Aldridge: As the NBA gets more and more skilled, ‘Tall Ball’ continues to (re)-take hold
David Aldridge
Feb 21, 2023
Evan Mobley was disappointed.
Normally, the Cavaliers’ young big man can solve a Rubik’s Cube in less than a minute. But this night, the sides weren’t coming together as quickly as he usually does. The final time: 1 minute 16 seconds.
It was one of the few times in the second-year emerging star’s career that he hasn’t quickly solved a challenge.
Mobley didn’t make the All-Star Game this season, but he’s nonetheless centered in the
NBA’s next evolution, which continues to take hold with more teams.
If we’re not back to the days when bigs like Wilt, Kareem and Shaq controlled games from the paint, we’re seeing more teams using more guys their size who, if not in possession of their low-post skills, are impactful and comfortable with the modern game.
Of course, basketball should evolve, like everything else. But the NBA in particular owes so much to the big men who made the league what it is today. From Bill Russell and Chamberlain, to Walt Bellamy and Nate Thurmond, Wes Unseld and Willis Reed, Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton, Bob Lanier and Artis Gilmore, Robert Parish and Moses Malone, the league not only survived, but thrived, on the nightly battles amongst and between its biggest players. But as the game became smaller, and former players were increasingly ushered out of decision-making positions in NBA front offices, it felt as if big men were not only longer in vogue, but dismissed as having little to offer to the modern game.
But, now, what’s old is new again – even if those players are, now, often outside the paint.
“Size always matters in our game,”
Kevin Durant said during Saturday’s All-Star Game media availability session. “I feel like all the biggest teams have an advantage. You’re starting to see more teams, from their point guard down to their center, (start at) 6-6, to seven feet for the center. I just think to cover more ground, you need more athletic and bigger guys, and the skill level has gone up in our league, so you need more size. It’s good for the game, I think.”
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“Tall Ball” has bucked the league’s trend toward often opting for smaller and quicker in the 3-point era. Not everyone has a Mobley, and there are still way more guards who can fill it up from deep than bigs. But the tide has started turning since the
Lakers stuffed
Houston’s ultra small-ball lineup in the Western Conference semifinals in 2020 in Orlando, when the Rockets didn’t have a starter taller than the 6-8
Robert Covington on the court for long stretches, allowing
Anthony Davis to dominate. The Lakers crushed Houston on the glass, outrebounding them by almost 13 a game in the gentleman’s sweep.
In 2020-21,
Milwaukee utilized its dual bigs – 7-2
Brook Lopez and 7-foot
Giannis Antetokounmpo – in a revitalized, non-traditional attack, with Lopez’s ability to space the floor with his 3-point shooting bringing a big out of the paint.
And when Mike Budenholzer utilized guards and wings down low in the “dunker’s spot” near the basket rather than another big, it gave the Greek Freak much clearer, unencumbered paths to the rim, culminating in the Bucks’ run to an NBA title. It wouldn’t have worked had Lopez not remade him game to become a credible perimeter threat.
In his first eight NBA seasons, Lopez attempted 31 total 3s. In his last six-plus seasons, through the All-Star break this year, he’s attempted 2,161.
Last season, the
Cavaliers went ultra-big, playing 7-foot
Lauri Markkanen at the three, the 6-11 Mobley at the four and 6-9
Jarrett Allen in the middle.
Minnesota joined the revolution this year, bringing in
Rudy Gobert to play center, and moving 7-foot
Karl-Anthony Towns to the four,
a move that has been delayed by KAT’s knee injury, suffered right after Thanksgiving.
Washington has also climbed on board the last two months, moving the 6-10
Daniel Gafford into the starting lineup at center, pushing 7-3
Kristaps Porziņģis to power forward and 6-10
Kyle Kuzma from the four to the three. Porziņģis’ size makes him a difficult matchup for defenses anywhere, but he’s an especially difficult cover at the elbow, where opposing teams often try to use wings and guards on him. He often abuses the cross-match, and has been feasting at the foul line as well, averaging more than seven free throw attempts per game since the switch.
And defensively, the Wizards haven’t suffered; they’re 12th in the league in Defensive Rating (114.0) since making the move.
Denver has the best record in the West going with the still crazy athletic 6-8
Aaron Gordon and 6-10 Michael Porter, Jr., alongside two-time league MVP
Nikola Jokić, who still runs 6-11, 284… and is Nikola Jokić.
