Let’s get this out of the way right up front – the NBA is NOT in a Small Ball Era. It simply can’t be when players are bigger, faster, longer, and stronger than ever. Per the self-professed Hoops Geek (also known as just Andy), through 2018, the average height of NBA players was trending up.
While this would seem to back up the claims that yes, in fact, the NBA is enjoying a Small Ball Era, let’s not forget about an all-important change the league made that went into effect the following season (2019-20), again, per the Hoops Geek:
“Starting with the 2019-2020 season, NBA teams were forced to submit actual height numbers (without basketball shoes) measured by their team doctors. Before, numbers were often skewed by ‘politics.’”
In a bit of an unanticipated twist, this actually reminded me of the time I saw Charles Barkley in Tower Records at Beaverton Mall. Despite being a huge fan of his (he still is my favorite player of all time), I resisted the urge to approach him. Instead, I opted to give him his space and afford him the courtesy of remaining as anonymous as Charles Barkley could be at the height of his popularity as a player.
I did get close enough to confirm he and I were likely the same height – 6’4. His listed height of 6’6 was a little generous. Be it because of ‘politics’ or forces heretofore unseen; I think he was willed to be taller cause he was failing the eye test, but in a good way. Someone standing only 6’4 shouldn’t have been dominating in the paint. The beginning of his NBA.com Legends Profile really speaks to this:
“As a player, Charles Barkley was perhaps the greatest anomaly in basketball history. Listed at 6-6 but actually closer to 6-foot-4, he played power forward as well as anyone in the history of the NBA, often dominating players half a foot taller.
“The numbers back him up. Along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Karl Malone, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett, Barkley is one of only six players in NBA history to have compiled at least 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, and 4,000 assists.”
The referenced company he keeps in the NBA’s record books are all really big dudes, which now also includes LeBron James, a hulking beast of a specimen in his own right. Oh, the irony!
With the league having gone legit with its players’ heights serving as the backdrop, let’s now shift our focus to what the NBA is vs. whatever Era it may or may not be in. First and foremost, the NBA is a copy-cat league, and it’s this very copying that gave rise to the Small Ball Era descriptor.
The Era that we’ve been in has been defined unequivocally by the Golden State Warriors. Them having won four championships over the last nine seasons has fueled a desire for the league to emulate them and their “Death” & “Hamptons 5” lineups. The former was actually reincarnated by the Warriors themselves but given the moniker of PTSD during the 2021-22 season, which catapulted them to their most recent championship (2022).
[For those of you who feel so inclined, you can follow Golden State’s lineup evolution via these hyperlinks: Death Lineup, Hamptons 5, & PTSD.]
The inherent difficulty in trying to copy or emulate what surely has been a dynastic run is trying to fit round pegs into square holes. There is only one Stephen Curry, just as there is only one Draymond Green, both unquestionably transformative players. Klay Thompson was/is no slouch either, who, in his prime pre-injury, was inarguably one of the best two-way players in the NBA – a lights-out shooter and lockdown defender. A very lethal combo, indeed!
Nonetheless, other teams will try. The most notable of which were the Atlanta Hawks. It is noteworthy only cause they were fairly open about it. “In Trae Young and Kevin Huerter, the Hawks hope[d]they ha[d]their Curry-Thompson tandem.” The only problem with this (well, I mean besides Young not ascending to nearly the same heights as Curry and Huerter being no Thompson) was John Collins, drafted the year prior by the Hawks, not being their linchpin defensively. The very thing Draymond was for the Warriors. Green, after all, is the one who made all those Death lineups possible with his Bill Russell-esque defense and elite passing.
Before pivoting to the Portland Trail Blazers’ lack of success in this Era (let’s call it the Golden Era), I’d like to make one final point on the supposed Small Ball Era. And off to X (the artist formerly known as Twitter), we go!
Yet again, I tried to get a conversation started but didn’t really get anywhere. So, let’s hope X’s loss in Oregon Sports News’ gain, but I’ll let you be the judge of this.
“K @SamQuinnCBS, since you’re a bit of a contrarian, which I like & respect, by the way, I wanted to get your thoughts on something that’s been rattling around in my head for a bit now – this being the Small Ball Era & by extension the Big Man Era being dead…”
(https://twitter.com/JasonPerpoul/status/1537934602647392258?s=20)
“I’m of the opinion that the value of big men really hasn’t changed, just their skill sets have. But more importantly, what big men are permitted to do has also changed dramatically. Case in point, it’s my belief that there isn’t anything The Dream couldn’t have done skill-wise…”
(https://twitter.com/JasonPerpoul/status/1537935629526323200)
“But none of his coaches wanted him shooting 3s, as just 1 example. Thoughts?”
(https://twitter.com/JasonPerpoul/status/1537935876759486467)
You are certainly welcome to weigh in with yours. I would welcome it, in fact. But what wasn’t in question was Hakeem Olajuwon’s skill level. And not just as a big man, but as a basketball player. There seemingly wasn’t anything he couldn’t do.
