Is big men dead in the NBA?

[CalgaryRapsFan]

Well, I'm officially starting year 5 of lack of roll man touch complaints.

Hard to see that changing as long as the Casey/Lowry/DeRozan core remains the focal point of the Raptors.

There are sayings in other sports that illustrate the flash VS substance debate:
Golf: drive for show, putt for dough
Baseball: chicks dig the long ball, but pitching wins championships

Unfortunately, the Raptors seem content relying on the Iverson-esque 'flash' piece (ie: hero-ball play from the guards), rather than the championship-winning 'substance' piece (ie: ball movement and team-oriented play).

Whether a team is more big/small or inside/perimeter oriented depends more on their personnel. Regardless, they need to be able to exploit their advantages by playing unselfish team ball (offensively), while also ensuring that the same lineup is capable on the defensive end of the court.

So no, I don't think big men are dead in the NBA, but rather so many of them have been encouraged to develop a 'small' game while growing up to fit the 'modern NBA', instead of developing a traditional low-post 'big' game. Hopefully the trend pendulum starts swinging back the other way over the next few years.

[SkywalkerAC]

Hard to see that changing as long as the Casey/Lowry/DeRozan core remains the focal point of the Raptors.

There are sayings in other sports that illustrate the flash VS substance debate:
Golf: drive for show, putt for dough
Baseball: chicks dig the long ball, but pitching wins championships

Unfortunately, the Raptors seem content relying on the Iverson-esque 'flash' piece (ie: hero-ball play from the guards), rather than the championship-winning 'substance' piece (ie: ball movement and team-oriented play).

Whether a team is more big/small or inside/perimeter oriented depends more on their personnel. Regardless, they need to be able to exploit their advantages by playing unselfish team ball (offensively), while also ensuring that the same lineup is capable on the defensive end of the court.

So no, I don't think big men are dead in the NBA, but rather so many of them have been encouraged to develop a 'small' game while growing up to fit the 'modern NBA', instead of developing a traditional low-post 'big' game. Hopefully the trend pendulum starts swinging back the other way over the next few years.

I'd argue that it's quite the opposite - the raps eschew the aesthetically pleasing ball movement game (largely due to personal perhaps), instead opting to grind it out (in fairly ugly fashion) by getting into the paint and to the line and kicking out for 3s. Free throws remain the most efficient shot in the game, but they aren't pretty.

[golden]

I'd argue that it's quite the opposite - the raps eschew the aesthetically pleasing ball movement game (largely due to personal perhaps), instead opting to grind it out (in fairly ugly fashion) by getting into the paint and to the line and kicking out for 3s. Free throws remain the most efficient shot in the game, but they aren't pretty.

Therein lies the problem. Free throws dried up pretty bad in the playoffs for DD and Lowry and our offensive efficiency plummeted right along with that (from 110 down to 102 ORTG).

[The Great One]

ELITE big men? yes. Big men in general who can play? no.

[KeonClark]

ELITE big men? yes. Big men in general who can play? no.

HI there I'd like to introduce you to karl Anthony towns

[The Great One]

HI there I'd like to introduce you to karl Anthony towns

Lol. Really man? KAT is a great young player. He has potential to be great. But let's not get carried away. He's a 2nd yr player.

ELITE big men - Shaq, Dream, Duncan, Robinson, Kareem etc..

[Mess]

Incoming advanced stat bombs in 3...2...1...

[3inthekeon]

Therein lies the problem. Free throws dried up pretty bad in the playoffs for DD and Lowry and our offensive efficiency plummeted right along with that (from 110 down to 102 ORTG).

I'm not going to say it wasn't A factor, but it was far from the only one, and in my mind well down the list.. How about losing our best (and most efficient) playoff performer for about half our games. And what did we shoot open/wide open, especially from 3? Haven't seen the stats, but it seemed far worse than the regular season. Those were much bigger factors in our offensive downturn.

