Bigger not better in today's NBA- Seattle Times

[Tammo29@xxxxxxx]

Percy Allen / NBA reporter
Bigger not better in today's NBA
The Seattle Times

Jerome James is on to something. He has moments of clarity and clairvoyance
when his clever observations contain a bit of cold, hard truth. "I'm gonna
need to work on my (jump shot) if I'm gonna keep my job," the 7-foot-1 Sonics
center said. "Take a look around. Every guy my height is out there taking
threes, dribbling between their legs, acting like they're A.I. (Allen
Iverson).

"Man, I'm telling you. In five years, you're going to see a 7-foot point
guard. Five years. You already see guys 6-8, 6-10 playing the point. Man, I'm
telling you, the game has changed. Guys like me, we're dinosaurs."

Take a look at the NBA. The traditional low-post players are almost extinct.
The shortage of skilled centers has been well documented, but the drought has
now claimed power forwards and what remains are versatile 6-4 to 6-8 swingmen
who play on the perimeter.

With the exception of Shaquille O'Neal, no one plays with real low-post
power. San Antonio's Tim Duncan hasn't played at last year's MVP level, and
Sacramento's Chris Webber has been slowed by injury.

Utah's Karl Malone, the prototypical power forward, is aging. Indiana's
Jermaine O'Neal is young.

The top 10 scorers in the NBA are all under 6-10. The last time that happened
was in 1983-84 when small forwards Adrian Dantley and Mark Aguirre dominated
the league.

Size doesn't matter


The top 10 scorers in the NBA all stand below 6 feet 10 inches, with the
tallest (Golden Statebs Antawn Jamison) at 6-9. The last time the top 10
scorers in the league all stood below 6-10 was during the 1983-84 season.
2002 season
POS.    PLAYER  HT. TEAM    AVG.*
F   Tracy McGrady   6-8 Orlando 31.8
G   Kobe Bryant 6-7 L.A. Lakers 28.8
G   Allen Iverson   6-0 Philadelphia    28.6
G   Steve Francis   6-3 Houston 25.5
F   Antawn Jamison  6-9 Golden State    24.6
G/F Paul Pierce 6-6 Boston  24.2
G/F     Jerry Stackhouse    6-6 Washington  24.1
G   Ray Allen   6-5 Milwaukee   23.6
G   Allan Houston   6-6 New York    23.4
F   Jamal Mashburn  6-8 N. Orleans  22.8
*Through Fridaybs games.

1983-84 season
POS.    PLAYER  HT. TEAM    AVG.
G/F Adrian Dantley  6-5 Utah    30.6
F   Mark Aguirre    6-6 Dallas  29.5
F   Kiki Vandeweghe 6-8 Denver  29.4
F   Alex Englis 6-8 Denver  29.4
F   Bernard King    6-7 New York    26.3
F   George Gervin   6-7 Sacramento  25.9
F   Larry Bird  6-9 Boston  24.2
F   Mike Mitchell   6-7 Sacramento  23.3
F   Terry Cummings  6-9 San Diego   22.9
F   Purvis Short    6-7 Golden State    22.8
Source: NBA.com



So why is this happening again?

Jim O'Brien has a theory. The Boston Celtics' coach believes the new rules
that allow teams to play zone defense have negated the effectiveness of
low-post players such as Vin Baker, who had been an All-Star in the
mid-1990s.

But others disagree.

"I don't think that's the reason," Orlando Coach Doc Rivers said. "They
didn't slow Shaq down. Give me (Kareem Abdul-) Jabbar and Robert Parrish. You
can keep those new rules, and I guarantee you that they will be just as
dominant."

Rivers attributes his team's reliance on perimeter players as inevitability.

"It's not intentional," he said. "It's because there's no centers. It's not
some calculated ploy here. There's nobody big that can play. ... There's just
not a lot of bigs in the league.

"The 6-10 guys are thin and they are handling the ball and shooting threes.
The 7-1 guys, there are none. So it's just one of those time periods where
there's not enough bigs in the league. ... We have to go to China, which
shows there's just not a lot of them."

And still others disagree.

"I don't think there's a lack of big men, in fact, there's more big men then
there's ever been," NBA analyst John Thompson said. "But there's no big men
playing like big men. Most big men are outside shooters or finesse players as
opposed to guys who get down on the block and play.

"That's why you see when Shaq is out, mediocre centers are getting all kinds
of accolades because Shaq is indeed what he calls himself, one of the last of
the real big guys."

Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki and Minnesota's Kevin Garnett are both 7-footers, but
they are generally face-the-basket players. In another era, they would have
been restricted to the painted area.

As a comparison, Bill Russell, unquestionably one of the greatest centers in
NBA history, is listed at 6-10, 220 pounds and played an entirely different
game than Nowitzki and Garnett.

"Bill was 10 feet tall because he played that big," said Thompson, who spent
three years as Russell's backup in Boston. "It don't matter what his height
is, it's how big he played.

"He blocked shots. He rebounded. He took a beating and stayed in there and
played the position. There's a lot of big guys that can go outside, but
there's not a lot of little guys that can go inside."

Thompson gets passionate about this topic. As a former Georgetown coach, he
nurtured Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo, who went on to
become NBA All-Stars. He taught them the skills he learned from Russell.

"I don't have a problem with big guys going outside and shooting," Thompson
said. "Patrick had a fine jump shot. But I do have a problem with them not
being able to go inside. I have a problem if they can't post up, can't
rebound and can't defend. That's a difference. You've got to be able to do
your job before you start doing someone else's.

"The one team that has the center dominates when he's in. ... When Shaq comes
back, you can't beat the Lakers. So that means the value of that position is
still significant."

But just to be safe, James may want to work on his crossover dribble.