A revolution may be brewing in the NBA — the unlikely return of tall ball.
Tim MacMahon of ESPN reported this week that new Dallas Mavericks big man Christian Wood is “wide open” to the idea of starting at power forward next year. The point of the move would be to accommodate another newly-acquired Mavs big, seven-foot center JaVale McGee.
Wood, who just arrived from the Houston Rockets, had become a full-time center over the last couple of seasons. But with his height (6-foot-9) and his three-point shooting skill (38.0 percent from deep on his career), Wood may be able to reverse pivot to the 4 for the Mavs. Doing so would keep the floor properly spaced for Luka Doncic while also allowing Doncic to maintain an alley-oop gadget in the starting lineup in McGee.
On a more macro-NBA scale, the two-big era seemed to be dead and buried for the better part of the last decade. But the seeds for a comeback had been planted this postseason with the success of Boston Celtics double trees Al Horford and Robert Williams alongside each other in the starting lineup. A recent blockbuster deal elsewhere in the West is also hinting at a twin-tower resurgence, and now a Wood-McGee tandem could be next to join the party.
