The NBA is evolving toward the 3-pointer more every year, but 2015 is feeling like a revolution. The Warriors won the NBA title playing small-ball, and spent the entire season in first place. Now the Pelicans and Kings are trying to mimic it – but with big men.
Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins are two of the NBA’s most talented players. They are both also centers standing nearly seven feet tall, so Wednesday night’s stat lines stand out. Davis scored 25 points, and shot 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. Cousins scored 32 points, and shot 4-of-5 from deep. These are two of the most gifted interior scorers on the planet, now flashing 3-point range.
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This isn’t the start of a new trend either, but rather the culmination. There are plenty of top big men shooting 3s. Dirk Nowtizki has been doing it since he entered the league, and since then Chris Bosh, Serge Ibaka and Kevin Love have all become dangerous shooters. None of those players, however, have shown the type of post chops that Davis and Cousins, arguably top-10 players in the entire league, have proven to this point.
If Davis is a consistent 3-point shooter, he is like an evolved form of Draymond Green in Golden State, and while Cousins can’t defend on the outside like Davis, offensively he might allow Sacramento to play lineups in which a trey can be launched by any player on the court. That creates utter chaos and forces teams to go small to keep up.
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That’s where Davis and Cousins can revert to their natures, and take the likes of Draymond Green or Paul George (Pacers) to school on the block. Players at 6’10 or taller shooting 3s is becoming the norm, and while traditional big men still matter (i.e. DeAndre Jordan, Zach Randolph), they are put in precarious positions if their counterparts are drawing them away from the rim.
The Warriors proved last season small-ball can work. Now the Pelicans and Kings are trying to perfect it with bigs.
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