the "D" part of 3 & D is arguably that they can steal the ball from anyone who doesnt have a handle. collapsing on post guys is the easiest of the variety of D. Bamba dont have a handle, Capela, Rob Williams, NNoel dont got handles. a good post move takes 3-4 pounds and the ball would mostly be gone w them.
working to catch the ball low would actually require learning sumn they hadnt already on the way up. one-&-done centers dont learn that and, as we all should be aware by now, getting paid cancels being taught anything except by one's brand guru. i could go to Gekko length onnat but nobody already unnerstans me
The NBA learned from Billy Beane.
The Oakland A's can get to the playoffs and do it on a shoestring budget and with a lot of non elite players. However that catches up to the team in the playoffs when you face stiffer competition and individual matchups become more critical.
Reliance on the three point shot is a high percentage move for the entire season. Taking a ton of threes, trying to get to the line and high percentage shots at the rim ( think of rim runners taking a lob, not Kevin McHale with his back to the basket ) will win you more regular season games than will hurt you when you shot is off.
What made the Warriors so lethal was one of their primary gunners could be off but they still had so much firepower and generated so much gravity from floor spacing that they could still wipe you out with everyone else. Those Spurs teams sort of lived and died if Danny Green was just bricking everything.
The other issue is second chance shot attempts given a possible offensive rebound is simply a lower percentage return than having your rim protector just sprint back and get back to defense and establish his defensive positioning. This is why Stretch 5s who can defend the rim are so insanely valuable. They are helping the floor spacing, they provide a bail out shooter, they are taking high percentage shots, they leave open the driving lanes for "lead guards" that are hunting for foul calls and they are in a better position to get back on defense quickly. The ideal healthy version of Porzingis is insanely valuable. A super charged Stretch 5 who can defend the rim, be a legit rim runner and create his own shot at will. But the risk factors are too high. Big men are more prone to injury and take a lot longer to develop. You are better off finding a Nerlens Noel, a good rim protector who was accessible through a cheap contract ( well before, not now) and could run the floor. Yes, he had and has offensive limitations, but you also aren't paying him Porzingis type money.
The last issue is the way the refs control the game. They can give you phantom calls or job you from getting a clean call based on your status in the league. Low post players risk getting pushed out of any game. Just like the NFL can call holding all the time or not, the NBA refs can decide your low post threat has made too much contact. Three point shooters do not tend to have that problem. How do you fabricate a phantom call against a Trae Young launching it from logo range? Big men also tend to be lousy free throw shooters, so putting them on the line makes it harder for refs to massage the games to make them more exciting for a 4th quarter finish on national TV. When the Heat and the Mavericks were in the Finals, the refs were clearly trying to cook Dallas towards the end of that series. But the Mavs kept hitting shots that you couldn't hammer down on with phantom calls.
If you get a Jokic or an Embiid, then great. But nearly all other big men aren't worth the huge contracts. A rim protector/rim runner/lob threat is simply easier to find and fit into the current "Space And Pace" style of modern play. What was Karl Malone's bail out on the classic Jazz pick and roll? He was actually a pretty good mid range shooter. And that has value in the playoffs when someone like Shaun Livingston was keeping the Warriors going by hitting mid ranges when the defense collapsed on everything else. But that has limited utility over the course of a long regular season when the goal is to get enough wins to make the playoffs, try to get decent seeding and keep your guys healthy when the playoffs force your rotation to shorten.
25 years ago, Nerlens Noel is one of the most coveted and highly paid players in the NBA. Today he's a role player. If the Knicks didn't give him that contract, and didn't need to appease recent COTY Thibs, he might still be surfing around as a perpetual journeyman.
I like wikkid, but he doesn't seem to really get the modern Space And Pace style game. Big men aren't more refined because talent evaluators have given up on trying to make players into something that they are not. They are focusing on using players based on their actual strengths. This is how the Heat got Duncan Robinson to break through. They didn't expect him to be something he's not, they just focused on making what he was presenting into a better fit into an actual modern NBA role.
