R.I.P. Small Ball?

[tisbee]

Almost every trade made by a Playoff Contender in past couple of months has been to help their half-court game.(Denver getting T.Green is exception,and even that can be justified as improving bench play in half-court.) The two teams most committed to the run added bigs who are not known for running(GS w/Webber,Pho w/Shaq).
So,is small ball,a full committment to running and taking first shot,as a basis for a contender,now considered dead? Or are we seeing a return to more traditional NBA ball,where you run if you can,and if not set up in the half-court building your offence around bigs?
For all the talk of the death of the bigs,look at how many quality bigs there are in their 20s-Dwight,Amare,Bosh,Yao,Gasol,Bynum,Oden on the horizon and still there's Jefferson,Chandler,West,Okafor,Horford,Aldridge. Even the all-O,no-D Curry,Randolph,etc remind one of a Bob Lanier.

[Derekman]

small ball cant win. Could you imagine having a small fromtcourt against Lakers or Phoenix. Youd get killed everytime down the court.

[nycballer718]

i think teams realize now u cant win with a run and gun style and need a big man and/or defense

[CupcakeNoFillin]

Denver and Phoenix never played small ball. They BEEN had bigs like Camby and Stoudemire whereas Golden State only had Biedrins. And having a big center doesn't mean you can't run a fast paced game.

[CupcakeNoFillin]

i think teams realize now u cant win with a run and gun style and need a big man and/or defense

You can play a run and gun style with a big man and defense. Just because you score a lot doesn't mean you can't play defense. Look at the Showtime Lakers.

[CupcakeNoFillin]

The two teams most committed to the run added bigs who are not known for running(GS w/Webber,Pho w/Shaq).

Webber isn't slowing us down though. He's grabbing defensive rebounds for outlet passes that fuel our fastbreak. And when we slow down into a halfcourt offense he can make crisp passes to keep the flow running smoothly.

You don't need a center to be running in a fastbreak. All you need are 3 on 2, 2 on 1 type of fastbreaks.

Look at Kareem Abdul Jabbar. All he had to do was contest a shot, grab the rebound, outlet to Magic or Byron... easy bucket. And if the pace slows down, he'll score on you in the post.

Same thing with Bill Russell on the Celtics. Contest a shot, get the rebound, outlet to Havlicek or Cousy... easy bucket. Red Auerbach is basically the coached who sparked the mind to innovate "small ball". Don Nelson played for that Celtics team, and Red's offense is what inspired Nellie to come up with that offense.

Unfortunately, Nellie never got to coach a dominate big man like Russell, Olajuwon, KG, etc. to take it to a whole nother level. The only real good big man he got to coach was Dirk. He also coached Ewing but he way past his prime then. Imagine Kevin Garnett on the Warriors playing point-center wreaking havoc with Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson, Monta Ellis, Al Harrington, Andris Biedrins etc. Imagine Hakeem Olajuwon in a Nellie offense. LeBron James playing PF for Nellie getting triple doubles all day. LeBron was 2nd in the league in fastbreak points last season and he doesn't even play for a fastbreak team, imagine how many easy points he'd get on the Warriors. He could easily get about 8-10 extra points to his PPG just from fastbreak points alone.

[MagicFan3]

It was only alive for like 3 years. Phoenix is the only team that has been trying to get off on nothing but three pointers and athleticism, but they've realized that doesn't work.

[OmniDEN]

The only team that really plays small ball is Golden State, so it was never really "alive" to begin with. And as others have said, just because Shaq or another big man is on the team doesn't mean you can't run and gun.

[CupcakeNoFillin]

It was only alive for like 3 years. Phoenix is the only team that has been trying to get off on nothing but three pointers and athleticism, but they've realized that doesn't work.

But they had Amare Stoudemire to run pick and roll with. There's different types of fastbreak/up tempo teams though. The Warriors or Nuggets with Amare Stoudemire on their team would be completely different than the Suns with Amare. It's how the teams utilizes their players and all that. Just because one fast paced team (Phoenix) can't succeed with a big man, doesn't mean that other fast paced teams like Golden State and Denver wouldn't.

