James Worthy talks about the evolution of NBA bigs and which players the LA Lakers should try to sign.
The NBA is an ever-changing league. In simple terms, players who become stagnant and refuse to go with the flow often fail to build long careers in the league.
A prime example of this is the rise of the three-point in the modern era. So much so that at one point, many traditional big men found themselves on the verge of exit from the NBA.
“The bigs went away until they revolutionized themselves. You know, all of a sudden you got [Nikola] Jokic, you got centers shooting three,” James Worthy recently stated.
Nikola Jokic is just one of many examples that LA Lakers legend James Worthy stated.
Photo by Rich Storry/Getty ImagesJames Worthy on the evolution of NBA big men
For decades, the centers were expected to crash the paint and grab rebounds while scoring points from there.
However, as Worthy pointed out, Jokic changed that and many players followed his path to success in hopes of finding a good career.
“Brook Lopez was almost out of the league, learned how to shoot the three. So now you’re saying that big. It’s a different kind of big.
“It’s not the Artist Gilmore, it’s not the Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar], it’s not the bigs of the past, not even the David Robinson, per se. But you have those players like a David Robinson, strong, agile, Quick, run, shoot three,” Worthy added.
So, what’s the importance of knowing this? Well, the Los Angeles Lakers are expected to search the open market to find a player who fits this description in the coming offseason.
LA Lakers need Jarrett Allen and Bam Adebayo-type players
Worthy wasn’t done heaping huge praise on the Denver Nuggets star as he compared Jokic to Magic Johnson.
“That’s what we’re seeing. And with Jokic, I think he’s the one that really revised it all, a seven-foot Magic Johnson that could pass, the shooting, just control the game.”
But is the modern-day center just restricted to playing elite offense? No.
“So yeah, center is important, and for us defensively, it’s also, if you look at what Minnesota has done with Gobert, not a great offensive guy, but a rim protector. We had one. We had Anthony Davis,” he added.
With the Lakers parting ways with Anthony Davis in the blockbuster Luka Doncic trade, Worthy named Jarrett Allen and Bam Adebayo as the archetypes of players that the Purple and Gold should scout.
“That’s the other kind of center, the Bam, the Allen, Mobley, those type of guys who are agile, quick to get up and down the floor and protect the rim, so that’s where we’ll be looking.”