A former colleague and I were talking about the rash of injuries to NBA big men, especially the seven-footers who would have been so valuable as focal points in Basketball As We Knew It of 20 years ago.
That is, back when games often were dominated by massive centers scoring on dunks or layups or putbacks, and keeping the opposition from doing the same at the other end of the court.
This would have been during the long era of walk-it-up basketball which typically looked to get the ball close to the rim, where the big guy could throw it down.
What we have now is, clearly, a game in which speed has become paramount and the three-pointer has become a shot at which even a seven-footer is supposed to be adept.
And how is this taking a toll on centers?
By asking them to keep pace with the swarming small players.
What prompted this discussion was observing how difficult it has been for Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers, a seven-footer of great (old-school) promise who has managed exactly 31 games in nearly three NBA seasons, out again with an injury, this time a knee (it had been the dreaded foot injury, a broken navicular bone, that cost him the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons).
And my colleague touches, below, on the suggestion that big men and their often fragile legs and feet, are being battered by the modern game.
“These seven-foot guys who run the floor and shoot threes, playing a guard’s game, then run back on defense and try to jump out of the gym to block a shot like a more traditional center … you have to wonder if they have any long-term (or even short-term) viability. It’s like the game, the style of play, has evolved beyond their body type’s ability to play it.
“Porzingis, he’s another one who’s on the shelf more than a little — nothing major yet, but missed 10 games last year, has missed a dozen or so this year and currently sidelined. And it seems like it’s always a lower-body issue with these guys — knees and ankles.
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“You have to wonder about (Giannis Antetokounmpo), too. How long does he last? He started playing basketball pretty late in life (I think Porzingis did, too) so maybe that gives him a little more longevity. Who knows?
“Not every Euro-style seven-footer who plays a perimeter or all-court game is an injury disaster; look at how long Nowitzki’s been able to keep going. But he looks lumbering compared to this new breed; Dirk was mold-breaking with his three-point range, but I don’t have a mental image of him sprinting down the court, filling a lane on the break and dunking off lobs like these kids nowadays. He shot threes or posted up.
“The Embiids of the world are asking an awful lot of bodies that aren’t designed to play the way they play.”
Makes sense, doesn’t it? May not explain everything, but it is a good place to start, as centers pound the floor and break down.
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