It’s no wonder that current players are rumored to be willing to fork over $50K a week to be put through the paces by The Dream. The most recent of which was Giannis, who said he’d even pay as much as $1 Million for the privilege but also made clear he wasn’t asked to pay anything:
“’So, if somebody like me, as you said, two-time MVP, champion, seek for advice from the most skilled big man of all time and I have to pay $1 million, I will pay $1 million’. Antetokounmpo continued. ‘In no shape or form that he told me to pay.’”
Point taken and controversy averted!
[As a brief aside, Giannis is no small man either and (as he even noted above) won back-to-back MVPs in 2019 & 2020. Only to be usurped by two other really big and extremely skilled dudes. Nikola Jokic followed suit with his own back-to-back MVPs in 2021 and 2022 and then was finally knocked off the mountaintop by Joel Embiid in 2023.
So…
…let me get this straight: in the “Small Ball” Era of the NBA, its Most Valuable Player 5 years running has been a big man? Oh, OK, I was just double-checking!]
Another example of an extremely skilled and talented big man who was only limited by the demands and limits of the era he played in was The Admiral, even David Robinson. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. Both he and Olajuwon are 2 of only 4 players in the NBA’s history (at least since blocks became an official statistic in 1973) to have quadruple-doubles. The 1st was Nate Thurmond, also (obviously) a dominant big man. The outlier on this long list of 4 is Alvin Robertson, but only cause he was a shooting guard and registered 10 steals instead of 10 or more blocks.
What’s really changed for big men in this Golden Era is the demands being placed on them defensively. They have to be able to guard in space. If you can’t as a Big, the NBA becomes more like the NFL in that such Bigs are Not For Long (a shout out to the late Jerry Glanville). Unless you’re a premier shot blocker, ala the Stifle Tower, also known as Rudy Gobert.
Speaking of football, when I think of this Golden Era of basketball, the Spread Offense’s apex in college football comes to mind. It was popularized and orchestrated rather dominantly by Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow down in the Swamp in the mid to late 2000s.
Much like the Warriors and their varied Death lineups, these Spread Offenses were designed to stretch or spread out the defense, hence the name. In college football, speed won the day. In the NBA, the Warriors were/are? winning with the highest level of shooting the game has ever seen and suffocating defense as anchored by Draymond Green. He is their defensive coordinator.
And in an ironic twist to this tale, Draymond blew Portland’s last shred of defensive dignity to pieces when he and the Warriors swept the Trail Blazers in the 2019 Western Conference Finals. By all but ignoring Al-Farouq Aminu and Mo Harkless offensively, Green rendered them virtually unplayable.
Aminu and Harkless’ ineffectiveness in this series was too obvious for Neil Olshey to ignore, so out the door, they went along with any chance the Blazers had at even being competent defensively.
Don’t believe me? Well, here are the cold, hard facts brought to you by…
“Not since Chief… and Mo… were their linchpins have… the [Portland Trail] Blazers even been average defensively. But not for a lack of trying, as coaches and players alike have changed since. If anything, though, their defense has gotten worse, not better, so what gives?
“They lack cohesion, plain and simple. Even now, they have individual elements on which to replicate, having at least an average defense. Matisse Thybulle, as a 2x NBA All-Defensive 2nd team selection (2021, 2022), is the most accomplished, but Jerami Grant and Justise Winslow also have higher-level defensive chops. Even Jusuf Nurkic, when healthy and engaged, has proven to be a capable backline.
“And yet, they still need help, and lots of it. [Portland has been] one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA, having ranked 27th or worst in Defensive Rating over the last four seasons.”
Since writing this referenced article, what I’ve realized is the Trail Blazers’ primary issue defensively, in this Golden Era of Emulation, is their Bigs not being able to guard in space. This is especially true when your former franchise player was never and will never be confused with prime, pre-injury Klay Thompson.
Dame was an elite scorer and shooter, very much in the vein of Curry, but won’t ever be confused for anything that even closely resembles an elite two-way player like Klay, which put even more pressure on the defense. And without having a Big that could guard in space or an elite shot-blocker, the Blazers were very limited in even being able to slow, let alone deter, dribble penetration.
The operative word being “were” they were very limited.
Now that the Portland Trail Blazers finally have a big man in DeAndre Ayton, who can guard in space, the early returns are encouraging. They are top-10 in defensive rating, barely ranking 10th. This is easily one of the most pleasant surprises in the early going of Portland’s season.
Something I hope becomes part of the foundation upon which this young team is built. Defense wins championships, after all (at least passable defense does when it’s combined with the excellent offense).
As the Trail Blazers’ strength of schedule toughens, and they play the remainder of this season without Robert Williams III, we’ll see if they can maintain this defensive momentum. If they can, if they remain a Top-10 defensive team, Top-15 even, then this rebuild will be well ahead of schedule.
