Big vs. Little

There has been a lot of talk in the basketball blogosphere the last few days about whether it is better to start a team with a center or a guard. Good question. If you are starting a franchise, do you want a dominating center, or an electrifying guard? To me, the question is: why are you starting a team?

It seems, if you are getting involved in the business to win an NBA championship, you need a dominating center. The last 12 years go Lakers, Lakers, Celtics, Spurs, Heat, Spurs, Pistons, Spurs, Lakers, Lakers, Lakers, Spurs. Of those 12 teams, It can be argued that the best, or most important players on each team were enormous, or at least really big:

• For the first Laker's dynasty and Miami's single dip, Shaq.
  
• For the Spurs three championships, Tim Duncan was the common factor.
  
• For the most recent three of Lakers and Celtics, Pau Gasol and Kevin Garnett were (arguably) the most important players on those teams.
  
• Even the Pistons got over the hump by the mid-season pickup of Rasheed Wallace.

On the other side of the page, if you want to make money in the NBA, I would argue that a flashy and mesmerizing guard is your best bet. Think of the most exciting players in the NBA today. My top 1- most likely to make you shake your head in disbelief players: Bryant, James, Wade, Durant, Paul, Howard, Williams, Wall (give me a break. Child is fast), Rose, Westbrook. Only one of these players is a center. As a GM, I would have to think a lot about the potential of drawing more fans over 41 games in my arena versus the potential of winning more playoff games over a six to ten year period.

Obviously, your team is going to make a lot of money if you win an NBA championship. However, what are the chances that you win an O'Brien trophy if you are drafting a potential star? At least in the short term, not good. So does it make more sense to make money with an exciting young athlete while you try to build your team? These are the kinds of questions that haunt me as a wannabe GM. I think the most important lesson has to be: as a General Manager, it's never all about the basketball, as much as you may like it to be.