Does the impact of Bogut's absence lead to a resurgence of the NBA big?

[Ogaju]

discuss.

Does Varejao get a ring? Discuss.

[PhoSita]

Bogut's injury didn't have a significant impact on the outcome of this series.

The lesson should be that LeBron is still the best player on the floor in the playoffs regardless of what happens in the regular season.

Beyond that, we learned that if a series comes down to a single game, being forced to rely on hitting jumpers can leave you vulnerable, no matter how good you are at defense.  Even with the greatest shooter ever on your team.

[Snakehead]

No.  Great big men returning to the league hopefully does.  Towns, Davis, Cousins among them and hopefully more going forward.

[Rondo9]

I think Bogut would've been good, Ezeli was awful.

[crimson_stallion]

Bogut's injury didn't have a significant impact on the outcome of this series.

The lesson should be that LeBron is still the best player on the floor in the playoffs regardless of what happens in the regular season.

Beyond that, we learned that if a series comes down to a single game, being forced to rely on hitting jumpers can leave you vulnerable, no matter how good you are at defense.  Even with the greatest shooter ever on your team.

Which is why I am not a big advocate of the whole push towards "three point shooting is everything" that the NBA is going towards these days.

It doesn't matter what aspect of the game you dominate at, eventually the rest of the league will adjust, and then you're going to have to try something new.

Everybody talk about shooting threes as the best way to score points, because you earn more points per shot.  People completely ignore the fact that you also miss more shots.  When you are in the final stretch of a closely fought playoff series where every possession counts, the team that hits all their midrange jumpers / layups is going to beat the team that misses all their threes every time.

When you're in those close games, at the end of the day the most important thing is that you make shots - whether it's threes, or twos, or free throws.  As long as you make shots you put pressure on the other team to do the same, and if they're trying to throw desperation threes to dig their way back in they have to rely on a lot of luck - the advantage often goes your way.

30 seconds left, Game 7, quarter quarter, NBA finals, game tied - I'll take a KG hook shot in the paint over a Ray Allen three any day.

[alldaboston]

It seemed every time Varejao was in, the Cavs went on runs.

[Denis998]

The strength of GSW was the ability for them to play both big and small, all while switching between the two styles seamlessly. With Bogut out, GSW was forced to play the majority of the game small, which gave the Cavs an opportunity to adjust.

[Beat LA]

Bogut's injury didn't have a significant impact on the outcome of this series.

The lesson should be that LeBron is still the best player on the floor in the playoffs regardless of what happens in the regular season.

Beyond that, we learned that if a series comes down to a single game, being forced to rely on hitting jumpers can leave you vulnerable, no matter how good you are at defense.  Even with the greatest shooter ever on your team.

Which is why I am not a big advocate of the whole push towards "three point shooting is everything" that the NBA is going towards these days.

It doesn't matter what aspect of the game you dominate at, eventually the rest of the league will adjust, and then you're going to have to try something new.

Everybody talk about shooting threes as the best way to score points, because you earn more points per shot.  People completely ignore the fact that you also miss more shots.  When you are in the final stretch of a closely fought playoff series where every possession counts, the team that hits all their midrange jumpers / layups is going to beat the team that misses all their threes every time.

When you're in those close games, at the end of the day the most important thing is that you make shots - whether it's threes, or twos, or free throws.  As long as you make shots you put pressure on the other team to do the same, and if they're trying to throw desperation threes to dig their way back in they have to rely on a lot of luck - the advantage often goes your way.

30 seconds left, Game 7, quarter quarter, NBA finals, game tied - I'll take a KG hook shot in the paint over a Ray Allen three any day.

Outstanding, TP.  I couldn't have said it better myself, except for, "but, but...analytics," lol . Ugh.

[tarheelsxxiii]

Yes, a big one.

[Beat LA]

Bogut's injury didn't have a significant impact on the outcome of this series.

The lesson should be that LeBron is still the best player on the floor in the playoffs regardless of what happens in the regular season.

Beyond that, we learned that if a series comes down to a single game, being forced to rely on hitting jumpers can leave you vulnerable, no matter how good you are at defense.  Even with the greatest shooter ever on your team.

[PhoSita]

Inside out, not outside in.

That's the way I think you have to build your offense.

[Beat LA]

Inside out, not outside in.

That's the way I think you have to build your offense.

[MJohnnyboy]

Well, it wasn't like Bogut would have a ginormous difference but he's definitely better than Ezeli or Varejao. In fact, I still don't get why Kerr put those guys in when they only made things worse.

Funny how we're talking about how the Warriors were vulnerable because they rely on their jumpers, yet how did the Cavs win game 7? Oh yeah, because Kyrie hit the go-ahead 3-pointer.

[chiken Green]

GS.. no.. CURRY choked this game away.. Lackluster passes,  lazy Defense and Ill advised 40ft 3 point shots..  They stopped running the stuff that was working and in the last 2 minutes HE went for HE-RO Ball... That cost them Game 7..

IF you move the ball around and Take good shots you can Win.. LAst 2 min GS forgot that.
Also This game did not prove a need for  big men because in Today's game you would be dumb not to create a line up that pulls the big man out of the middle so you could drive..
Triston Thompson actually played Great for big men because when they isolated him on Curry or Thompson he was able to move his feet and force them into bad shots..  The typical Big men cannot do that.

IF you play Golden State and you don't have Lebron and you try that inside out stuff - you will lose and probably bad.  You need speed to compete with those guys.. 

The big man is over - The kids don't even play big Man basketball anymore..  That lumbering back to the basket slow the game down to a crawl Goliath is no more.

[guava_wrench]

No.

Teams already value defensive bigs like Bogut. Look at DeAndre Jordan's value. Drummond will also get a big contract.

This does nothing to help the offense only mid-range and post bigs that are no longer valued like they once were. Bogut isn't going to make people think they can win a ring building a team around Okafor or Monroe.