No matter what you’ve been told in the past, size does matter, folks. If you’ve been paying attention to the league, you’ve noticed how many teams have added more centers and power forwards to their rosters. The Spurs are one of those franchises, and it’s a good thing they did, because this is the year that they get back to the playoffs, and Luke Kornet is going to be imperative to making that happen.
Not every team has adopted this philosophy yet, but enough of them have. Three of San Antonio’s biggest rivals have. The Rockets, Thunder, and especially those crazy Mavericks are going to try to swallow their opponents whole. But they must be prepared for a fight when the Silver and Black are on the schedule. They’re ready to fight fire with fire.
Big lineups are taking over the NBA
Let’s start with the reigning champions. First of all, Oklahoma City doesn’t even have a single player on the roster shorter than 6’4″. They can roll out a lineup of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Jaylin Williams, Chet Holmgren, and Isaiah Hartenstein. Nobody in that group is shorter than 6’6″, and they have two legitimate seven-footers.
With the Rockets, we’ll likely see a unit with Amen Thompson, Kevin Durant, Tari Eason, Alperen Sengun, and Steven Adams. The smallest player here is 6’7″. This group has length, athleticism, and versatility on both ends of the floor. Putting Adams on this team also gives them a lot more strength, and that will be annoying when it comes to rebounding and positioning in the paint for Wemby.
The Mavericks have lost their minds. If you love basketball, you love to hear what they’re experimenting with, but when you factor in being a Spurs fan, it sounds dreadful. Jason Kidd has already been deploying an oversized lineup during the preseason, and San Antonio is likely going to see it on opening night.
The group consists of Cooper Flagg at point guard, Klay Thompson, PJ Washington, Anthony Davis, and Dereck Lively II. That’s a preposterous amount of heft and length on the court at one time. Kidd has different variations of this big lineup, too. He was a mastermind as a player, and he continues to tweak and craft as a coach.
The Silver and Black must be ready to counter groups like this. That’s one of the reasons why it’s so important that Jeremy Sochan works out. If he can get into some of those lineups, it gives the Spurs more versatility to combat whatever their opponents throw at him.
Could Jeremy’s jump shot be good enough to get into a lineup with Victor Wembanyama and Luke Kornet? That remains to be seen, but it might be a valuable asset if he can be trusted to knock down shots. Wemby, Kornet, Sochan, Julian Champagnie/Harrison Barnes, and Stephon Castle/Dylan Harper would give them a jumbo lineup of their own.
The shortest player would be 6’6″ and of course, with Wemby and Kornet in their, you have two behemoths to battle the giants on the other side. The days of small-ball running the game are coming to a close. It’s a big man’s game again. Thankfully, the Spurs are more than ready for it.
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