[golden]

I'm not going to say it wasn't A factor, but it was far from the only one, and in my mind well down the list.. How about losing our best (and most efficient) playoff performer for about half our games. And what did we shoot open/wide open, especially from 3? Haven't seen the stats, but it seemed far worse than the regular season. Those were much bigger factors in our offensive downturn.

The explanation is as simple as this:

In the playoffs opposition teams game-planned heavily for Lowry & DD, causing their FG% to drop like a rock. They couldn't compensate for the drop in FG% by getting to the FT line at their normal rate (or ideally, higher). And they weren't able to get other teammates involved more (through ball-movement, or feeding the post/roller), since that isn't the Raps normal style of play.

[SkywalkerAC]

The explanation is as simple as this:

In the playoffs opposition teams game-planned heavily for Lowry & DD, causing their FG% to drop like a rock. They couldn't compensate for the drop in FG% by getting to the FT line at their normal rate (or ideally, higher). And they weren't able to get other teammates involved more (through ball-movement, or feeding the post/roller), since that isn't the Raps normal style of play.

Nothing to do with Lowry's elbow and disastrous resulting shooting?

[golden]

Nothing to do with Lowry's elbow and disastrous resulting shooting?

Clad in a Maple Leafs cap, Lowry says elbow is not an issue. "There's nothing to be made of it. It's all me." Not mechanical, he says.

— Ryan Wolstat (@WolstatSun) May 4, 2016

[SkywalkerAC]

Clad in a Maple Leafs cap, Lowry says elbow is not an issue. "There's nothing to be made of it. It's all me." Not mechanical, he says.

— Ryan Wolstat (@WolstatSun) May 4, 2016

Right, which is why surgery was never considered...
http://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/bas...elbow-surgery/

Either way, his shooting was a major reason our offence sputtered for much of the postseason. We couldn't get to the line either, but part of that was teams able to give up the shot for both of our starting guards.

[Raptor Jesus]

Big Man back to the basket sets are the same ISO possession that everyone seems to hate, and deride the Raps for favoring. The difference being none of the defense moves at all. The best hope is a high percentage short range shot or foul. The wing cutter for rebound that everyone thinks is the easy put back is challenged by the off big and its defender plus the wing cutter and defender rushing for the board cramping the limited space inside. 4 out 1 in sounds great, until the defense throws the double and 3 perimeter players are well guarded by 2 and the last shifts down to cover the rebounder.

Is the Big Man dead? Hell no, he evolved from watching Kareem hit hook shots and watching Shaq bully to move on defense and step out. Everyone wants the ball in their hands and after a generation of watching guards and wings dribble out possessions learned a cross over from the top of the key and skill enough to finish.

The long and short of it is that the game has moved, the positions and placements have changed but the static idea of fans haven't.

JV can beast but only now that 4 years on he's seen the NBA, learned his own skin, and is ready for a NBA defense to shift.

[KeonClark]

Lol. Really man? KAT is a great young player. He has potential to be great. But let's not get carried away. He's a 2nd yr player.

ELITE big men - Shaq, Dream, Duncan, Robinson, Kareem etc..

Well you said that elite big men are dead and gone but kat will most likely be elite as well as Anthony davis boogie etc.

Your definition of elite seems to be all time great. I would say top 10 player in the current nba is considered elite.

[3inthekeon]

The explanation is as simple as this:

In the playoffs opposition teams game-planned heavily for Lowry & DD, causing their FG% to drop like a rock. They couldn't compensate for the drop in FG% by getting to the FT line at their normal rate (or ideally, higher). And they weren't able to get other teammates involved more (through ball-movement, or feeding the post/roller), since that isn't the Raps normal style of play.

You seem to need simplistic explanations, whereas truth is multi-faceted.

Regular season 3 pt attempts - makes

open - 9.6/game 35.1%
wide open - 8.1/game 42.5%

playoffs

open - 10.4/game 31.3%
wide open - 6.8/game 32.1%

We did lose 1.3 wide open looks/game, but only 0.5 total of open/wide open. We were terrible hitting them, though.