NEW ORLEANS — It didn’t take long for small ball to become a thing of the past in the NBA.
Along with having arguably the two best shooters of all time, the Golden State Warriors built their championship dynasty over the past decade using lineups that emphasize speed, athleticism and defensive versatility over size and strength. Draymond Green’s success as a then-undersized power forward who shut down top centers gave Golden State an advantage very few teams could emulate, even as they tried.
Over time, as more bigs entered the league built on the blueprint laid out by Green, Anthony Davis and Kevin Durant, many of those same teams began covering two bases at once: Playing fast and playing big.
That list does not include the 2023-24 New Orleans Pelicans. Though the Pels have enjoyed one of their best seasons in recent memory, with a 45-29 record that has them tied for fifth place in the deep Western conference, they have a clear Achilles heel at the center position.
Jonas Valančiūnas and Larry Nance Jr. provide specific skill sets that at times maximize stars Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram on both ends of the court. Despite their clear limitations, each deserves credit for logging the vast majority of their minutes at center on a team that allows the fourth-fewest points per 100 possessions in the league.
However, their ineffectiveness in Saturday’s 104-92 Pelicans loss to the NBA-leading Boston Celtics illuminated the challenge Pels head coach Willie Green will continue to face as he tries to solve perhaps this team’s biggest issue entering the postseason: How to get 48 minutes of effective center play against top teams that will exploit any weakness.
As he’s done more since the All-Star break, Green started Valančiūnas, but cut his minutes in the second half to lean into quicker and more versatile units that could better combat Boston’s five-out offense. Nance is usually the beneficiary of Valančiūnas’ playing time dip, but when he struggled, Green went even smaller. He kept Nance and Valančiūnas on the bench the entire fourth quarter, using Williamson at center instead. The Pelicans won the quarter by three points, but it never felt like they had comfortable footing.
“Trying to play faster, spread them out (and) give Z more room to operate,” Green said of his decision. “Small (ball) is part of our unit that we want to continue to try and look at.”
Per Cleaning the Glass, the Pelicans have a +4.9 net rating this season when they use small-ball lineups featuring Zion at center. That’s a decent figure, but the sample is small and it’s not at the same level as the best small-ball units of the recent NBA past. Williamson, in particular, often looks uncomfortable as the team’s primary rebounder and rim protector.
The Valančiūnas-Nance platoon, combined with a dose of Williamson at the five, is often enough for the Pelicans to counter many teams. They can deal with bigger ones by using Valančiūnas to battle it out in the paint. Nance, meanwhile, fits against smaller ones because he can switch all five positions.
But certain unicorn bigs who can comfortably move around the perimeter and play bully ball have given the Pelicans problems all season. On Saturday, it was the original unicorn himself, Kristaps Porziņģis. When the Pels went small, Porziņģis quickly got to his spots in the post. When Valančiūnas was on the floor, the Celtics got Porziņģis wide-open 3-point looks through their their pick-and-pop actions.
Porziņģis finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds, going 1 of 6 on mostly open 3-point shots. New Orleans made his life tougher in the fourth quarter when Boston started giving him a lot of post touches, but asking guards like CJ McCollum and Naji Marshall to defend 7-footers isn’t a sustainable formula.
“They pretty much play all perimeter guys,” Green said of the Celtics. “(We were) just seeing if we can match up better with them.”
Valančiūnas’ role…
This article was originally published by a theathletic.com . Read the Original article here. .