re: Justify the non-traditional roster

Lets allow Holiday, Gordon, Evans, Anderson, and AD play in more than 10 games through a season together before the team gets blown up. The thought of having a starting line up that included Holiday, Gordon, and AD with Anderson and Evans coming off the bench is still relatively unknown and is pretty intriguing.

this thread (a very good one by the way) makes me think about this:

LINK

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The three Pelicans (that sounds like the start of a children’s book) have strengths in different areas. Holiday and Evans are at their best taking players off the bounce, and Gordon was a monster both spotting up and attacking closeouts for the Clippers (though his past two injury-filled seasons have been less than stellar). To effectively use the individual skills of his three guards — and of Anderson and Davis — Williams needs to find an offense that allows those players to be at their best, and to find such a system, he needs to look no further than a conference foe.

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and dream of george karl on the sideline

We're seeing the space revolution right now. Boris Diaw and Rashard Lewis turned Conference Finals as stretch 4s v teams with traditional bigs. In 2014. WTF

I don't think Demps has the wrong instincts in building a roster- guys who can attack, pass, and shoot. But he has missed on how the big man is evolving. Wing and big mobility is turning into a bigger deal than raw size/length.

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But he has missed on how the big man is evolving.

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how? we have AD and ryno. 2 mobile guys who are stretch 4s

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The problems are his buys at the 5 (stiff, slow players)

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we're in year 1 of a roster change. it's impossible to make too many moves in a window with how the NBA CBA is structured

plus the NBA is moving towards using rim protectors at the 5 and mobile defenders at the 4

it's not like we broke the bank on any 5, either. we're not paying kendrick perkins (who is not a rim protector, nor is he mobile) $8-9M per or hibbert (major rim protector) $15M+

IMO its more of the evolution of the player and skill set rather than the league is shifting towards the small ball style.

Just like in the NFL, the NBA has become all about match ups and mis matches. There are great coaches in both leagues and all that, but strategy and style only goes so far. And what has become the best mis match in the NBA.... the stretch 4.

The evolution of the PF position has changed the way teams play. Youve got guys like KD, Kevin Love, Ryan Anderson, Bosh, Dirk, Diaw, etc that are 6'9+ and can drill 3s like a shooting guard. And those guys are tough match ups for teams to guard. You put a smaller, quicker guy on them they can take them on the block, shoot over them, etc. You put a traditional post player on them, and these guys can take them off the dribble. Its just really hard to guard against these guys.

And, it is a guard dominant league. And its not that hard to figure out why. How many guys are 6'0 or taller in the world? 20% of males between the age of 20-29 are 6'0 or taller. And only 2% of males are 6'5 are taller. But, only 0.36% of the worlds population are taller than 6'5. And each time you go up an inch, it gets less and less. According to a stat, there are only 70 people in the U.S that are 7'0 or taller... and in the target range for the NBA, only 53.

There just arent that many people in the world that are tall enough and skilled enough to play as a C in the NBA. On the other hand, there are a lot 6'3+ people out there.

I write what I wanna write, you don't have to read it haha. Only thing I looked up was the percent of population by height.

Here's a condensed version for you.... The evolution of the stretch 4 has turned the nba into what people consider "small ball". And there aren't that many people in the world over 6'8, let alone with athletic ability to play in the nba. On the other hand, there are a lot more people in the world 6'3ish. Which is why the NBA is predominantly a guard league right now and teams use more of a non traditional roster now a days.