Summer Quandaries 20: Forward Thinking

http://celticsgreen.blogspot.com/2015/08/sq20-power-forward-thinking.html



SQ20 (Power) Forward Thinking

By Lee Lauderdale









Deep in the bowels of the Waltham practice facility, far below the offices of Danny Ainge, Brad Stevens and the rest of the Celtics' brain trust, behind massive arched oaken parquet doors with diabolical leprechaun tested locks, Danny and Brad stand around huge wrought iron caldron, silently stirring an ever thickening brew that gives off an ominous and ghastly green glow with bubbles that slowly rise through the thick liquid only to pop with an eerie retort and produce a horrific odor of nameless terror and enchanted obsession. Any outsider present, although there would never be such, would surely quail at the overwhelming presence of malodorous plumes of smoke emanating from an ethereal spirit, both short and rotund and with an overtly pugnacious countenance. Ainge's paddle slows as it encounters some object impeding its progress, and with a deft adjustment Danny turns the handle easing the blade into a horizontal and laboriously pries the ensnared object from the depths of the ink black pot and teases it into the dank air. He proffers the still dripping clipboard to his coach who , in a voice scarcely above a whisper, reads the deeply etched words, “Why not all forwards!”

O.K., perhaps with slightly less melodrama, but can't you picture Danny and Brad sitting in Ainge's office kicking around the idea of position-less basketball when one turns to the other and says “If they are all forwards, this might work! Everyone is 6-7 to 6-11 and mobile. We can switch on every screen. Everyone can post up, shoot from the perimeter, or drive against the close-out or around a pick and roll. Every help defender is ready to alter a shot from the weak side. There is no weak link because they can all do everything.”

The other responds, “Well we might need one guard to handle the pressure and start the weave rolling, but if we make him a big guard with strength to play up, then it probably doesn't weaken the plan overall. Yeah, Marcus Smart is just big with a good handle trapped in a linebacker's body—he'll do!”

I might be about a bubble off plumb, and slightly off my rocker (certainly those who have known me through my life won't give you any strenuous argument), but don't be surprised if the preseason finds the Celtics putting Smart, Crowder, either Jones or Jerebko or even Mickey, along with (pick two from column four) some pairing from Sullinger, Olynyk, Lee, Johnson, and Zeller, And there you have it, a big guard and four forwards, the new position-less NBA.

More and more we have seen these huge two guards (think James Harden or Paul George) who often tower over their match-ups, the more typical 6-4 to 6-6 shooting guard. We have also seen Boston battle uphill, often giving up 2 or more inches at every position. Well enough of that. I say let's play downhill for a while. Let's do the leaning rather than the being leaned on. Let the Celtics play from the position of power and strength!

Has the mad scientist GM, Danny Ainge, really been prescient in his penchant for gathering half a team of forwards? It remains to be seen if Jerebko has the mobility to keep up with small forwards, or if Perry Jones can resurrect his career in that Mecca of lost NBA wayward souls in Boston. Are Zeller and Olynyk (or Lee and Johnson for that matter) adequate centers playing up from their, perhaps more proper, positions at power forward. You know, if I wasn't a diehard Boston fan, I think I would still be rooting for this aggregation of over achievers to grow in to a collection of just plain old achievers, and a group that continues to be greater than the sum of the parts.

Only 46 more days until camp.



bob
MY NOTE:  "an ethereal spirit, both short and rotund and with an overtly pugnacious countenance".  Is that anyway to talk about Red?

Back to the meat, I find this a fascinating intellectual exercise.  If the league is heading towards position-less basketball, and that's how Brad sorta sees it too by thinking of players as either ballhandlers, wings or bigs, then why not push the envelope and see just how far you can go with that precept?  Why not say "we need an elite ballhandler to handle pressure (Thomas?), we need a brute to handle the relatively few mastodons in the league (still not on the roster) but other than that the rest of the team is just slightly taller/shorter (PJ3/Turner) or slightly faster/slower (Kelly/Zeller) or slightly more physical/finesse (Smart/Bradley and Sully/Jerebko) versions of each other?  A plug-and-play team.

In a "read-and-react" offense, why not?  Everybody moves, everybody touches the ball, everybody passes and everybody can shoot from anywhere because you don't really know where you're going to be or have to go until you read-and-react.  And as far as the other side of the ball goes, why not use our across-the-board team speed like the way Miami did and just throw doubles and quick rotations at other teams?  Sure, the few times we run into a behemoth like Howard or Jordan we might have a problem, but that would put us only 1 player away (or we do what we have done with other players in the past, like John Starks, Dr J and others. You just give them their points and shut down the rest of the team).

