Written by Jody Seabrooks
(Orlando FL- July 7, 2016) In lieu of the box office movie BFG, which was a book written by one of my favorite authors as a child, Roald Dahl, an ode to the Big man.
Big man (n.) - slang term referring to a player on a basketball team who plays the center position.
When watching 10 giants run around on hardwood, while sitting courtside, it’s hard to determine who are the men amongst giants. Most of the time they are people shaped blurs, but then there are moments when just for a second you can see, the big man. Generally he towers over everyone moving at a slower pace, being a wall of defense for the basket. More often than not he is not too graceful, his feet move as if there are weighed down what appears to be an anchor (pun intended). His hands are as hard as two big boulders with slits for fingers.
The art of small ball seems to be a growing trend. Men with heights that would cause someone like myself to have a nose bleed are now few and far between, but teams like the Dallas Mavericks happen to have 4 of them.
While play Orlando Magic’s Blue team, we happen to see them all. Going through the motions of screens, boxing out, passing, rebound, and defending seems simple to the other 4 men on the court but not for the big man. Long spurts between baskets, the big man is left out of the offensive plays and brought to the top of the key where it is either defending a smaller man after getting drawn there via a screen, or completely out of position for a rebound, that happens to have the aforementioned smaller man snatching boards right from the giants mammoth hands.
Who are we to blame?
What happened to the giants that we once called Big man?
Should we blame the culture of “small ball”?
Mind you, this is summer league and they have managed to play what seems to be a hard week of basketball. Not saying what I saw wasn’t good, I am saying what I saw wasn’t great.
There were variations of the big man in motion; one was a giant, who ironically reminded me of Andre the Giant. His hands not so gentle, his feet were like a bulldozer, and his voice was booming. Satnam Singh, 7’2 rookie of IMG Academy, played in one game prior to today’s game, and manage to rack up almost 10 minutes of actively playing time. In those 10 minutes he was 2-2 from the field with one rebound.
Laimonas Chatkevicius 6’11 rookie of South Carolina, moved like a gazelle with horse blinders on, but had the awareness of a blind Kung Fu fighting monk. Chatkevicius, the most vocal of all the centers today, making sure that his teammates knew that all times he was there. Eager even, but also the one that seemed to need the most work as a center. He had no stats to record.
Stevan Jelovac, 6’10 forward rookie from Zaragoza, had the heart of a fighter the body movements of a veteran player on his last year of his contract and he played like a true vet in his position. A bit heavy on his feet but had more moves than needed to get in and out of traffic. He missed 4 of his 5 shots, 3 of those were from the 3-point line, picked up 5 rebounds and only caused one turnover. Basketball IQ is off the charts.
And then there’s Jaleel Cousins, 6’11 rookie out of South Florida. Cousins was a sight to see. The hunger he displayed on the court was that of a person that had something to prove. Especially since he was not a drafter in this most recent draft. He is what today’s big man looks like. Mobile, as fast as a big man can get, athletic, and room to grow. He made 50% of his field goal attempts, missed only 2 free throws of 6 and scooped 3 rebounds. I am sure if it weren’t for all the fouls he’d be a lot more aggressive.
These men played with all they could muster; yet it felt as if there were only a few plays that actually involved them. They weren’t giants in the stats but they were big parts of the game. At one point Dallas managed to put a small line up in and without their big men, went on a 8-0 run, that turned out to be an onslaught of lay ups and floaters. Their presence was missed. Once they put the big man, Jelovac in, their lead vanished quickly. In part to him specifically due to him shooting what most would call a good look up from the 3-point line (not a fan of big men shooting 3s). They managed to keep it close but at the end the score said otherwise. Magic defeat the Mavericks 96-94.
Big man (n.) - slang term referring to a player on a basketball team who plays the center position.
When watching 10 giants run around on hardwood, while sitting courtside, it’s hard to determine who are the men amongst giants. Most of the time they are people shaped blurs, but then there are moments when just for a second you can see, the big man. Generally he towers over everyone moving at a slower pace, being a wall of defense for the basket. More often than not he is not too graceful, his feet move as if there are weighed down what appears to be an anchor (pun intended). His hands are as hard as two big boulders with slits for fingers.
The art of small ball seems to be a growing trend. Men with heights that would cause someone like myself to have a nose bleed are now few and far between, but teams like the Dallas Mavericks happen to have 4 of them.
While play Orlando Magic’s Blue team, we happen to see them all. Going through the motions of screens, boxing out, passing, rebound, and defending seems simple to the other 4 men on the court but not for the big man. Long spurts between baskets, the big man is left out of the offensive plays and brought to the top of the key where it is either defending a smaller man after getting drawn there via a screen, or completely out of position for a rebound, that happens to have the aforementioned smaller man snatching boards right from the giants mammoth hands.
Who are we to blame?
What happened to the giants that we once called Big man?
Should we blame the culture of “small ball”?
Mind you, this is summer league and they have managed to play what seems to be a hard week of basketball. Not saying what I saw wasn’t good, I am saying what I saw wasn’t great.
There were variations of the big man in motion; one was a giant, who ironically reminded me of Andre the Giant. His hands not so gentle, his feet were like a bulldozer, and his voice was booming. Satnam Singh, 7’2 rookie of IMG Academy, played in one game prior to today’s game, and manage to rack up almost 10 minutes of actively playing time. In those 10 minutes he was 2-2 from the field with one rebound.
Laimonas Chatkevicius 6’11 rookie of South Carolina, moved like a gazelle with horse blinders on, but had the awareness of a blind Kung Fu fighting monk. Chatkevicius, the most vocal of all the centers today, making sure that his teammates knew that all times he was there. Eager even, but also the one that seemed to need the most work as a center. He had no stats to record.
Stevan Jelovac, 6’10 forward rookie from Zaragoza, had the heart of a fighter the body movements of a veteran player on his last year of his contract and he played like a true vet in his position. A bit heavy on his feet but had more moves than needed to get in and out of traffic. He missed 4 of his 5 shots, 3 of those were from the 3-point line, picked up 5 rebounds and only caused one turnover. Basketball IQ is off the charts.
And then there’s Jaleel Cousins, 6’11 rookie out of South Florida. Cousins was a sight to see. The hunger he displayed on the court was that of a person that had something to prove. Especially since he was not a drafter in this most recent draft. He is what today’s big man looks like. Mobile, as fast as a big man can get, athletic, and room to grow. He made 50% of his field goal attempts, missed only 2 free throws of 6 and scooped 3 rebounds. I am sure if it weren’t for all the fouls he’d be a lot more aggressive.
These men played with all they could muster; yet it felt as if there were only a few plays that actually involved them. They weren’t giants in the stats but they were big parts of the game. At one point Dallas managed to put a small line up in and without their big men, went on a 8-0 run, that turned out to be an onslaught of lay ups and floaters. Their presence was missed. Once they put the big man, Jelovac in, their lead vanished quickly. In part to him specifically due to him shooting what most would call a good look up from the 3-point line (not a fan of big men shooting 3s). They managed to keep it close but at the end the score said otherwise. Magic defeat the Mavericks 96-94.