What is a Tweener?

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Usually refers to a small shooting guard or a small power forward. Means they are built more for another position (by the classical definition of that position) but don't have the requisite skillsets. Tweener means "between two positions".
 
I don't agree with the listing above. A player who is good at multiple positions is versatile. A player who is not good at any of the multiple positions they play at is a tweener. A player who is good at multiple positions is versatile, not a tweener. The term came into basketball to describe players who were not good at two positions because of size. Not big enough for a 4. Not small enough for a 3. Stuff like that. Most tweeners become mediocre players at best because they are not physically suited for a specific positon.
 
It's like you meet this really hot blonde at a nightclub. You take her home and find out she has a penis.

Most of the way there. Just missing some pretty vital physical ingredients to get the job done.
 
Tyler_Hansbrough said:
Thanks. So is being a tweener a bad thing?
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Usually it is. If a player is undersizeed for one position (and all that usually entails) and too big for another (and all that usually entails), then in the end they just don't fit. Not that they can't eek out some sort of career, but that they are more times ineffective than not.
 
Main Event said:
Alan Iverson! Is that an example?
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Not in my opinion. He's a PG sized player who can play that position fairly well.

I'm thinking of a player like Fred Jones or Antonio Daniels. Both have NBA talent, but because they're too small for SG and too big for PG, they languish around. To be sure, they have some good games, but are all too often abused due to their size. I think Bayless is on his way to the same thing.
 
barfo said:
Too big in this case means too slow.

barfo
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k, too big makes no sense. A tweener is just someone that is too small for their skill set.


^to blazerprophet^^ Again too big to be a pg? you mean have no pg skills? you can't be too big for a position in the nba lol, size is everything, they just have no pg skills.
 
TheFreshPrince said:
k, too big makes no sense. A tweener is just someone that is too small for their skill set.


^to blazerprophet^^ Again too big to be a pg? you mean have no pg skills? you can't be too big for a position in the nba lol, size is everything, they just have no pg skills.
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Here's what I mean. Most (90% or so) of the players in the NBA are too big to play other positions traditionally played by players more than 3" shorter as they cannot aquire the skills to play that 'smaller' position well. To be sure, some (like Magic Johnson) do quite well overall, but the vast majority don't.
 
TheFreshPrince said:
k, too big makes no sense. A tweener is just someone that is too small for their skill set.
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Not necessarily. Charles Barkley was only 6'6, but nobody ever called him a "tweener", mostly because he was so strong and was a fantastic leaper.

Shareef Abdur Rahim is a classic tweener, IMO. He was about 6'8, 240. He was too slow to play small forward, and too short and unathletic to really be effective at PF. At least on a good team.

"Tweener" is most often used as a derogatory term to describe people stuck between SF/PF, but not good at either. It isn't used on other positions mostly because:

• There's really not a huge difference between PF and C anymore. Tim Duncan could be either. I don't hold it against him, and I'm certainly not going to insult him by calling him a "tweener."

• Shooting guards and small forwards are somewhat interchangeable. The average height in the NBA is a little over 6'6, which happens to be a little too short for "prototypical SF" and a little too tall for "prototypical SG."

• Guys who are stuck between SG and PG are typically described as "undersized shooting guards." If you are 6'5 and have PG skill (ie, Brandon Roy) people pretty much soil themselves in exctasy over you. If you are 6'8 and have PG skill, you are either LeBron or Magic.
 
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^^^^^I never said tweeners were bad, barkley was def a tweener, he was just really good. I actually like tweeners because they are usually more skilled than the traditionally sized players


haha all i'm saying is that too big makes no sense, too slow or unskilled makes sense, but too big is like being too good of a shooter, it's dumb. If you could have allen iverson the way he is, or at 6'5" who do you take?
 
TheFreshPrince said:
^^^^^I never said tweeners were bad, barkley was def a tweener, he was just really good. I actually like tweeners because they are usually more skilled than the traditionally sized players


haha all i'm saying is that too big makes no sense, too slow or unskilled makes sense, but too big is like being too good of a shooter, it's dumb. If you could have allen iverson the way he is, or at 6'5" who do you take?
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Usually "tweener" is used in a pejorative sense. Yes you can be too big for a position, not allowing you to guard another player effectively. One of the many oversized SFs who can't play D come to mind such as Vladimir Radmanovic, or an undersized shooting guard who plays next to a point guard.
 
huevonkiller said:
Usually "tweener" is used in a pejorative sense. Yes you can be too big for a position, not allowing you to guard another player effectively. One of the many oversized SFs who can't play D come to mind such as Vladimir Radmanovic, or an undersized shooting guard who plays next to a point guard.
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vladimir isn't too big lol, he is just too slow/has little to no defensive SKILLS. If he was as fast as anthony randolph for instance, he would be fine, but he isn't, so he is too slow, not too big. i don't know, maybe i'm not making sense because none of you seem to get what i'm saying, but big means height and weight, not quickness or speed or shooting or any other ability correct?
 
TheFreshPrince said:
vladimir isn't too big lol, he is just too slow/has little to no defensive SKILLS. If he was as fast as anthony randolph for instance, he would be fine, but he isn't, so he is too slow, not too big. i don't know, maybe i'm not making sense because none of you seem to get what i'm saying, but big means height and weight, not quickness or speed or shooting or any other ability correct?
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Vladimir is probably slow because he's huge for a SF dude. Not many NBA players his size have the lateral quickness to defend a 3 as it is. He'd be a disaster at the 4 so he's stuck there.

If you want to focus on semantics, both are applicable I suppose. But Vladmir isn't too big? A tweener is exactly what Vlad is, too big for SF, and lacks the skills to play PF.
 
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Main Event said:
Alan Iverson! Is that an example?
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Tiny weener.

In any case, guards are typically about 6'5" or shorter, centers close to 7', and forwards above 6'5". Not always true, but that's the gist. It's not just height, but weight. A 7' guy who weights 150 lbs is tall enough to be a C but will get pushed around too much.

The smallest guys in the game are typically PG, but there's exceptions. Iverson is one of the smaller guys, but he plays SG. Not sure he'd be called a tweener.

A guy who's 6'5" 250 lbs is really on the short side to play the power forward position, and likely too heavy/slow afoot to play a guard or small forward position. They call these guys "tweeners."
 
Also, the word first meant the 11-13 year olds. They weren't kids, but they were not teenagers, somewhere in beTWEEN.
 
Goblazers1 said:
Channing Frye.
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Channing is a good example and a bad example. Because he had the wrong skill set for his position, but he was the right size for his position. Maybe a little underweight, but definitely too slow for his SF skill set.
 
huevonkiller said:
Vladimir is probably slow because he's huge for a SF dude. Not many NBA players his size have the lateral quickness to defend a 3 as it is. He'd be a disaster at the 4 so he's stuck there.

If you want to focus on semantics, both are applicable I suppose. But Vladmir isn't too big? A tweener is exactly what Vlad is, too big for SF, and lacks the skills to play PF.
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so why aren't anthony randolph or KG tweeners? OR Lebron or T mac or fuck it yao. He has the skillset of a PF. They are way to big for SF according to you, yet have the skills to play them (besides yao lol). All these guys aren't tweeners because they are skilled enough. A tweener is too small for their skillset, thats it. Being too big is like being too awesome in basketball. If you have the skills it doesn't matter how tall you. Was ralph sampson a tweener then according to your logic?

Vladimir is just a bad player. He is a slow unathletic SF. Not an undersized pf, he has absolutely no pf skills, how could you consider him a pf?
 
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