And the
Magic, whose brain trust always values long and athletic, have gone loco on occasion this season, playing 7-2
Bol Bol at two guard, along with 6-10
Franz Wagner and 6-10 rookie
Paolo Banchero at the wings, and 6-10, 270-pound Wendell Carter, Jr., in the middle –
with Bol suspending the known laws of basketball physics on an increasingly consistent basis.
The rebirth of Tall Ball doesn’t mean low-post play is back in the game. Today’s tall wings are much more like Kuzma, who attacks off the wings and takes 3s above the break, or
Miami’s
Bam Adebayo — not only the Heat’s defensive anchor, but, increasingly, a go-to guy at the other end. And he’ll score from the mid-range and on floaters just as often as he does on duck-ins and dives. And when he’s aggressive offensively, Miami is good — the Heat is 22-14 so far this
season when he takes 15 or more shots.
“The game’s starting to change,” Adebayo said Saturday. “You’re starting to get 7-footers (like Jokić) who are point guards. … Going big isn’t really like, different, because everybody out there is either shooting, dribble, pass, or is one of the ones who do everything. So, I mean, it’s more talent than height. It’s just that, with the height, you can’t teach seven feet.”
Boston reached the Finals last year pairing
Robert Williams and
Al Horford up front, who anchored the league’s best defense the second half of the season.
“Guys are coming into the league taller and taller, but with the ability to shoot, with the ability to handle the ball, with the ability to come off of pick and rolls,” the Celtics’
Jayson Tatum said Saturday. “Evan Mobley can catch the ball off the rim and go all the way down the court. Jarrett Allen is mobile, probably doesn’t handle the ball as well, but he’s as mobile as they come as a big man. Even Bam; Bam is 6-10, whatever, but he brings the ball up the floor all the time. Kids are getting taller, and their skill development is through the roof.”
Even with Markkanen gone, and putting an All-Star season together in Utah, Cleveland’s still thrived with its remaining two bigs. Mobley is interchangeable with Allen in the Cavs’ attack. Neither is a dynamic shooter — Mobley is a ghastly .194 behind the arc so far this season. But he’s just scratching the surface of his vast potential, and the length of Mobley and Allen still makes them dangerous offensive targets for
Donovan Mitchell and
Darius Garland.
“We just try to protect the paint, using our two bigs, and then dominate the paint on the offensive end,” Mobley said. “That’s what we really focus on. At first, (communication) was a little slow, but I feel like our chemistry has
definitely been building over time. I’ve also been playing with two bigs for most of my life growing up, playing with my brother (Isaiah, at USC) and stuff like that. So, I’m kind of used to it. Our versatility, being able to dribble and pass and playmake as well, I feel like that helps on the offensive end and defensive end.
“Sometimes I’m in the dunker, and sometimes (Allen’s) in the pick and rolls, or he’s in the corner. Sometimes I’m in the pick and roll and he’s in the dunker. It just switches off, depending on matchups.”
The Cavs never hesitated taking Mobley third in the 2021 draft, even though they’d already acquired Allen from Brooklyn in the four-team trade that sent
James Harden to the
Nets in 2021.
“I think what’s happening is that people are trying to find skill, and these big guys have skill,” Cavs Coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “One of the things that we talk about as coaches a lot is, growing up, guys don’t play freelance basketball as much as they used to. But they go and they see individual trainers. So the skill level that these guys come into the (NBA) game with is possibly higher. It may take a little longer to figure out to play the game, but they have higher levels of just skill.
“So, I think that’s what you’re seeing is, you’re seeing big guys with skill. And it’s still my belief that size and skilled will beat small and skilled. Because there’s just so many ways that you can take advantage of the game.”
At the other end, increasingly, are teams like the
Trail Blazers, who’ve been downsizing out of necessity since starting center
Jusuf Nurkic went out with a calf injury earlier this month. And there are nights when Portland can hold its own with its collection of wildly athletic wings. But they remain wildly athletic,
small wings.
“It’s funny, I was talking to my staff a week or so ago, and I was saying things
are going back to getting bigger at the four, and obviously, you’re always going to be big at the five,” Portland coach Chauncey Billups said. “I think teams that have that luxury can tinker with that, especially if you’ve got good guard play. You kind of play through your guards for the most part, anyway. They can tinker with those lineups.
“We don’t really have that luxury, but a lot of teams are starting to play big and go bigger. And it presents a lot of issues, especially because these guys are so skilled. These big guys are tall in stature, but they’re really skilled. They’ve got guard skill sets, a lot of times. That puts you in tough spots.”
