Day 75

Fresh Start_75: Hi, I am a stretch power forward
What has happened to the traditional stretch four in the game of basketball? A very early deal happened Monday night between Philadelphia and Oklahoma City. The Thunder trade Ersan Ilyasova and a conditional first round pick for Jermani Grant. Ilyasova is a 37% three-point shooter and a 77% free throw shooter. Ilyasova averaged 5.5 rebounds last year, and has regressed as a rim protector, only averaged 0.3 and 0.6 blocks/steals per game. Ilysova was a second round pick in 2005 for the Bucks, and has traveled around the league the past couple of seasons. The 6’ers also receive a first round pick for Grant in this deal and get a steal in this trade.

Grant is a good player, he averaged 9.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game. Grant is an up and coming guard in the league and this trade reminds me a lot of the Derrick Rose trade that happened this past summer.  Jermani Grant is a player that compares well to former Knicks guard Jerrian Grant. Jermani can be a good guard off the bench for the Thunder. Oklahoma City however, is starting to turn into the Phoenix Suns collecting all of these talented guards from around the league. Let’s not forget to Ilysova was part of the deal that got Victor Oladipo (who just got paid $184 Million yesterday).

And if you look around the league, over than Golden State, Cleveland, the New York Knicks, or the Pelicans are the only teams with legit stretch fours. The value of a stretch four seems to have had a short life span in the NBA. The move for the league is now moving toward having a second small forward play the four, if you are going to play small-ball basketball. Look at the lineups that Cleveland and Golden State rolled out onto the floor last year in the Finals. Draymond Green and Kevin Love, who are both power forwards, were playing center in a small lineup on the floor for large parts of the game. The Warriors have completely sold out on the small-ball move with the signing of Kevin Durant, placing him at the power forward and starting Draymond Green at the center position. I still don’t know if the move will work because of dominate centers in the game like Demarcus Cousins and Hassan Whiteside, just to name a few. With prospects coming out of college being bigger, stronger, and faster than ever, the value of a player like Ilysova may decrease at an all-time rate. The ability to shoot a three at the four is not a specility anymore. Look at Ryan Anderson, who, like Ilysova, was one of the first true stretch fours and revolutionized the game for a period. Anderson was the perfect complement to Dwight Howard in Orlando and helped the Magic be a dominate team in the East for a while, highlighted by a Finals loss to Kobe and the Lakers. Anderson is now riding the bench for Houston, who is now stuck with the departing of Anderson’s former teammate, the aforementioned Dwight Howard. It will be very interesting to see what happens to the stretch fours who are trying to gain value in an over saturated salary cap.
Sources:(nba.com, espn.com, forbes.com)

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