In the NBA season opener, the Houston Rockets started what might be the tallest NBA lineup of all time. Host Ailsa Chang speaks with the Ringer’s Rob Mahoney, about the evolution of the skilled big man in the NBA.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Well, the NBA season is here, and last night’s season opener did not disappoint.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER: His toss for the win.
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UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER: No good. And the Thunder with an opening night victory.
CHANG: The Oklahoma City Thunder eked out a win against the Houston Rockets in double overtime. And for those watching closely, one of the most intriguing stories within the game – and, frankly, for this whole NBA season – is the Rockets’ starting lineup, which might be the tallest in NBA history. Now, it’s up for debate, but the Rockets’ army of giants might actually be a sign of something bigger and taller happening all across the NBA. And here to talk about that is Rob Mahoney, senior staff writer with The Ringer, where he writes about the NBA and pop culture. Hello, hello.
ROB MAHONEY: Hello. Thanks for having me.
CHANG: Thanks for being with us. OK, for those of us who are not totally obsessed with the NBA but who can appreciate a very cool thing, how unique is this Rockets starting lineup? Like, is this really the tallest of all time?
MAHONEY: There’s a surprising amount of debate around that.
CHANG: Really?
MAHONEY: And you would think that it’s easily measurable.
CHANG: Yeah.
MAHONEY: This is the tallest lineup to start a season, but yeah, there’s some gray area around a lineup that the Mavericks trotted out in 1998 and 1999. There was a Denver Nuggets lineup a couple seasons ago that was very provisional and featured an even taller lineup, kind of, maybe. Again, there’s some debate about this. But what we know for sure is this is the tallest lineup that a team has started the season with, and therefore kind of the tallest lineup that a team has started with on purpose.
CHANG: OK, so just give people an idea of how tall these guys are.
MAHONEY: Absolutely. So the majority of the lineup is around 7 feet tall.
CHANG: Dang.
MAHONEY: The shortest player on the floor for the Rockets is 6-7. Like, this is towering over opponents at every possible position.
CHANG: (Laughter) I would be a Smurf with these guys. OK, how does a starting lineup of 7-footers change what’s happening on the court? Like, what’s the most obvious things you’re noticing?
MAHONEY: I think the biggest change is the way that a lineup that’s that big plays defense, right? If you’re trying to score against these guys, where everyone is 7 foot tall, where everyone has arms that seem to span the entire court, it changes everything about the way you play the game.
CHANG: And is this happening beyond the Rockets? Like, do you see this happening across the NBA – bigger, taller men on a bunch of teams?
MAHONEY: Yeah, there’s definitely kind of a cresting thing happening with Houston on the forefront of something, but a lot of teams are trying to do this in their own ways. And the only reason they can is that the NBA is more skilled than it’s ever been. The guys who are coming in who are 7 feet tall have more that they can do with a basketball than ever before.
CHANG: Wow. OK, I do have one question, though.
MAHONEY: Yeah.
CHANG: Maybe it’s an obvious question. I can totally appreciate a tall guy, believe me, and I know that the NBA has always appreciated tall guys. So why hasn’t this domination of giants happened earlier?
MAHONEY: A lot of it is because the NBA is less dogmatic than it’s been. Before, if you were a 7-foot-tall player, you were resigned to playing in a very specific way. You go stand near the basket. You dunk, you post up. You do the things that big players do. And it’s very apropos that the Rockets are involved in this kind of revolution because Kevin Durant, who’s one of these 7-footers, is one of the best shooters in NBA history, is a guy who can handle the ball like a guard. And so he has been on the forefront of kind of allowing and empowering younger players, including now some of his own teammates, to play the way that he does.
CHANG: Interesting. Well, I do want to know ’cause it feels like the NBA is getting more and more into extremes. Like, I know there’s a lot more 3-point shooting. There’s much faster speed, much faster pacing, and in the case of the Rockets, obviously, much more height. So do you think all these trends we’re seeing, is this a temporary thing or do you think the sport is fundamentally changing?
MAHONEY: I do think the sport is fundamentally changing. I mean, things like the 3-point shooting, we are past changed. Steph Curry came, the NBA changed almost overnight in his image, and now teams are leaning into those sorts of extremes in terms of shooting. And the players who are coming up are feeding into that. They know what the NBA wants. They know that if they have all these skills, there’s going to be a place for them. And it’s leading to really exciting basketball and also basketball that’s pushing boundaries in a ton of different ways.
CHANG: I think I’m going to tune in more. Rob Mahoney is a senior staff writer with The Ringer, where he writes about the NBA and pop culture. Thank you so much, Rob.
MAHONEY: Thanks, Ailsa. I appreciate you.
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