Tuesday Morning Thoughts: Death of the Basketball Big Man

1. One thing I’ve noticed from watching the opening round of NCAA games is that there are really no great low post scorers anymore. Besides Blake Griffin or Pitts’ DeJuan Blair, I don’t see any great scoring big men. The college game has trended towards three point shooters. Small and power forwards now typically step outside and shoot the three. Gone are the days of Hakim Olajuwon, Barkley, Duncan, Ewing, and Kareem Abdul-Jabar. Gone are the days of post moves. Gone are the days of the big man.

2. We also see this phenomenon in NBA basketball. Of course, there are still “big men” in basketball. Duncan, Yao Ming, and maybe even that Jefferson kid in Minnesota come to mind when I think of big men that have low post moves similar to the NBA’s glory days when you had guys like Hakim, Malone, Barkley, Jabar, Moses Malone, Ewing, etc., who could post up a man and use a litany of moves to score inside. That’s not to say that guys like Dwight Howard are not “big men”. But Dwight Howard doesn’t have any post moves. Like Shaq, he relies on pure strength and size to get the ball in the hoop. This is fine. It’s still two points. But Howard is no Olajuwon. Hakim had all sorts of pump fakes, up and unders, and spins and hooks. Howard, the new prototypical big man, has maybe a half hook.

3. And of course as an NBA fan I blame this on college basketball. It’s not all their fault, but why don’t college coaches teach big men how to play inside? Out of all the players in college basketball, we can only name 2, 3 or even 4 at most who have the type of skills of a Moses Malone? I would love to go on, but it still puzzles me that a lot of college players do not come to the NBA with skills and fundamentals.

4. Maybe it isn’t the coaches’ fault; maybe it’s the players, the emphasis on the zone defense, great inside defense or college’s 3 point system? You also rarely ever see guards pass the ball down low to big men in the NCAA tournament. For ¾ of the shot clock, all you see are passes near the 3 point line and an occasional weave run just inside the 3 point arc. With all the 3 point shooting and a reluctance of college players to take anything into the paint, maybe the “big man” just says, “fuck it, I’ll just take the ball up top and shoot threes too”. In the big man’s defense, there is nothing more depressing that watching your 5 foot nothing point guard jack up crazy threes, while you bang on the inside. Maybe 1 out 10 possessions Mugsy Boes will pass you the ball down low. But the other 9 times, he’s taking his man for a fall away 3 pointer.

5. I guess I am being my overly critical self again. But, what is wrong with wanting to watch a 6ft 10 player actually play near the hoop. I don’t want to see Rasheed Wallace and Kevin Garnet hoist up three pointers. I want to go back to the 90’s when the same players were posting up and hitting great fade aways over people, dunking, and using the occasional pump fake for a reverse layup.

6. Instead, I am left with Tyrus Thomas and Y. Noah who have never even heard of the word “post-move”. Gone are the days of a Charles Barkley’s ass maneuver (yes, I said ass. Barkley used his ass like a stripper in Vegas), or a Patrick Ewing 10 foot fade way, an Olajuwon up and under, or a Jabar sky hook. All we are left with are some Antoine Walker like threes.

More random thoughts……

7. SagiNasty and I dismissed Syracuse on our chat last week. They actually have a lot of skill players who can shoot the ball. They are fun to watch and should be given a lot of credit for advancing to the Sweet 16. But, luck has a huge part in this as well. They played S.F. Austin who resembled a high-school team. Two of Austin’ss starting players were below 5 feet 4 inches. I submit that almost any team in the bracket besides maybe Morehead St. would have beaten them. Syracuse then beat Arizona State, a team that should be described simply as a “poor man’s” Syracuse. No big man presence and basically a bunch of guys jacking up three pointers. Syracuse deserved to win those games, but they also got lucky playing a high school team and the Syracuse JV team. I haven’t even mentioned that Syracuse unfairly received a 3 seed in the tournament. They went 11-7 in their conference. Meanwhile, Marquette who finished 12-6 in the same conference received a 6th seed. So the tournament officials gave Syracuse a 3 seed and matched them up in a bracket with an automatic win in the first round and an Arizona State team (who hadn’t made the tournament since 2003 ) in the 2nd round. All of this because they got second place in the Big-East tournament, while playing every game on its home court in NY? Considering that the NCAA tournament committee rarely places any emphasis on conference tournament games, it seems quite suspicious that Syracuse got such an easy schedule into the Sweet 16. Also consider that Marquette, who finished with a better record than Syracuse in the Big East, had a 6th seed and had to play Missouri (the 3 seed in that regional) in the 2nd round. I wonder what would have happened if Marquette and Syracuse switched places?

8. This just goes to show how much luck plays a part in the NCAA tournament. Luckily, with the Sweet 16, on average the better teams are going to win and luck will play less of a factor.

9. The Bears continue to sit out the NFL. They are just taking a pass on this whole off-season thing. Lovie Smith believes that free agency is a red herring. From his comments, he believes that free agency is not a magic silver bullet that could cure the Bears’ troubles. TJ Housh? No, he won’t help us. Jay Cutler? Why bother when you have neck-beard on your team. No, instead Lovie believes that his role as a defensive coordinator and the brilliant Marinelli can turn around the Bears’ fortunes.

10. Actually, I am sort of okay with Lovie’s strategy. Because if the Bears’ fail again this year, we will only have him to blame. The buck stops at you Lovie!

11. The USA got ousted by Japan in the RCBC, the Random Country Baseball classic.

12. Arsenal plays Villareal in the next round of the Champions League. A pretty good draw if you ask me. Liverpool takes on the hated Chelsea.

13. Condoleezza Rice spoke at the NFL owners meetings this past week. She supposedly offered the owners and management words of wisdom. Here are my words of wisdom. Don’t listen to anything Condoleezza Rice tells you. Based on Peter King’s column she advised the owners to look overseas for expansion. King’s quote specifically stated, “Condoleezza Rice tells the NFL to look globally” and that she was quoted as saying, “history has a long arc”. You can’t make this sort of shit up. Let’s hope the NFL doesn’t invade a foreign country, come in, occupy land to play football, before realizing that no country outside of the US likes football, which would eventually require some sort of “exit strategy” to pull out the NFL “troops” (aka players) from said foreign country. Besides, has Rice never heard of NFL Europe? What’s next- a speech from Dick Cheney discussing “in-game torture” tactics?

14. The Bears open the NFL season AWAY at Green Bay. Again, for what seems like the 10th straight year, the Bears open up away. It was Baltimore, then San Diego, Detroit a couple of times, and now its f’n away at Green Bay. Why can’t the Bears start the season at home?