I dig it. Especially with the way the rules are these days. If you are a star perimeter player and you get touched on a drive you get to the line. Its a little ridiculous sometimes, but i def like the idea of building around guards, and filling in with quality role playing bigs ie the nuggets.
You've gotta go big. I've written stories about it, but you don't win a title unless you have an All-NBA level big man. Look through the list of champions of year's past - noone has won a title without an All-NBA big man since Jordan's Bulls - but they had Rodman.
It's quite simple. You need both a great big and a great wing. Kobe + Pau. Pierce + Garnett. Duncan + Ginobli. Shaq + Wade. Wallace + Billups (ok, neither are really dominant, but nor is anyone else on that team. There's an exception to every rule.) etc.
You have to build with size despite the changes to the NBA rules. It doesn't matter much in the regular season, but in the post season you can get a better idea of how skilled big men dominate a series. They get you easy baskets, they create extra shots with offensive boards, they protect the rim, and they disrupt a game plan by getting the opposing team into foul trouble. A perimeter player can also do this, but the percentages are higher for big men. Having a big who demands a double team makes the game much easier for his teammates. It creates an open look or mismatch on offense when they get touches.
Defense and rebounding wins games - and more importantly wins championships. If you look back over the past 25 years, almost every NBA champion has had either a dominant big man, and/or multiple elite defenders. Even the Jordan Bulls, without a dominant center, had great rebounding (Grant/Rodman) and multiple all-NBA 1st and 2nd team defenders (Jordan, Pippen, Grant/Rodman). You want to win a title, you need to be able to rebound and defend. It's that simple. If you have a big man who is both a dominant rebounder and can defend the paint (Shaq, Duncan, Garnett, Ben Wallace, etc.), that's a huge step in the right direction. BNM
I don't think it will ever change. I do think that more teams are being forced to build small because the quality bigs are just not available. Some of the most talented and legit 7 footers choose to develop their games facing the basket, and that has hurt the cause of the bigs as well.
