Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 11, 1991 TAG: 9102110027
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By JACK BOGACZYK SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
So, what's the point?
The point is becoming a position of prominence in the NBA. The aggressive, offensive point guard almost is in as much demand as great big men in a constantly evolving game.
Should anyone be surprised that 42 percent of the players on the West team were playmakers? Probably not, because six point guards were first-round draft picks in each of the past two college drafts.
"The NBA has changed," said Porter, the Portland point man who made his first All-Star appearance Sunday. "Five or six years ago, teams were trying to get as big as they could.
"There will always be a place for the good 7-footer in this league, but how many of those are around? In the Western Conference, point guard is the spot.
"Teams are moving the ball with more of an up-tempo game, and teams are now looking for point guards to score more, too. Look what players like Kevin Johnson and Tim Hardaway are doing."
The East roster included only two "pure" point guards, injured Isiah Thomas of Detroit and Alvin Robertson of Milwaukee. Think "East" and you get Robert Parish and Kevin McHale, clogging the middle, filling the lanes.
"It's a different style," Porter said. "It's cyclical. The NBA is like everything else. It goes in cycles."
The Western is considered the power conference of the NBA's future, but it not because it will play power basketball. No one in the West is getting Kareemed anymore.
"The problem for a while was that everyone was looking for a Magic Johnson, and a 6-foot-9 point guard is only going to come along every 20 years or so, if that often," said Hardaway, the Golden State floor leader who became an All-Star in only his second NBA season.
"Isiah was the guy who showed people that little guys can still play in this league, and Detroit winning the championship with small guards helped the little guy," Hardaway said.
In Utah, Stockton became a dominating player although he appears to be a bit shy of his listed 6-1 height. Mark Price was considered a dicey NBA prospect when he came out of Georgia Tech, but the now-injured Cleveland star did more than anyone to force people to quit calling that team the Cadavers.
Hardaway said he expected to mix into the Warriors' system slowly, but when coach Don Nelson went "small," he had a darting shooter and defender like the former Texas-El Paso star in mind to push his team up the floor.
"What's the one thing you always hear people saying about NBA teams that need to improve?" Hardaway said. "They say, `They need a big man.' There aren't enough to go around.
"People have been telling little guys they couldn't do it for a long time, and here they are. One thing that helps a little guy a lot in the NBA is that because of his size, he's had to work on his whole game. He just wasn't a shooter, or a rebounder in college."
Hardaway also said the adoption of the 45-second shot clock in college basketball has made point guards more appealing to NBA scouts.
"Forty-five is a long time, but with any shot clock, a team has to get into its offense quicker. The easiest way to do that is to have a little man handle the ball. The big men inside, with the bodies bumping, it takes more time. The college shot clock has helped make the point guard more offense-minded, too."
Porter, the former Division III player at Wisconsin-Stevens Point, is in his sixth NBA season. Just now, he said, more people are starting to notice his contributions.
Maybe that's because there are more prominent point men like him.
"Magic was such a novelty and so unorthodox," said Pat Riley, who has moved from the Lakers' coaching job to studio work with NBC Sports. "People looked, but they just couldn't find 6-7 or 6-8 guys with the kind of skills to play the point.
"There also was that stretch in the early- to mid-'80s when everyone was caught up in the `Twin Towers' concept, with Akeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson at Houston.
"The college shot clock has helped point guards who have NBA skills. Before the clock, teams were generally running halfcourt offense or going into delay games. The clock opened it up for those players, and now the game is push and dish."
Hardaway is one of the prototype NBA point guards of the future, Riley said.
"Just look at how many more guys between 6-1 and 6-3 are in the league now than about five years ago," Hardaway said. "If the last decade was the decade of the big man, 1990-2000 is going to be the decade of the little men."
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