Loser: Boston’s big men
Boston’s starting center Daniel Theis averaged 4.2 fouls this series and Enes Kanter and Robert ‘Timelord’ Williams played limited roles as the playoffs tightened Brad Steven’s rotation.
I wrote last month on the value of the center position in today’s NBA and essentially laid out the argument that if teams can’t get their hands on a difference-maker at the center position, they’re better off investing their time and money on the other parts of the team.
Would Boston have won this series with last season’s Al Horford on their roster? They’d have a better matchup against Bam Adebayo (a difference-maker) but do they win? If Horford’s on the team, they probably don’t have the cap space to fill out the rest of the roster the way they did.
I spoke very highly of Boston’s approach this past season by trying to resign Horford at a discounted rate but being willing to let him walk, filling out the position by committee. I stand by what I wrote as this season’s Horford is a different guy to the last but if the Conference Finals this season saw Nikola Jokic, Anthony Davis, and Bam beating their individual matchups, it’s getting interesting.
Next season will be another big test case for this theory with Golden State and Brooklyn contending for titles with non-elite centers on their roster in Kevon Looney and Marquese Chriss for the former and Jarrett Allen and DeAndre Jordan the latter.