EVAN MOBLEY CROUCHES his thin frame into a defensive stance on the perimeter, a place few 7-footers have ever been as comfortable as the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ 21-year-old franchise cornerstone.
It’s midway through the first quarter of the Cavs’ season opener, and on this play, Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam gets a step on Mobley while driving the middle of the lane.
But Mobley has a luxury few NBA teams possess: help in the form of another 7-footer, All-Star center Jarrett Allen.
Allen slides over, leaving Toronto’s Scottie Barnes alone on the baseline and positioning himself to contest Siakam in the restricted area. Siakam dishes to Barnes under the basket for what would typically be an easy finish, but such buckets are few and far between when the Cavaliers’ 7-footers share the floor. Mobley helps his helper, leaping to block Barnes’ layup.
“We have each other’s back,” Allen says. “That’s the advantage of having two 7-footers. If you blow by the first one, there’s a second one for you.”
It’s a moment that illustrates one of the primary benefits of playing big — provided that the tall personnel are also agile and instinctive — in a league that increasingly relies on small ball, positionless lineups and outside shooting.
“I know we’re all enamored with the 3,” Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff says, “but to win in this league, you’ve got to win the paint, and that’s both ends of the floor. If you have big guys, it’s just easier to do that.”
While the Cavaliers aren’t alone in bucking the leaguewide small-ball trend — the Minnesota Timberwolves have paired All-Stars Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert this season with mixed results, and other teams have put their own spins on dual-big lineups — Cleveland might have set the standard.
“Size and skill,” Bickerstaff says, “will beat small and skill every day.”
“POWER FORWARD” HAS become an outdated term, as teams typically prioritize shooting, skill and defensive versatility at that position as opposed to the bruising post-up threats from past generations.
However, as Bickerstaff points to, the previous few NBA Finals are proof that size in the frontcourt still matters in today’s NBA:
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The Los Angeles Lakers won the 2020 title in the bubble with Anthony Davis starting alongside Dwight Howard, although they did shift to a smaller lineup with Davis at center for the closeout win against the Miami Heat.
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The Milwaukee Bucks played big during their 2021 championship run with Brook Lopez and Giannis Antetokounmpo as a dominant defensive duo, but Antetokounmpo’s ability to create offensively shatters the power forward prototype.
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The Boston Celtics‘ big tandem of Al Horford and Robert Williams III formed a firm defensive backbone during the Celtics’ march to the Finals last season, a partnership put on hold this season while Williams recovers from offseason knee surgery. While Williams fits into the “traditional modern big” category — that’s a term Allen came up with to describe centers like himself whose primary offensive contributions are screening, finishing and rebounding — Horford’s capable passing and 3-point shooting complement stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
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The Memphis Grizzlies have emerged as a Western Conference contender with Jaren Jackson Jr., an All-Defensive shot-blocker with perimeter offensive skills, starting next to bruising center Steven Adams, although Adams was benched in the first round last season because of struggles defending Towns.
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The rebuilding Orlando Magic have created intrigue with their supersized starting lineup that features Bol Bol, who has shooting guard skills in a skinny, 7-foot-2 frame, starting between two muscular 6-foot-10 teammates, Rookie of the Year contender Paolo Banchero at forward and center Wendell Carter Jr.
The Cavaliers, for their part, didn’t necessarily center their game plan on going big. But the pieces fell in place for a franchise that was in Year 3 of a rebuild following four straight LeBron James-led trips…
Read More: Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen and the Cavaliers are out to reinvent the big man