Personally, I find this whole thing somewhat unsettling.  As I have said before I like my bigs down low pounding people into paste, it juices up my testosterone, but Darwin is a bitch and I don't want to wait until this particular worm turns before we win again, meaning you win the way the league is going and not how it used to be and how you hope it someday turns back into.  The Portland Trailblazers of 1976-1977 won the championship, for the most part, because of the high post passing of Walton to cutters.  Maurice Lucas set a bone-rattling pick that freed up Twardzik or Gross or Hollins, who slashed to the hoop and Big Bill hit them on the cut.  Wasn't that beautiful basketball?  Did we complain about the esthetics because Walton wasn't another Moses Malone?  Yes, Walton was a superior interior defender, and we need that but as I said earlier that puts us 1 player away IF the rest of the whole position-less basketball concept works.

What say you all?


.

Theoretically, going in the direction of totally homogenized basketball is the essence of the theory of interchangeable parts.  It's ideal insurance against injuries; it reduces the probability of mismatches, especially against a screening offense; it facilitates egalitarian basketball ball that's not thrown out of balance by forcing passes to certain key individuals.

It also underscores the current trend toward ho hum basketball, in which metrics are becoming more influential than heart and verve in player evaluation; the proliferation of three-point launches (I call them "dry heaves") removes the term "creativity" from the basketball lexicon; so-called team basketball is really a synonym for, "Oh my god; don't make me play man to man"; and I swear that, by 2020 the uniforms of all teams will be mandated to be colored beige on beige.

If there's a movement toward everyone being able to do everything, it means to me that all players will become Jacks of all trades and masters of none.  It will be time to erect a sculpture in Springfield that memorializes the now archaic term, "role player" and passes his torch to the pick-and-roll player.  There will be no room for specialization....no need for blending specialists artfully so as to aspire to the achievement of top performance in every aspect of the game.

And what about player motivation?  Will players actually be vilified for performing more than one standard deviation from the norm in a given facet of the game?  Will the MVP be replaced by the MNP award?  ("Most Neutral Player.")

The basketball I love is a game of "feel."  You train to achieve peak performance in the elements of the game for which you're best suited.  You work to make your performance instinctive so you can focus on interacting creatively with others who have gone through the same honing discipline in their respective skills.

The more basketball becomes intellectualized at the expense of instinct and verve, the less appeal it seems to have for me.  I'm not at all saying intellectualization is a bad thing.  Perhaps formularized basketball is the best path to winning basketball. Who knows?  But, in a game that has become more entertainment than pure sport, I reserve my right to be entertained in a way that feels comfortable to me.

On the other hand, would I like to have seen what would happen if the Celtics had fielded a team of 12 John Havliceks? Hmmmmmm.

Sam

Sam, still waiting for your appointment?

This ain't nothing new, we did this already in the 70's, that was small ball with a point guard that had a shooting stroke and a scoring mentality and mobile short players at the 4 and 5, with a center with the skills to run a high post offense. Everything is in cycles....alot of teams have recently gotten bigger so I'm not so sure there is a new evolution of small ball going on everywhere.

Set for September 1, Rosalie. Thanks for asking.

Now that you've been home for a while, how are you feeling?

Sam

Trying to get stronger daily without doing too much, it is a real
challenge! After spending all that time in the rehab, now I have to check in with all the doctors I have. Primary care, cardiologist, hemotologist, and my rheumatologist!!! I also have to see a doctor from the CDC, hopefully just a one shot deal. They still do not know where the infection came from, and neither do I. Having Lupus does not help the situation, it made for many different things poppong up. At one point they even said I had Lime disease,, which I told them was almost definitely a false positive. I go thru these things all the time.

But, all in all, I am better for having been at Spaulding, they worked on me daily and were wonderful. Nurses, doctors,and most importantly, the therapists. My back is starting to give me some problems, but I am sure it has to do with all that I have been through. I probably will try to see the physical therapist a few times on an outpatient basis in Spaulding/Wellesley. She was terrific before.

Well, I have gone on and on,, I am sorry! I am glad you have your date, once it is over you will be a new man!!!! What about Paris?????

Thanks for always listening, you are a true friend. Talk to you
soon.

Love
Rosalie