[snaquille oatmeal]

The only team that really plays small ball is Golden State, so it was never really "alive" to begin with. And as others have said, just because Shaq or another big man is on the team doesn't mean you can't run and gun.

any team can run and gun (it used to be called a fast break), but I think to be known as a run and gun team the great majority of your points have to come in the run and gun style. I think the Suns are now in the 50/50 range of run and gun vs half court and I expect them to become a 30/70 run and gun vs half court by the end of the year.

[Balls]

as long as Nellie is still coaching, small ball will be alive in the NBA

[loflin3hree5ive]

i think teams learned that small ball won't work when carlos boozer ate the warriors for lunch last year in the west semis.

[Ballings7]

Small ball, run n' gun as your team identity just isn't legit in terms of significant playoff success (depending on the team's goal). If you have finals, title aspirations - you're a pretender and aren't being that realistic.

Great for enteratinment, business, appeal, and adds some diversity to the league, though. No doubt.

It'll be probably always be around with certain teams.

The famous Lakers, Celtics teams aren't of the typical and were so diverse and deep, had great main guys (including coaches of course). Just special teams.

[lukeridenour]

Denver and Phoenix never played small ball. They BEEN had bigs like Camby and Stoudemire whereas Golden State only had Biedrins. And having a big center doesn't mean you can't run a fast paced game.

sun are considered small ball because amare is an undersized center and marion is a sf forced to play pf. i think the warriors are playing the best run and gun b-ball simply because they do have athletic guys that can guy in harrington and bendrins and harrington can shoot that 3. however even then they werent able to beat utah who was outside of boozer isnt a great reboudning team.

the run gun and is only effect in short spurts, example being when the 2nd unit comes in, or when the matchups present themselves.

[NO-KG-AI]

People don't understand that all 5 guys are never running at once, so adding a big center doesn't hinder running that much.....

[CupcakeNoFillin]

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sun are considered small ball because amare is an undersized center and marion is a sf forced to play pf. i think the warriors are playing the best run and gun b-ball simply because they do have athletic guys that can guy in harrington and bendrins and harrington can shoot that 3. however even then they werent able to beat utah who was outside of boozer isnt a great reboudning team.

the run gun and is only effect in short spurts, example being when the 2nd unit comes in, or when the matchups present themselves.

If Amare was the starting center on the Warriors team, I don't think the Jazz would be able to beat them. That's just what I think. In that Warriors/Jazz series, the Jazz outrebounded the Warriors by a tremendous amount of boards, yet they only beat them by around 4-8 points a game. For example, game 2, the Jazz outrebounded the Warriors by 28 boards and still needed an overtime session just to win the game. I didn't know it was that hard to put a team away even if you outrebound the hell out of them. If the Warriors had one decent rebounding big man other than Biedrins, even if it was Chris Webber, the Warriors would have had an advantage in that series.

Look how good the Warriors do without a dominate big man. It was only like a week ago when the Warriors had the best record in the Western Conference since the return of Stephen Jackson. We're beating teams like San Antonio and New Orleans. People look at the Suns beating the Celtics and thinking it was a great game.... that game was low scoring as hell. The Warriors put up 119 points against the best defensive team in the league (Boston) and scored like 39 4th quarter points on them to win the game. Golden State is also one of the league leaders in points in the paint, leading the league in that category for the month of February. A .600 win team, 12 games above .500 in the tough Western Conference. NOW, imagine how good that team would be if you add a dominate big man like KG or even a decent big man like Emeka Okafor or Chris Bosh. They would be pretty scary. So yeah, I don't think it's impossible to win with that type of team... upsets are always possible i'm tired of hearing **** as if everything in this world is guaranteed. They just need a big man who can run with them and rebound.

[NO-KG-AI]

Jesus Christ, if I hear that the Warriors have the best record in the west since Jackson's return one more time, I'm gonna stab somebody.

[killacalijatt]

Jesus Christ, if I hear that the Warriors have the best record in the west since Jackson's return one more time, I'm gonna stab somebody.

why its a fact. And actually ur not hearing it your reading it unless u read outloud.

[joe.linnen]

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why its a fact. And actually ur not hearing it your reading it unless u read outloud.

you guys are too funny never a dule moment here

[The Notic]

i think teams learned that small ball won't work when carlos boozer ate the warriors for lunch last year in the west semis.

what does that mean for houston?