I am telling you - people who work inside basketball do not use positions. The only time I come across them is with fans. Sometimes, as a writer, we use them because the fans understand it better. Its short hand. But I promise you, teams don't say - "Well, we got our point guard, now we need a shooting guard and a power forward." Fans do that, but teams don't.

The issue with this short hand comes in the example I laid out and many others. You will see if we get Tatum and another poster says, "We should draft DeAndre Hunter" , then other posters will come back and say, "We already have Tatum as our small forward, we don't need Hunter. We should get Clarke because we need a power forward.

Compare this to actual front offices, where they would talk about what kind of players Tatum and Hunter can defend, whether they would get in each others way offensively or they would compliment each other. If either are primary or secondary ball handlers. If the spacing they provide outweighs average to below average defensive rebounding totals as an up front combo, etc etc.

Its just a better way to discuss basketball and team building/fit. Point guard in the way it is used now is stupid because if you look at the 30 guys who start at "point guard", you will find far more differences than similarities. There is no universal "point guard" but primary ball handler has a universal nature to it.

It might be asking too much at this point, but I just hope we can discuss it that way over time.

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Posted by brmark70816

Atlanta, GA

Member since Feb 2011

10123 posts

Posted on 4/28/19 at 2:10 pm to Crewz

I get what you are saying, but I don't work for a basketball team and neither do the vast majority of people on here. It is what we understand, just like you said. I do like and always believed, that you are who you defend. Which is what you alluded to in your post. But there is overlap, even at the level you are describing. Plus the optimum way to elevate those players talents.

Even if you move away from titles or labels. If you had Tatum, would it be best to grab Hunter? Who has a lot of the same characteristics and attributes. Or would you take a lesser player like White, who has other skills you don't currently have on the roster. Its all conjecture and speculation. I think it adds a bit of debate and conversation, which isn't always a bad thing.

quote:
It might be asking too much at this point, but I just hope we can discuss it that way over time.

I just don't see that happening. There is no debating your knowledge and experience, plus there is a solid group of guys here that will probably indulge you. But me and the rest of the random rabble that visit will just be a bit out of our element and it will probably be over our heads. I think you are just going to get frustrated trying to push that narrative. Sorry again..

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Posted by corndeaux