Most of the top offensive units in the NBA have one thing in common. Consider this list for a minute: Oklahoma City, Milwaukee, Los Angeles Clippers, Indiana, and Boston. They are all really talented, to start. It comes as no surprise that they are among the top teams in the league. Yet aside from Los Angeles, four of the top five offenses in the NBA feature a big man with shooting ability.
That’s why the Toronto Raptors wanted Kelly Olynyk. While the 32-year-old lacks the defensive prowess of Myles Turner or Brook Lopez, the scoring prowess of Kristaps Porzingis, and the excitement of Chet Holmgren, he is among the best in the game when it comes to spacing the floor. That excites Toronto’s All-Star forward, Scottie Barnes.
“They have to be aware of him on the outside. So it opens more driving lanes, more kick outs, defense collapses, and kickout to one mores,” Barnes said Saturday following his first game playing alongside the Canadian center. “[They’ve] just got to be able to watch him on the perimeter so it gives us more spacing, gives more flow to our offense and we can play out of that as well. [If] they close out, we can keep driving and kicking and swinging it, it helps us.”
An offense may shift the game when they have a large man with shooting ability. Big players on the other side are forced to reach outside of their comfort zone and to the perimeter, where they are unable to block shots at the rim.
“Just spaces you out so much,” Cavaliers coach J. B. Bickerstaff said Saturday. “Your rotations change a little bit defensively, how you stop drives, how you protect the paint, and those types of things.
“But this game is about spacing, and [with the way] the rules are set up, you put guys in isolation situations and the offense has the advantage because you’re not allowed to touch guys and be physical. So it helps to kind of eliminate a shot blocker or a rim protector for guys who can attack the basket and create more files because there’s less people there.”