A Changing of the Guards
The standings in the NBA look like they have been flipped upside down. The teams that used to win all the time are near the bottom and the teams that used to lose all the time are at or near the top.
The Celtics and the Lakers used to be in the finals all the time, battling for championships. Now, they are battling to see who can lose the most to get a better lottery pick.
The Heat used to win championships, but Le Bron James left and now the Heat are playing well under .500 ball (although in the lousy Eastern Conference, that is good enough to qualify a team for the playoffs).
San Antonio won the title last year but are floundering around with the seventh best record in the Western Conference. Their point guard Tony Parker, though aging, is still the prototype of the point guard as team leader.
The teams that are at the top of the standings and playing the best basketball are the Golden State Warriors, the Memphis Grizzlies, the Houston Rockets and the Portland Trailblazers in the West and the Atlanta Hawks, the Toronto Raptors, the Cleveland Cavs and the Chicago Bulls in the East.
What do the teams who are doing well have in common?
Mostly, it’s the play of those guys that handle the ball the most, the guards. Yeah, you’ve GOT to have some form of BIG play to make sure the other teams don’t dominate you inside, but that is something that can be handled by the rather obvious idea of having sufficient size to handle that aspect of the game. You get some big guys that can defend, rebound and block a few shots and you’ve got the size part of the game handled.
But get a really good guard (usually a point guard), and he can distribute the ball to teammates to help them get off their easy shots, he can dribble the ball against defensive pressure, he can break down a defense, penetrate and drive to the basket to create his own “layups.” He can also dribble until he can create jump shots for himself, he can utilize his speed and get the ball out quickly and lead the fast break down court to either create easy shots for himself or his teammates, and finally, when the game is on the line, this elite guard can take control of the game and either take the key shot or create the play and then dish off to a teammate for that player to take the key shot. Oh, and if your elite guard is really good, he can play defense too and help stop the other team’s good guard from doing the same to you.
The previously mentioned teams that are doing well have gotten strong guard play because they are teams that have realized that it is now a guard’s league and have utilized (in many cases) high draft choices or trades to acquire that really good guard to lead THEIR teams.
The Golden State Warriors are leading the West because they have TWO great guards (high draft choices Steph Curry and Klay Thompson) who can do everything you want a really good guard to do, especially shoot the basketball.
The Atlanta Hawks are leading the East because they have size, defense and a good all around, balanced team, but especially because their point guard Jeff Teague is creating opportunities for the team and their shooting guard Kyle Korver is making shots from the outside.
The Memphis Grizzlies are primarily a big men type of team, but they would NOT be an elite team without point guard Mike Conley Jr. leading the team.
The biggest reason the Toronto Raptors are winning is because of guards Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan.
The Houston Rockets are winning because of James Harden (certainly not because of the injured Dwight Howard).
The Portland Trailblazers would not be where they are without their drafting of guard Damian Lillard.
Cleveland is Le Bron’s team again, but the Cav’s drafting of point guard Kyrie Irving is what set in motion the idea in Le Bron James that he should go back to Cleveland and think he could win again. Their team is starting to play like they think they’re going to win it all this year.
The Clippers probably only go as far as point guard Chris Paul leads them.
Oh, and Washington is good because they drafted point guard John Wall with the first pick, and no matter how much the great forward Kevin Durant scores, the Oklahoma City team still only goes as far as whippet quick guard Russell Westbrook takes them.
The point of all this is that, just like the NFL is a quarterback league, the NBA is now a point guard’s league. Defenses are now able to clamp down on teams that do not have a good point guard. The point guard of today does more to influence the key aspects of the game, such as ball handling, passing, shooting and TEAM play than any position on the court (Le Bron James does that aspect from a “point forward” position).
And the “new guards,” many of whom have very recently entered the league, are now the “best guards,” and are leading the change that is going on in pro basketball.
You’ve got to like it that NBA teams that are lousy for enough years in a row can go from bad to good when they follow a proper formula and use a high draft pick to get one of these good, young point guards to lead their team and then fill out the team chemistry around that key player with other high picks, trades and free agent pick ups. And the people who get rewarded are the fans of those teams who see their dog teams suddenly get good. Is the NBA a great league or what?
