There really isn’t a non-tedious way to preface a positional discussion without acknowledging that standard basketball positions went out the window a while ago, and that inverted offenses, modern defensive schemes, and the equal chance of a point guard or center getting a triple-double mean we either lean on new player archetypes or contextualize skills needs to individual team and lineup situations.
Now imagine I just accomplished some version of that so that we’ve fixed our lens firmly on your 2021-22 San Antonio Spurs. After rolling out frontcourts of late-stage Pau Gasol, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Rudy Gay just a few years earlier, they fully embraced the league’s positionless era by mostly surrounding a seven-footer with a cast of quick, multi-skilled, interchangeable guard-type players.