The Dallas Mavericks are playing the Utah Jazz on Thursday night. Before the game Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd made some intriguing comments about LeBron James' impact on today's NBA. Kidd noted that “positions are gone” as superstars like Luka Doncic and Victor Wembanyama can do so many different things on the court.
“Yeah, I just think that the positions are gone,” Kidd told reporters before the game. “You look at the point guard, the shooting guard, everyone shoots. Everyone can handle. If you look at different philosophies, everybody can rebound… It used to be find the point guard and then play. Now with the pace of the game and the athletes that are out there, when you get the rebound everybody is coming which causes problems because you have someone who is 6'8, 7'1, or 7'5 bringing the ball.
“That causes a problem because it's probably not the center who is going to be on the perimeter guarding Victor (Wembanyama), it's going to be a small so they automatically have the advantage… Now you have three or four guys who can handle at 6'7 or 6'9 and put a lot of pressure. And I think it all started with LeBron (James).”
Victor Wembanyama is a nightmare for opposing defenses
Wembanyama is already performing well as a rookie. The San Antonio Spurs star is on track to win the NBA Rookie of the Year award.
Kidd makes a great point. Wembanyama's ability to bring the ball up the court places defenses in difficult spots. Big men don't typically guard the perimeter, so smaller players are often left trying to contain players such as Wembanyama.
This often leads to Wembanyama simply shooting over them, as he features three-point potential despite his difficult season from beyond the arc, or he can simply back down the smaller player.
So does Kidd feel similarly about the Mavericks roster when it comes to the point guard?
Kidd says versatile Luka Doncic is Mavericks point guard
I asked Kidd what the conversation is when it comes to discussing the point guard role in today's NBA with his team, and how that conversation goes when there isn't only one point guard on the roster.
“Well, there's one,” Kidd responded. “Kai (Kyrie Irving) is probably mad that I didn't say two. But when you look at Luka, he's the point guard. He's the quarterback. He makes this thing go. From the other side of the free throw line he can throw the bomb. He can throw the outlet to D-Live (Dereck Lively II) on the dead run. We've seen that. And so, we do have one point guard but I think the one person that we haven't brought up is (Dante) Exum. You know, he's another big guard… He can shoot 50 percent from the three. The big guard is in play. Kai is going to tell you he is the stretch four or shooting guard.”
Luka may be Dallas' point guard, but he isn't exactly a traditional option at the position. The Mavs star is 6'7 and unquestionably a top-tier scoring threat. Doncic is not a pass-first smaller guard.
Will we ever see a traditional elite point guard again in today's NBA? Perhaps we will, but one has to wonder if anyone will ever play the position like Chris Paul.
“But I just think that when you talk about Chris Paul, that's probably the last of, and he's going to be mad at me for saying this, small guard,” Kidd continued. “He's not small. He's had a heck of a run, but the league is getting bigger, more athletic. They can all dribble, they all work on their games at the age of 10. First thing they are working on is dribbling, and then the next part is shooting from half-court. It's all about range. It's a great question. It used to be smalls wanted to be centers and the centers wanted to be guards, but now I think everyone is a guard. That's just the way the league is.”
How do you defend teams with multiple point guard options?
Kidd confirmed that Luka Doncic is Dallas' point guard. However, Kyrie Irving is certainly capable of handling the position, and Kidd mentioned Exum as an option as well.
The Mavericks are not the only team with this kind of versatility. Many rosters around the NBA feature players of all sizes who can run the position. Jazz head coach Will Hardy explained how he prepares to guard against it.
“I think in those moments you have to understand they can go a couple of different ways,” Hardy said. “But sometimes with matchups you can, not force them to go one way, but you can almost lead them to maybe using one player more than the other. It's not really an issue with Luka. I don't know if there's anybody that's a good matchup for him. It has changed over the last couple of years because you are seeing multiple ball-handlers. I think a lot of it comes down to, with your own team, you have to really focus on the personnel aspect of scouting more because you're going to end up changing matchups. Because I feel like coverages are one aspect of trying to guard the elite players.
“But changing the matchups of who is guarding them is also a way to keep them off-balance a little bit. You put a bigger, longer guy on him for a minute, then you put maybe a smaller player that pressures him more. And so with that if you're going to keep spinning the matchups, your team has to really be locked into the personnel part. So there's some games where the scouting is more X and O tactical, and then there's some games where the tactical piece isn't as important as understanding personnel tendencies.”
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