Before anyone could bury the center position because of the Golden State Warriors’ small-ball waltz to an NBA title, the draft has arrived with a reminder that the lure of taking a potentially dominant big man will always trump modern trends.
Before anyone could bury the center position because of the Golden State Warriors’ small-ball waltz to an NBA title, the draft has arrived with a reminder that the lure of taking a potentially dominant big man will always trump modern trends.
The postseason served as a jolt to old-school, power basketball as teams relied on 3-pointers and pushing the tempo as means to succeed, not just survive. But when Adam Silver takes the stage Thursday night at Barclays Center to announce the first two selections, there is a decent chance that Kentucky center Karl-Anthony Towns will be headed to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Duke center Jahlil Okafor will become a Los Angeles Laker.
That would mark the first time in 11 years that two centers went first and second. Former NBA executive vice president of operations and current NBATV analyst Stu Jackson believes the risk in taking a big man high in the draft is less than going for a perimeter player because “you truly have to be special to have success in the league at a high level. But bigs, even if they aren’t all-stars, chances are they’ll have a role on a team for many years. For that reason alone, selecting a quality big if he’s available makes more sense.”
The Lakers could go in another direction and take Ohio State point guard D’Angelo Russell, a prospect whom many NBA executives believe possesses the most star potential given the league’s transition to a more perimeter-oriented game. But when asked recently why he won’t go first, Russell replied, “Because I’m not 7 foot.”
A center has been chosen first overall nine times over the past 25 years, but only Shaquille O’Neal and Tim Duncan have gone on to win championships and league MVP awards. Yao Ming and Dwight Howard have both made all-star teams, but since the NBA implemented rules in 2004 that eliminated hand-checking and established zone defenses, teams have placed a priority in surrounding penetrating guards with shooters over finding or developing a big man to operate primarily in the low post. The lack of quality centers forced the league to remove the position from the all-star ballot.
“It feels like the game is moving permanently to faster pace, higher scoring,” Indiana Pacers General Manager Kevin Pritchard said during a news conference Wednesday. “The game evolves, and sometimes either you’re behind or you’re ahead. But hopefully you’re trying to figure out where it’s going.”
Pacers President Larry Bird has already made it known that his team plans to de-emphasize former all-star center Roy Hibbert and employ a more high-octane scheme to adapt to the times. Okafor certainly hasn’t been discouraged by recent trends and maintains his confidence that he will serve a purpose at the next level aside from setting screens, rebounding and defending.
“Big men have always been effective in the NBA,” the 6-foot-11 Okafor told reporters Wednesday in New York. “There’s always a place for a dominant big man.”
After the euphoric, champagne-drenched celebration, Warriors Coach Steve Kerr and his former assistant, Alvin Gentry, lauded Mike D’Antoni for developing the fast-paced, 3-point-heavy offensive scheme that fueled their title run. Kerr and Gentry felt that since a primarily jump-shooting team — including one that led the league in defense — was able to win it all, it served as vindication for a system that first flourished (albeit with no rings) during Steve Nash’s prime years with the Phoenix Suns.
D’Antoni was honored that his former colleagues from Phoenix chose to recognize him during their crowning moment but stopped short of claiming vindication. “I wasn’t persecuted or anything,” he said with a laugh.
D’Antoni also sounded a note of caution not to read too much into the Warriors’ abandonment of center and former No. 1 overall pick Andrew Bogut for the final three games of series against Cleveland as a turning point for the league.
“We exaggerate things sometimes,” D’Antoni, who also coached Denver, New York and the Los Angeles Lakers, said in a phone interview. “There’s always going to be, for a good team, you’re going to need a back-to-the-basket post player — now that could be your point guard. It doesn’t have to be just a big guy… . There’s a place for everybody. I know what there isn’t a place for — unskilled players. If you’re skilled, you can play. If you’re not skilled, it’s just much, much harder to get on the floor.”
The 6-11 Towns is expected to go ahead of Okafor because of his mobility, versatility and ability to rebound and defend, skills that should quickly translate in the NBA. Okafor is more of a throwback — “an aberration,” Jackson said — because of his ability to post up defenders with an array of offensive moves at age 19.
“It’s a missing art,” former NBA coach and current NBATV analyst Mike Fratello said. “Coming in, guys his size, they all want to be jump shooters. They run to the 3-point line. So it’s nice to see a guy who understands where his bread and butter is, understands that he has a special talent or tool that other people don’t have.”
The number of big men with the ability to effectively operate close to the basket isn’t long — Charlotte’s Al Jefferson, Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins, Memphis’s Marc Gasol, Chicago’s Pau Gasol, Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge and San Antonio’s ageless Tim Duncan — and has forced teams to find other ways to thrive. D’Antoni admitted he devised a system that exploited Nash’s speed and passing mostly out of necessity because the Suns had no one who could contend inside with O’Neal.
“There’s a lot of different styles that can work. You have to base it on your own personnel,” Kerr said.
Towns won’t turn 20 until November, so he has seen the game played at only one blazing pace that he has learned to embrace.
“For me, the league is not changing. The league has not changed,” Towns said Wednesday in New York. “I see us as humans changing. We’re getting quicker, faster, stronger, more precise. This new crop of talent, the new generation of talent is changing the way the league is played because of how explosive, how fast and how quick we are all becoming.”