HeartBreakKid wrote:I think 70sfan touched upon this somewhere, but seeing a series where Boban is getting important minutes against the opposing starting line up kind of exposed the idea that he would dominate older eras, and in general should warp some peoples perception on how useful large size is in certain eras.
When Boban got the ball down low he really didn't do much with it. His ball movement was very good, but in terms of creating his own shot it looked incredibly limited and was very unsophisticated. Most of the shots he made were more put back situations, and this is a guy who was often matched with perimeter players super down low - not other big boys. The idea that you're going to dump him in the 90s or 70s or whatever and he's going to go to town on every big was greatly exaggerated. Boban is a bench player because he's not good enough at the sport to be a starter, not just because he is too slow to defend the perimeter.
70sfan also mentioned this, but it DOES show that big guys can play with guys much smaller. In fact, Dallas was mega big - 7'3 and 7'4 PF and C listed. It wasn't a layup line or something from the other team. There are a lot of bigs that people say can't hang today (including bigs who are literally active and defensively dominant lol) because their perimeter defense would look too bad - but all those centers are much faster than Boban. And it's not like Boban looked like an NCAA player that can't hang in the NBA - he simply is a back up center and he played like one.
While on the topic, I was surprised about HOW Boban's defense was bad. I actually did not think his speed was that much of a problem. It was really his decision making. He made a lot of bad plays. He also would often close out way too much on role players outside, and of course they're going to drive on his ass. Now, if he was faster there would be more margin for error, but from what I noticed it seems like Boban's struggles on defense comes from not playing within his athletic ability.
i think it becomes exxagersted as most era related narratives are, but i definitely think perimeter defense is a weakness that older centers didnt have to worry that much about before
would it make, lets say shaq un playable today? no, but ir would reduce his defensive impact (i dont believe it would tire him more, post defense likely is more tiring)
would it make boban a superstar? no, but it would make him a less situational player and inprove his defense impact
