Unless you’re clueless and live under a rock, you’ve probably noticed a trend going on in the NBA. Some of you guys will say it is the proliferation of the 3 point shot or the phasing out of stiff and slow rebounding bigs with average post games. No. This is not what I am referring to. I am talking about how point guards under 6’4 are becoming a liability, especially on defense.
Teams like the Boston Celtics have assembled a roster with players (mostly small forwards) that can shoot, get to the rim, defend, and switch on anyone to play defense. They have small forwards such as Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum as well as Gordon Hayward. People think small ball means runts under 6’3 can dominate. Perhaps you’ll find guys go off on some nights for 30 or 40 points in the regular season.
However, what it really means is that the teams that go with lineups such as the Golden State Warriors’ Hampton Five (Green, Curry, Thompson, Durant, and Iguodala) can beast on their opponents. With that lineup, they have players that can switch on most players, get to the rim, play and defend pick and rolls, and pass well. It doesn’t mean you have small guards that can defend an opponent’s small forward.
This is one of the reasons why the Warriors traded away Monte Ellis. He and Curry were a good duo but not only did their play styles not fit since Ellis was more ball dominant, but the defense suffered. The Warriors had two guards under 6’5.
Trading away Ellis and drafting Thompson gave the Warriors a guy in the backcourt with a size advantage at 6’7. He is a 3 and D guy so there’s no issue with being too ball dominant. Teams like the Wizards and Trailblazers should do the same. This John Wall-Bradley Beal combination and the Damian Lillard-CJ McCollum duo isn’t getting any team to the Conference Finals.
Both teams should look into trading one of their guards and searching for a 3 and D shooting guard or a wing that could play the two. The Raptors are going to be better off this upcoming season with the trade of Demar DeRozan. He’s an excellent player but again, these backcourt duos don’t work anymore. Getting a dominant wing that can score and defend at a high level such as Leonard will help tremendously.
Guys like Chris Paul can score and is a good defender. He is good when guarding most point guards (not all though, Curry schools him). However, as the league becomes more and more of a pick and roll league, more small forwards will be desired and played more. As a result, he will be asked to defend these wings that are at least 6’7 or 6’8.
In the upcoming years, teams are going to copy the Warriors and Celtics by going for small forwards that can play almost any position as well as defend, shoot, and get to the rim. Obviously, these type of guys don’t grow on trees so teams will still be enticed by small point guards that will put up triple doubles on most nights. However, they won’t win anything unless they have one of those wings.
To wrap this up, bigs that can’t defend against a pick and roll, are slow, and can’t floor space are seen as liabilities in the league now. However, ball dominant point guards that can’t defend other positions outside of other small guards are liabilities as well due to their size disadvantage. It’s a small forward’s league now.
