Of the many changes the NBA has undergone over the years, none is more evident than the role of big men.
Kevin Love, now of the Cleveland Cavaliers, staked his claim to superstardom on the back of his floor-spacing abilities. LaMarcus Aldridge (who signed with the San Antonio Spurs after leading the Portland Trail Blazers), Chris Bosh (Miami Heat) and Serge Ibaka (Oklahoma City Thunder) have stretched their mid-range-heavy shot selections beyond the arc. Two of the first four picks in this year's draft, the Minnesota Timberwolves' Karl-Anthony Towns and New York Knicks' Kristaps Porzingis, are giants who, at their peaks, will stroke threes in volume.
Once exclusively considered human billboards for ground-and-pound basketball—for clock-killing half-court sets, for brutal and bruising post-ups, for inside-the-paint-only repertoires—many of the NBA's towers are now poster boys for versatility.
Traditional bigs are still around, plodding up and down the court. But more and more, even those dinosaurs are traveling outside the preordained comfort zone, beyond the three-point line, and finding a new one.
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Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Dan Favale
Adapt or Die: Why Today’s NBA Bigs Must Be Like Towns and Porzingis
August 3rd, 2015 by Dan Favale Leave a reply »
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