Positionless Basketball and the extinction agenda
Magic Johnson played center in game 6 of the 1980 finals because Kareem was hurt. The story is told with a mythical tone, but I imagine this generation of NBA fans wonder what the big deal is or even what it means to “play center.” We live in an era of abundance and prosperity for basketball fans. Data analysts, and Darwinian basketball technocrats are finding taller, more nimble athletes who can score from everywhere. This type of player was a figment of our imagination 20 years ago and is now the norm; one lasting and ongoing legacy of the Lebron era. Every team in the NBA prioritizes players who can guard 1 through 5 on defense and have similar packages on offense. The three point revolution and the advent of the 7-foot wing player inspired some to call this an era of “positionless” basketball; top to bottom the most talented league in NBA history.
Innovation is outpacing human experience; our lives are transformed before we have the opportunity to understand how we feel about it. What happens to the game we love in an era of over-datafication, and a product that feels increasingly tailored for social media? Positionless basketball is praised for making the game more versatile, fast paced, and exciting. This seems to be true, but what else is happening? Versatile, fast paced, and exciting doesn’t equal quality but it usually equals entertaining. Bomani Jones said sports are meant to be entertaining, but he cautioned us not to think of sports as entertainment. Basketball was once compared to things like jazz and poetry which are created with beauty in mind, ambitions of mastering a craft. Now, in part through positionless basketball, the NBA is more akin to pro wrestling or a monster truck rally, entertainment of little consequence.
What’s getting left behind, marginalized, and on the verge of extinction are true point guards, and back to the basket big men, positions #1 and #5. Most current NBA players are hybrids of shooting guards through power forward who can shoot and dribble and are taller than 6 foot 4. Entertaining for sure, I love watching Giannis or Wemby in transition, make a dribble move past one defender, euro step another and then extend from the free throw line to finish emphatically. We teach shooting guards point guard skills, and we teach centers to pop on ball screens instead of roll; teach everyone to play the game rather than a position. This creates a basketball paradise of hyper skilled combo players, with teams scoring 130 points a night and bloated individual stats, where a 40 or 50 point game is cool but unremarkable. Paradise can quickly turn into a dark pit of unwatchable basketball when teams blow 20-point leads by only shooting 3’s, or when those fun combo guards over dribble and turn it over, only to go 2 for 18 from the floor. Positions help with roles, roles help with responsibility and accountability, and those things help with quality.
The first relic is the back to the basket big man. Teams reserve one roster spot for guys who can rebound and rim protect, but that's all. Zach Edey made a killing in the post in college and his teammates don’t even pass him the ball in the NBA. As you read this he's probably somewhere practicing his 3 point shot, bless his heart. The last two great centers before the extinction agenda were Dwight Howard and Shaq. Defending Shaq and Dwight was a 48 minute nightmare. All it took was at most 2 dribbles and 2 bumps and defenders were being brutalized under the rim. Easy money to the point it didn’t feel fair. Helplessly, teams surrendered to “hack a Shaq/Dwight” strategies, hoping they would only rattle in one free throw. This made games tough to watch and was one of the catalysts for change in the NBA. Now, Jokic will operate out of the post as a second option after he’s finished playing with hand offs and ball screens on the perimeter and Karl Towns will only do it when fans and media shame him into it. It’s probably true that Shaq and Dwight were over-specialized and could have developed other parts of their games but by the same token, why would you ask an elephant to behave like a cheetah?
The other casualty of the extinction agenda is the point guard position, the conductor, the coach on the floor. The point guard used to be thought of like a quarterback: needing comprehension speed, memory, holistic decision making etc. Point guards are supposed to understand how to be opportunistic in transition, how and when to be deliberate in the half court. Point guards needed situational awareness; shot selection is fluid and dependent on a variety of factors, including time and score, match ups, who has the hot hand, the foul count, stopping a run for your opponent, or extending one for your team. The thought process used by current point guards seems to be “from whom shall I request a ball screen in order to find a dance partner of my choosing?” This is effective and works well for NBA guards, but with this strategy on the main stage and other considerations brushed aside, the game suffers. The highlights flourish, the game suffers.
This era of NBA players have basketball IQ’s, but I wonder how much of it is for their own statistical benefit or building their personal brand. A team-based basketball IQ is difficult to learn, probably one reason why it’s fading. Guys like Shai and Luka are incredible players and bucket getters of the highest variety who are often referred to as point guards. They call their own number to score often and pass as more of an obligatory measure to fulfill the job description. It’s not their fault, it’s structural. Stephen Curry is widely considered the greatest shooter of all time and Kyrie Irving is referenced as one of the most skilled players ever but neither is referred to in the context of their position. Jalen Brunson won clutch player of the year and brought the Knicks back to glory, but his game is more closely aligned with someone like James Harden than any point guard. These are ball dominant lead guards, their skill levels and shot making abilities are unprecedented, but does it only result in team success when the shots are going in? Tyrese Halliburton seems to hold at least some traditional point guard values. He passes the ball ahead in transition, he values his dribble, he has an awareness of how to exploit matchups even when it doesn’t involve him. He’s overlooked because of his aesthetically unorthodox game, his dorky personality, and modest scoring stats but his point guard play is a big reason his team has overachieved.
Positionless basketball and the extinction of centers and point guards is ultimately a deprioritization of easy buckets. The game has incentivized super athletes, combo everything, who want nothing more than to take difficult shots. Kobe system guys*. David Blaine basketball where teams squander 18 seconds of the shot clock, placing themselves in an inescapable situation and then finding a way to save themselves by making a step back 30 footer. Many players can now make these shots, furthering the enticement for fans and basketball data nerds alike. In a world where we quickly devolve into “my gun is bigger than your gun,” and “my technology is faster than your technology,” I have concerns of basketball becoming “my Luka Doncic makes harder shots than your Luka Doncic.” I’m not advocating for retaining rigid position categories, evolution and growth are inevitable. It’s not a zero-sum game, we can have big athletes who use their broad skill set to spread the floor and also make sound, team-oriented decisions. My concern and cautionary plea is to not sacrifice thoughtful basketball at the altar of impressive, entertaining basketball. I am a lifelong fan who still values considerate, tactful basketball with winning as the goal. I hope I’m not going extinct as well.
*With all due respect to the deceased, I was 9 years old when Kobe entered the league which means I watched the whole thing. There seemed to be a general consensus that Kobe was an all time great scorer, a killer, and also a selfish basketball player who hunted his own shot. This has gotten lost in favor of posthumous folklore and recency bias that a strange number of current NBA players fully subscribe to.
By: The Knight of Infinite Resignation
AKA Dr Spencer Childress