Drafting The Big Man
I’ve been meaning to write a piece on this topic for a long time but I decided to wait until the playoffs were over. Since draft day is very near, now could be a good time. Snagging that big man with a lot of star potential seems to be what NBA teams have been looking to do for a long time. If you look at who has been selected first overall since the draft lottery was instituted, you’ll notice that more often than not it was a big man even when looking in hindsight they may have not been the right pick.
In 1998, Michael Olowokandi was selected first overall and proved to be a bust while swingmen like Vince Carter and Paul Pierce rose to stardom. In 2005, Aussie center Andrew Bogut was the first selection and while his rookie season was pretty good, the 6 foot point guard Chris Paul showed everyone he was the best. Even this year, guard Brandon Roy gained the Rookie of the Year honor outplaying big man Andrea Bargnani who was selected first.
Ok so while some of these bigs were outshined by smaller guys not all turned out to be busts. But what I’m trying to show is that NBA teams really seem to be attracted to big men come draft day and history has shown that that thinking could prove fatal at times. The sayings “you can’t have enough bigs” and “you can’t win a championship without a dominant big man” really seem to affect this decision.
The NBA game has evolved so much that not only are NBA teams obsessed with looking for the next Shaq or David Robinson, they are also obsessed with looking for the next Dirk or Kevin Garnett (big who play like guards). With big men like these it seems like the game of basketball is now very much more of a big man’s game making it harder and harder for the smaller guys to shine. I think that’s why the NBA today has so much bias for the bigs. That’s why I’m happy to see guys like Chris Paul, Dwayne Wade, Tony Parker and Gilbert Arenas shine in what appears to be a big man’s game. What do you think?
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POSTED IN: NBA Basketball
1 opinion for Drafting The Big Man
Sean
Jun 20, 2007 at 7:35 am
angelo. sorry about my lack of comments, comp went offline with a blown motherboard quite depressing. but im back to comment away.
btw. Kobe video soon?
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