team to win. There has to be a balance in the NBA between just following analytics which say 3’s and layups are the way to win and the traditional way basketball should be played.  The Brooklyn Nets shot 50 3 Point Field goal attempts in their loss last night to the New York Knicks. Teams ultimately have to know their personal because if you try to do what the analytics tell you, but you do not have the players the plan will not work.  Ultimately Big Men even if they love to shoot, they should post up a third of the time. If you get 15 shots a game just 5 times get in the paint and see the difference it can make. This will lead to double teams which means open shots for your shooters on the outside. Let me know what you think?  

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