dougthonus wrote:MGB8 wrote:Jcool0 wrote:
Wings are forwards.
No, not really. Forwards can be wings, but so can guards. Typically describe a wing as a guard-forward - a 2/3. Buz is closer to a modern 4 than a modern 3, to the extent that they are differentiable now (which is slight). Buz for now is a 3/4, though will likely eventually be primarily a 4. Just like George was a 2/3, now just a pure 3.
You have plenty of wings that are more 2 than 3, including guys like LaVine. Kobe was a wing.
Might be the most semantic debate ever, but I usually view a wing as 3/4 tweener. I don't know that there's a standard definition, but I usually think of a SF that would play up to PF in some lineups. More or less 3/4 tweener where you aren't sure they have the physicality / size to be the four. That said, if you asked me this 10 years ago, I'd have thought more of a 2/3 that doesn't have the ball skills / passing skills to be a passer / dribble attacker. I think the way the term has been used has changed a lot over time, especially with teams going smaller and requiring more perimeter skills from all players.
Paul George has played 12% of his minutes at SG, 65% at SF, 21% at PF, 1% at C over his career (per basketball-reference anyway), so is more of a PF than SG over his career, FWIW.
To me, Matas seems like a classic "wing" definition player, he's got a lot of the ball skills of a perimeter player and the speed / athleticism to play the three but the size to also potentially play the four.
I have always seen listing of wings be interchangeable with lists of guard-forwards, in fantasy league categorizations, etc. And that made sense in terms of movement skills, short area quickness, and where on the court they play on both ends. On the “wing,” i.e., perimeter but not point of attack. When you think about a point as setting up at the top, then controlling ball and being most on ball player, the 2 having the most perimeter off ball play, 2nd most on-ball, and defending the 3-line more so than inside, a 5 being the low post and interior defense, with the 4 being high post more than the others and such defense, and the 3 in between the 2 and 4….
Paul George played as a classic 3 but how perimeter oriented he was on both ends has him as a wing, as compared to Luol Deng who played a bit more inside on both ends (a 3 to 3/4, later a 4-3). Scottie - another 3. And Ron Artest. While Ray Allen, Kobe, Reggie, Spree as classic 2s. 4s like Horace, Elton, Rasheed, KG, Jermaine ONeil. Kukoc as a 3/4, Larry Johnson too. And AK.
As guys slow down a little bit with age, but also get stronger, they tend to play outside a bit less, a bit more inside - bringing position classification along with it. So DDR was a 2-3, now a 3. LaVine was a 2, now a 2-3. Lebron a 3, the a 3-4, now a 4-3. Etc.
Small forward is 3. Power forward is 4. But the wing is occupied by 2s and 3s (primarily), not both forwards positions.
Yes, semantics - but I’ve never seen wing refer to 4s. Always to 2-3, g-fs - 2s, 3s, and blends of 2 and 3.