Ninety percent of the coaches in the NBA are guards, and there aren't very many big men people coaching, I happen to be one of them and when I coached, everybody on my team, including the guards, had a hook shot, so that it was their bail out shot.
The 3-point line has changed the game so much. The day of the big man, unless you're extraordinary good, is not numbered, but certainly you gotta be a lot more versatile to play the game today. You gotta be able to really run up and down the court.
The competitive spirit of basketball is slowly leaking out. Taking pride in one-on-one defense is slowly leaking out. It's more about selling calls and flopping.
No matter what the trends are in the NBA - teams going big, going small, getting more efficient with analytics - the ability for a player to create his own shot, then convert tough shots, will always be a weapon, particularly when you get to the playoffs.
It used to be you a needed a true center to win championships, but now the point guard position holds just as much weight.
The advent of so much dribbling has created a different kind of player, and it starts at a very early age. We have so many gifted ball handlers. Everything is pick-and-roll. Unless he's a catch-and-shoot guy, a player is going to put it on the floor and attack. Kevin Durant is a wonderful ball handler.
More and more teams are, in the vernacular, 'going small,' with only one big man down deep. Good grief, the position of power forward is in the process of going the way of short shorts.
There's very few guys that play for one team their whole careers, nowadays, especially in the cap era it's a lot tougher.
Well, history always repeats itself, so there's probably a baby Shaq out there in a crib somewhere, sipping on a bottle, and when he gets old enough, he'll bring the post-up center back.
My game really complements what the NBA wants - a long guy who can really handle the ball and shoot the ball and make multiple decisions.
Going to Golden State, I really fine-tuned everything on defense, which is important because the NBA is moving away from standard bigs and going toward bigs that can switch and things like that.
