Once upon a time, there were five positions on a basketball court at a time: point guard, shooting guard, small forward, power forward and center. Now, the game has evolved to a point of positional fluidity where individual players don’t align perfectly with their archetypal
For most NBA teams, one or two players possess the ability to initiate offense or create in a way that crucially threatens the defense from the wing. Think John Wall and Bradley Beal on the Washington Wizards. However, the number of individuals who can consistently
We’ve established that the NBA is a copycat league. In fact, not only from a strategic sense does mimicry run rampant, but the movement of players, coaches and front offices highlights the NBA’s incredibly incestuous hiring practices. Strategies spread because they are demonstrated to be
In the previous edition of the NBA meta series, we talked about players who have an athletic build and basketball tool kit that allowed them to adjust their offensive or defensive play styles based on their matchups. Players like Paul Millsap and Harrison Barnes can
The 1990s and 2000s were riddled with dominant power forwards. Karl Malone, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett represented the archetypal 4: a dominant big who could score in myriad ways and stall an offense with his impeccable defense. However, another future Hall of Famer broke
Whenever playing competitive games such as Overwatch or CS-GO, rules and game mechanic balancing give certain character or gun selections preference over others. These standard choices and styles are considered “meta” because, as a result of the rules and styles within the game, they