https://www.theringer.com/nba/2018/6...2018-offseason
Article about the "most interesting" restricted free agents in the offseason. There are so many players out there who have some skills, but you just have to ask yourself, what's the point of this guy on a champion? And you just can't visualize it. Basically, it seems like there are only 2 types of players who matter right now: elite creators, and "3 and D" players.
The list is full of talented players - Julius Randle, Aaron Gordon, Jusuf Nurkic, etc. - but with the exception of Gordon and maybe LaVine, none of them seem like they can work as a starter on a playoff team because the either can't shoot 3s well enough, or they can't play defense well enough.
As a prime example, the Lakers have Julius Randle, who scored 16 points with 8 rebounds and shot 55% from the field last year as a 23 year old, and there's a real possibility the Lakers just let him go because he's not a good defender AND he can't shoot threes.
It's cool to think that the league is gradually moving to a positionless system where everyone can switch on everyone else and every team has a primary creator surrounded by 4 shooters at all times, but I continue to be confused by how few teams are actually trying to do that despite the obvious success of the system, and who are drafting players (like Randle, or Bagley this year) who clearly don't fit.
You might argue this is because the college game hasn't moved in that direction yet, so there aren't as many players that fit the mold coming out but the last two championships were won by Villanova. In 2018 their top 6 players included 4 guards and 2 forwards, all of them between 6'3" (Seth Curry's height, tall for a PG) and 6'9", and every one of them shot over 35% from three (they shot 38%! as a team). Villanova was playing a 4 guard offense back in 2006. And while the narrative in Golden State is that they got a once in a lifetime infusion of talent, Villanova has been successful for years without super elite recruiting classes. So maybe it's the system that explains it. Maybe Draymond Green isn't actually a Hall of Famer who other teams missed, maybe he lucked into playing for a team that actually plays the right system.I mean, hell, if PJ Tucker works as a starter in the playoffs doing similar things to Draymond, maybe he's not all that unique.
I guess what I'm wondering if there's a Moneyball thing going on here, where people are blinded by "tools" and not looking at what actually translates to success in the NBA.
I'm also not sure how I feel about this - I wish there was more diversity, that you could be successful with different types of players.