The NBA's pace-and-space offensive era has been defined by many things. But for me, above all else, one thing stands out as the most important innovation within basketball over the course of the last decade-plus.
The changing role of the NBA big man in an efficient offense.
No more is the NBA relying upon big, burly players to take up space inside and create shots in the post. After all, one of the key findings of the analytical revolution within basketball was that creating shots out of the post was one of the least efficient ways to score. It's a perimeter-based game now offensively, where creating shots at the rim and from behind the 3-point line are the keys to an explosive offense. In order to create those shots, it helps to have players who are mobile enough to move around the perimeter to set screens, but also good enough shooters to keep their defender honest and away from the rim to slow down driving guards.
While this has been around the NBA for a while -- as teams have emphasized developing these skills in players early throughout their careers -- we're finally starting to see it trickle down to the prep and college levels on a widespread basis. Last year, it was Karl-Anthony Towns, Myles Turner, Frank Kaminsky and Kristaps Porzingis as true 7-footers who shoot it away from the hoop taken in the top-11. This year, there are seemingly too many to count, including potential top-five picks Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss. Next year, it's guys like Harry Giles, Thomas Bryant, and Lauri Markkanen just to name a few.
Finally, it's the norm for kids to reach the NBA with jump shots at the 4 and 5 spots.
Finally, it's not this novelty of positional value that is impossible to find.
And more than any player in this draft, the revolution is personified by Kentucky's Skal Labissiere.
"(Shooting) is a good thing for people my age and size to work on because it will help your versatility and bump up your value a little bit," Labissiere told CBS Sports. "If you can shoot the basketball at my size it's very valuable. You space the floor out for the guards, give them more space to operate. They can get to the basket easier because most of the time I have another big guarding me. So if he's a shot-blocker, I can take him out to the perimeter and make it easier for the guards to get into the paint. Then in pick-and-pop situations, it helps a lot too because I can stretch the floor out."
Labissiere has a terrific understanding of his value on the floor, and that's incredibly important to his potential as a player. After all, it's that skill set that made him a preseason potential No. 1 overall pick, and that skill set that has allowed his value to hold relatively steady throughout the year despite a season at Kentucky that could best be described as disappointing and at worst a calamity that nearly cost him millions of dollars.
In high school, Labissiere had always been considered an elite prospect since getting to America from Haiti, a story he chronicled in the Player's Tribune last week. It's easy to see why he'd be considered a five-star prospect, given his immediately apparent smooth stroke, solid shot-blocking instincts, and the ability to run the floor like a guard.
"I watched a lot of basketball and I always had a basketball with me in Haiti," Labissiere said. "I'd just lay down and work on my form, and when I came to the states I played for some of the best coaches in Tennessee who helped me fix my form. I'd seen it in the past already with guys like Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Garnett. They can shoot the basketball and they're my height. Especially Dirk. I liked watching him a lot."
Still, during his high school career he was known more as a projectable future star than a fully-developed one. That all changed in April 2015. The 7-footer took the leap from potential first rounder to potential No. 1 overall pick in front of a gym full of NBA scouts at Nike Hoop Summit. While there, Labissiere outclassed fellow stretch-bigs like Thon Maker, out-skilled guys like Cheick Diallo and Stephen Zimmerman, and out-shined even the elite like Ben Simmons and Brandon Ingram. Scouts raved about the fluidity with which he moved and the gorgeous mechanics on his shot that seemed effortlessly able to be extended out to the NBA 3-point line. Going to Kentucky, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that he would be one of the best players in college basketball for a year before becoming a top pick in the 2016 NBA Draft.
Then things came to crashing halt at Kentucky. It was clear from the early stages of his freshman season that things weren't quite there. He struggled egregiously to rebound the basketball. He was foul-prone. Clearly, it seemed that coach John Calipari didn't quite have the trust he needed in him to play him regularly. That caused Labissiere to press and try to force the issue, and it made things worse as during the middle portion of the season, it wasn't uncommon for him to receive under 10 minutes per game.
"I didn't really pay attention to what people were saying," Labissiere said about the discussions that circulated around him in the preseason. "I was more putting pressure on myself. I put more pressure on myself than other people do. I thought at times I was too hard on myself. But toward the end of the year everything fell in place for me and became easier."
Labissiere certainly showed signs that he was developing late in the year. He scored 11 points in a game against Florida, then again out-shined Simmons in a game against LSU by scoring 18 points, grabbing nine rebounds and blocking six shots. Against Stony Brook and fellow NBA prospect Jameel Warney, Labissiere scored 12 points, grabbed four rebounds and blocked six more shots. Basically, it was the kind of impact that he was expected to have throughout the season. But the damage had already been done, and scouts had begun questioning what they had seen early on that had made Labissiere such a highly sought-after prospect. He was labeled a "fraud" by one in a report from SNY, a player who was clearly not ready for the highest levels of basketball. No longer was he in the mix at No. 1. Now, it was a free for all. Still, Labissiere wouldn't trade his time at Kentucky for a different experience.
"I think it was great for me," Labissiere still says about his time at Kentucky. "I'm glad it didn't go like I wanted it to go. I have high expectations for myself. I learned a lot. Overall, I think my experience at Kentucky was good. After all, I got to work with one of the best coaches in college basketball. I definitely got better as a basketball player in my time at Kentucky."
But then a funny thing happened. As Labissiere got away from Kentucky's scheme -- always a precarious fit at best, given the lack of pick-and-roll/pop with big men, and the desire from Calipari for his big men to play big -- teams started to remember what they liked about him. They saw him knock down step-back jumpers in workouts. Met with him and remembered this is a kid that is of the highest character. Realized that while he has a while to go, he still has the upside that they're looking for out of a floor-spacing big man in today's NBA.
Those who doubt Labissiere may not be off-base and there is a lot to worry about with him coming through and becoming an NBA player. Labissiere's body still isn't quite ready for the NBA. His reaction time and basketball IQ doesn't seem to be the highest. His rebounding and defense outside of shot-blocking is still questionable. That year at Kentucky did bring up a multitude of worries that weren't quite there 14 months ago.
But that doesn't matter on Thursday night. All that matters is that someone will select him, and do it relatively early, too. And the reason they'll select him is due to the upside they've seen in him as a shooter and modern player, among other things.
Here's the thing that many who follow the NBA don't realize: a freshman's college season is not his only sample size to pick from. It's certainly an important sample size. It's the highest level of competition that a player has consistently and competitively played against. But it's not the entire picture. Scouts get to see these kids from young ages. Get to watch them on tape and see their stats in Nike EYBL events or check them out during sanctioned scouting events such as Basketball Without Borders or Hoop Summit.
They know Labissiere's skill set quite well, even if he only played 567 minutes of college hoops this season. Some will be believers, some will not quite understand the appeal. However, in a weak draft like the 2016 one, teams will likely be a bit more willing to take a shot on a kid like Labissiere who just one year ago was considered a potential star.
After all, the NBA is changing. The traditional big man is a thing of the past. Players like Labissiere are the new normal, and plenty of teams are going to need guys like him to succeed. It's still up in the air if this particular player will be good enough, but Labissiere is going to deservedly keep getting chances for the foreseeable future due to the highly valuable skill set he's shown in the past.
