As I was home bored one night, I decided to pop in some old basketball games I recorded from back in the day. I've been recording basketball since about 1980 so I have my fair share of tapes. I look at how the games were played then and how they are played now. As I take a closer look, I notice that the offenses are pretty much the same. At the other end, even slower teams use to full court press. When I really look into the game something really stands out to me though, the big man. Yesterday I read where Clutch had said Griffin has a good stroke out to the 3 pt line. My first thoughts after reading that was why? This guy is probably going to play the 4 position for us, so why would Rudy have him shooting 3's? What does this have to do with my observations? Big men today are scared to be big men. While watching these tapes, one of the some of the first people I stumble across is Moses,Gilmore,Kareem,Parish,and McHale. The next wave of people I view is Hakeem,Ewing,Barkley,K.Malone,Worthty, and a few others. While watching guys like Moses,Mailman, and Barkley I notice how physical they were. These guys played bery hard, went to the basket and were just warriors on the boards. Although Hakeem,Parish,Ewing, and some of the other guys are centers, they still were physical, dominating the pivot and paint areas. Which brings me to this: Why are some many big guys afraid to be low post players? My next order of business is to watch some of the "new and improved" big man as he has evolved. Garnett,Duncan,Webber,McDyess, and Wallace has supposedly evolved the new standard of big man. This so called evolution is the exact reason teams are going to have a very,very hard time unseating the Lakers in the next couple of years. Pat Riley said a few years ago that no one will win a title until Jordan retires and he was right. I think the same could be said of Shaq and the Lakers. I know I will catch a lot of flack for that, but i think its the truth.I'm a very,very big Rockets fan but I'm also a realistic one. Why do I think that way? Simple logic. A 8-10ft shot contested is better than a 22ft uncontested one. Another reason, Shaq. When I watch the tapes of Shaq and the way he just dominates the opponets, I can understand the way teams felt for years going against Hakeem and Moses. I can now feel what the "do-nut" teams felt they had playing the center postion. As good as the west is with power forwards, none of those guys are willing to stay low and just punish the other teams interior. Duncan,Webber and those other guys like to wonder off to 20ft and shoot jumpers, not Shaq. He doesn't care if your big man wants to shoot jumpers, he'll just as well give them that. If the guy goes 10 for 20 and doesn't put any fouls on Shaq, then the most likely outcome is a loss for your team. I'm not just tooting Shaq's horn because he is the most dominate player in the game, I'm just wishing we could mold Griffin into a "power" player. He doesn't have the weight and stregnth now, but after a couple of good summers he will. Instead of replicating the game of Garnett, Webber, or McDyess, I wish he would play like a younger Karl Malone. I don't like the site of Collier and Cato shooting 15 ft jumpers just to get Shaq from up under the goal. I would much rather see them attacking him, getting foul calls against him. Lets face it, thats what he's going to do to you. Thats the pressure and task a team has when facing Shaq and his power game. I know a big man doesn't want to be limited by what he can do, i wish they would start inside first, then work their way out. To me its not a question of being versitile, its a matter of being real good at one thing, then improving at other areas. Personally, i hope the site of Griffin shooting jumpers was just exercise and not what to expect. The Rockets have the foundation to become real contenders in a couple of yrs when Griffin gets to a high level. I don't think they can just be a " jump shooting" team which they were last year and expect to really, really contend with LA. I know we have to crawl before we can walk, well the developement of Griffin down low is the crawling part. One thing is certain in the future, if Shaq is still playing ball, he will not be a 15ft jump shooting center. Shaq is going to bring the "power" every play, every game. If you plan on beating them, someone is going to have to bring some for the Rockets. With that being said, I still think the Rockets will make the playoffs this year.
I agree that the Rockets could really use a power player down low, in fact, need a power player down low if they want a chance at sniffing at a championship. But I fail to see Griffin's ability to hit from long range as anything but fantastic. Players' abilities are not a matter of zero-sum. Simply because Griffin and other "modern big men" whom you criticize have the ability to hit from far away does not imply that their interior game must suffer. Pulling Shaq away from the basket may not seem like that desirable a trait to you, but when you consider that our team as it is now is built unequivocally around Steve and Cuttino, how is the ability to remove a mobile, intelligent 300 lb. obstacle for them not desirable? You mention Karl Malone. I concede that I only know Malone from the standpoint of the last five years or so, so I can't comment on your vision, but to me, Malone is an excellent example of versatility desirable in a player in a power position. He can get his points inside, but he can also hit away from the basket on a consistent basis, and that makes him an infinitely more dangerous offensive threat. I think for the most part we agree. In fact, looking over your post, I think I'm sparring a little unnecessarily. We need Griffin, Mo Taylor and whoever else is playing a power position long term to be able to be effective inside. I think almost all of us here agree on that. This means having the strength and/or the quickness and/or pure talent, whatever to create shots for themselves on a consistent basis. We don't want Griffin standing around on the perimeter most of the game taking set 3-pters, but I don't think anyone in the Rockets organization is really envisioning Griffin doing that. Griffin will play inside and be effective inside hopefully, but he will also be able to hit from all over the court, open things up for Steve and Cuttino, and help make the Rockets unstoppable. In my opinion, being able to hit from away is integral to that and does not inherently hurt his ability to be a strong interior presence on both sides of the court.
And don't forget the importance of having big men who can run. Shaq can't guard the middle if he can't get back in time to stop Griffin from scoring. Obviously, a good half-court game is critical, but a great transition game with big men who can finish strong as well as outlet can easily translate to twenty more wins a season.
I actually think it would be more desireable to have someone who shoots 15-20 footers consistant and can guard Shaq smart. There are certain points where Shaq has weaknesses and needs to dip his shoulder or use his elbow which were revealed early last year. He would pick up at least 2 offensive fouls a game and all it is is smart defence and doing your homework on what your goal is when guarding Shaq. I would really like Antoine Carr here at a cheap price. He does have a sweet/clutch jumper and muscles Shaq out of his favourite positions really good. He did this in 1999 play-offs when he had most success. Fair enough he picked up fouls easy but that is play-off ball. If used properly, Antoine can hold shaq down below averages.
I know it's just talk, and he's still young, but I was very pleased to hear Collier say that he intends to be more physical this year and "throw his elbows" around. Collier's got the size to make it harder for big guys to get in the paint. It was really good to hear that he'd put on some muscle this summer. I would really like to see Collier establish himself as a solid backup center who can come in, play physical D, rebound, set picks, and nail the open jumper. We've got guys with size (Collier, Jackson, Taylor). If they could just make it harder for big guys to get the positioning and shots they want, we'd be set.
I agree that Shaq probably gets at least 1 offensive foul called, but how many personal fouls will he put on your big men? Look at last year in the West Finals, the lakers were able to put Bob Horry on Duncan and not double team him. What did that do to SA, shut them out and they had a guy named Daviv Robinson on the court. I like the notion that Collier can pull Shaq away from the goal, but if you're Shaq, all you have to do is stay outside the paint now. Shaq will affect the game more now than last year. Now all he has to do is take at step and stand on the shoebox. On the shoebox he can still disrupt the other teams offenses. Don't get me wrong, I like versitility, but i just wish the guys would be dominant at something first instead of good at a couple of things. Thats what Hakeem,Mailman,Ewing and some of the others were, then they extended their range which made them pretty much unstoppable.
I agree with you that I hope Eddie doesn't settle for jumpers, that he continually goes to his interior game and makes it better. This will be a very exciting season for several reasons, but not the least of which will be to see Eddie's game and if he has potential for greatness.
