I disagree entirely with the premise of the post (but I'm glad that the OP opened the discussion). The concept of 1-5 positions is outdated and incorrect, in my view, and understanding basketball positions in a more realistic way is a major interesting challenge.
The basic divide is between defense and offense. How a player is best used on offense often diverges from who they are best suited to guard on defense. The classic example of this is the 'tweener' guard, such as Leandro Barbosa -- on offense, doesn't play as a point, but as a shooter, cutter, penetrator; on defense, must guard the shortest players. The traditional way of saying this is that he's a 2 on offense, a 1 on defense, but even this is misleading.
Why is it misleading? Because there is not much distinction between a 2 and a 3, offensively. Some 2's or 3's dominate the ball, like LeBron or Carmelo, others get their offense from catching and shooting, like Jason Kapono, others provide offense in transition or from cuts, like DeMar DeRozan. On offense, Kobe has more in common with LeBron than he does with DeMar, even though Kobe and DeMar are the same height and are both '2's, in theory.
I think this is the best post I have read on RR since I have been reading this board. Of course, I may be influenced by the fact that I agree with the points above...but a lot of the arguments and debates I see are based on somewhat specious logic.
Is Bargnani (insert any Raptor name here) a 5? I don't care if he a 5 or a 4 or a 3, or what position you put him on...will he create scoring opportunities for himself and others, will he box out his man, and negate opportunities for the offensive unit he opposes. Will he create mismatches, AND take advantage of them.
The basic divide is between defense and offense. How a player is best used on offense often diverges from who they are best suited to guard on defense. The classic example of this is the 'tweener' guard, such as Leandro Barbosa -- on offense, doesn't play as a point, but as a shooter, cutter, penetrator; on defense, must guard the shortest players. The traditional way of saying this is that he's a 2 on offense, a 1 on defense, but even this is misleading.
Why is it misleading? Because there is not much distinction between a 2 and a 3, offensively. Some 2's or 3's dominate the ball, like LeBron or Carmelo, others get their offense from catching and shooting, like Jason Kapono, others provide offense in transition or from cuts, like DeMar DeRozan. On offense, Kobe has more in common with LeBron than he does with DeMar, even though Kobe and DeMar are the same height and are both '2's, in theory.
I think this is the best post I have read on RR since I have been reading this board. Of course, I may be influenced by the fact that I agree with the points above...but a lot of the arguments and debates I see are based on somewhat specious logic.
Is Bargnani (insert any Raptor name here) a 5? I don't care if he a 5 or a 4 or a 3, or what position you put him on...will he create scoring opportunities for himself and others, will he box out his man, and negate opportunities for the offensive unit he opposes. Will he create mismatches, AND take advantage of them.
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