Exclusive Monotony on Media Day

[TorturedBlazerFan]

LOL, that's what you open with? Great Scott, Doc Brown! This is 2018, not 1998. You may want to hop in the DeLorean and travel back to the present.

I'll be generous with the definition of "most". Instead of "nearly all", I'm willing to settle for a simple majority. So, please give me your list of sixteen 6'10" (or taller) widebody power forwards who will be starting in the NBA this season. Go ahead, I'll wait...

Seriously, I went through a list of projected starting power forwards for all 30 teams and came up with 4 that are 6'10" or taller and could possibly be considered widebody:

Derrick Favors - OK, I"ll give you this one.
Paul Millsap - only 6'8", but I'm being generous.
Kevin Love - more of perimeter player these days, but he is 6'10" and reasonably wide.
Blake Griffin - like Love, he is more of a perimeter player these days. He spends much more time dribbling around the perimeter, passing and shooting face up jumpers than he does backing down people on the low blocks.

The one thing these guys have in common is they have all been in the league 8 - 12 years, and other than Favors, they are all spending as much, or more, time playing away from the basket than posting up near it. In other words, they are trying to adapt to the modern game where the 6'10" widebody starting power forward is teetering on the brink of extinction.

Millsap is a perfect example of how the position has changed over the past 12 years. His first three seasons in the league, his average made FG distance was in the 4 - 5 foot range. Mid-career, it increased to 8 - 10 feet. The last two seasons, playing for two different coaches in two different systems, his average made FG has been in the 11 - 12 foot range. Griffin and Love are a few years younger than Millsap, but their average made FG distance has also increased dramatically over the course of their careers. Both had made FG distance averages of about 7 feet early in their career. Last year Griffin was at 13.4 feet and love has been in the 14 - 15 foot range for the past 5 seasons.

Derrick Favors really is the only remaining 6'10" widebody starting power forward who still plays close to the basket.

Due to the way the game has evolved, there just hasn't been an influx of 6'10" wide body starting power forwards coming into the league. These days, you are much more likely to see veterans who came into the league as small forwards, or even shooting guards playing, the power forward position than you are traditional 6'10" widebody starting power forwards. Length is more important than width these days, and shooting range out to the 3-point line is MUCH more important than low post moves. At the power forward position, tall and thin is in, big and bulky is out. I guess you missed that memo.

BNM

What about LMA? Id consider him a bigger bulky guy at this point he worked hard to be able to bang down low. I think you’re pretty spot on though.

 

[Boob-No-More]

What about LMA? Id consider him a bigger bulky guy at this point he worked hard to be able to bang down low. I think you’re pretty spot on though.

Another dinosaur. He came into the league tall and skinny. He has added bulk over the years, but still has narrow shoulders. He has also always preferred to play further from the basket than on the low block. He's not a traditional widebody banger, but I guess in today's NBA he could be considered a widebody PF. Although these days he (ironically) plays more minutes at center than at power forward:



BNM

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

Another dinosaur. He came into the league tall and skinny. He has added bulk over the years, but still has narrow shoulders. He has also always preferred to play further from the basket than on the low block. He's not a traditional widebody banger, but I guess in today's NBA he could be considered a widebody PF. Although these days he (ironically) plays more minutes at center than at power forward:

View attachment 22499

BNM

Interesting I thought Gasol was getting most of his minutes at Center LMA at PF.
I kind of thought the last couple years Aldridge was here he had turned into an elite scorer on the high and low blocks and wad more than just a jump shooter. Unfortunately (at least for me) NBA teams nowadays can only afford to have one guy on the court at a time that doesnt stretch the floor to the 3 point line. So the traditional Kevin McHale type bangers are going extinct. As There role has become just a taller SF.

 

[Boob-No-More]

Interesting I thought Gasol was getting most of his minutes at Center LMA at PF.
I kind of thought the last couple years Aldridge was here he had turned into an elite scorer on the high and low blocks and wad more than just a jump shooter. Unfortunately (at least for me) NBA teams nowadays can only afford to have one guy on the court at a time that doesnt stretch the floor to the 3 point line. So the traditional Kevin McHale type bangers are going extinct. As There role has become just a taller SF.

Gasol did start 63 games at center last year, with Aldridge starting next to him at PF. However, Gasol only averaged 23 MPG. When he came out, Aldridge slid over to center. They also ran a lot of small(ish) ball with Aldridge at center and Rudy Gay at PF.

BNM

 

[jlprk]

Ha ha. All those sentences picking on my one word, "widebody." The epitome of cherrypicking. Okay, delete that one word from my post. I retract it, just to make you write brand new answers. It was a very unimportant word to me as I wrote my post. Same for "6-10." I don't give a shit whether he's 6-9, I just want a PF who's widely considered a starter, not someone like ours who were and will be substitutes for other teams. Just better players than we have, instead of freezing the roster for years. Every other GM changes players now and then, especially when the player is no league star. Dude, you cherrypick unconsciously. You can't help it. You pick out one trivial detail and beat it to death, while ignoring the overall concept because you can't beat that.

 

[Chris Craig]

What about LMA? Id consider him a bigger bulky guy at this point he worked hard to be able to bang down low. I think you’re pretty spot on though.

Yeah all that eating in Texas, he is a widebody

 

[TorturedBlazerFan]

Yeah all that eating in Texas, he is a widebody

Hey congrats you got the moderator badge now! You can delete my posts when the Blazers are down 20 lol.

 

[Chris Craig]

Hey congrats you got the moderator badge now! You can delete my posts when the Blazers are down 20 lol.

I can delete my own too when the Blazers are down 20...moderate myself

 

[PtldPlatypus]

I can delete my own too when the Blazers are down 20...moderate myself

 

[Boob-No-More]

Ha ha. All those sentences picking on my one word, "widebody." The epitome of cherrypicking. Okay, delete that one word from my post. I retract it, just to make you write brand new answers. It was a very unimportant word to me as I wrote my post. Same for "6-10." I don't give a shit whether he's 6-9, I just want a PF who's widely considered a starter, not someone like ours who were and will be substitutes for other teams. Just better players than we have, instead of freezing the roster for years. Every other GM changes players now and then, especially when the player is no league star. Dude, you cherrypick unconsciously. You can't help it. You pick out one trivial detail and beat it to death, while ignoring the overall concept because you can't beat that.

Keep moving that target. Move it around enough and eventually maybe I'll miss.

Don't blame me for allegedly misinterpreting EXACTLY what you wrote. If you didn't mean 6'10" widebody starting power forward, why did you write it? I think I know why, you wanted to create a false narrative that everybody else has something we don't (a 6'10" widebody starting power forward) and it's Olshey's fault. Unfortunately, in your desperation you chose an extremely poor example and now want to shift the blame to me for pointing out your gross error.

Olshey has traded for three different starting centers in the last 6 years - an average tenure of two years each, and he won each one of those trades. How much churn do you want on this roster? You seem to value quantity over quality and change for the sake of change over winning. I guess that explains your profile pic.

BNM