I feel like it is an insanely obvious statement to say that, all other things being equal, height is a huge advantage in basketball. If LeBron James had exactly the same athletic gifts and basketball skills, but was 5 foot 10 instead of 6 foot 9, it's virtually impossible that he'd be the MVP of the NBA, and it's even entirely likely that he wouldn't even be in the NBA at all. And gifted and skilled as Shaq is, at 6'4", he'd never have made the NBA; guys with incredible post footwork and a lot of strength, but who cannot shoot from beyond 6 feet or hit a free throw are not exactly at the top of the draft board. What about Greg Stiemsma? How many looks do NBA scouts give him if he's 6'7" instead of 6'11", let alone "normal" sized? Simply being tall is a huge advantage in basketball.
I'll take the tall guys on my team, thanks.
Unless, that is, if you want to be a head coach.
Don't get me wrong. A lot of coaches are pretty tall people. I'm sure when Randy Whitman is at a cocktail party he's usually able to scout the far side of the room. But 6'5" is not tall for an NBA player.
Let me digress a little. Last week, a great piece by Kareem Abdul Jabaar made the internet rounds. In an Esquire piece, Kareem lists 20 pieces of advice for his younger self:
1. Be more outgoing. My shyness and introversion from those days still haunt me. Fans felt offended, reporters insulted. That was never my intention. When you’re on the public stage every day of your life, people think that you crave attention. For me, it was the opposite. I loved to play basketball, and was tremendously gratified that so many fans appreciated my game. But when I was off the court, I felt uncomfortable with attention. I rarely partied or attended celebrity bashes. On the flights to games, I read history books. Basically, I was a secret nerd who just happened to also be good at basketball. Interacting with a lot of people was like taking someone deathly afraid of heights and dangling him over the balcony at the top of the Empire State Building. If I could, I’d tell that nerdy Kareem to suck it up, put down that book you’re using as a shield, and, in the immortal words of Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (to prove my nerd cred), “Engage!”
Hit that link up and read the rest, because it is really good. Three things struck out at me here: First, Kareem is a very erudite man. If you read that piece, I think you will agree that he's got a gift for language. Second, it really surprised me how smart Kareem is. And third, a final thought hit me: why the hell am I so surprised that Kareem is a pretty bright guy? Kareem was, as he suggests, not a super extrovert giving tons of interviews like Magic, but he's been pretty sociable since his retirement. So this really shouldn't come as any big surprise.
And the answer is that I've got a big ol heap of bias. Essentially, like most of you, my prejudicial brain expects the big athletic guys to be dumb jocks and the small skinny guys to be smart.
What does this have to do with head coaches? Well, I am only speculating here, but doesn't it surprise you how few NBA centers or power forwards became head coaches?
Consider this interesting article on ESPN about seven candidates who are ready to become NBA head coaches:
It’s all about the buy-in: Game management preparation and the whiteboard arts are all indispensable qualities for an NBA head coach, but the ability to earn the faith of a superstar and key rotation players is qualification No. 1. “You can always find a graybeard or a grinder who can come up with coverages,” says an NBA front office exec. “But what most teams are looking for now is someone who knows how to build a culture and get the stars to buy in.”
Their list:
| Name | Position Played |
|---|---|
| David Fizdale | PG (high school) |
| David Joerger | PG* |
| Fred Hoiberg | SG |
| Steve Kerr | SG |
| Alex Jensen | F |
| Robert Pack | PG |
| David Blatt | PG (at Princeton! Under Pete Carril!) |
*Man, l looked a lot. Tons of pieces say that he played at Moorhead State, and the site only has rosters going back to 2008. BUT he holds the single game assists record (15), so I guessed.
Notably absent from this list are NBA big men, especially the hall-of-fame caliber big men, many of whom are assistant coaches right now: Kareem, Hakeem, Bill Lambier, Patrick Ewing, etc. Kareem, in particular, is puzzling. Can you imagine a point guard or shooting guard with a similar player resume remaining an assistant coach? Kareem is easily in the top 5 centers of all time. The top 5 (retired) point guards of all time are something like Magic, Stockton, Oscar, Frazier, and Cousy. You can disagree on some of this and there are lots of names like Kevin Johnson, Fat Lever, Mark Price, TIm Hardaway, Sid Moncrief, Nate Archibald, Gary Payton, Isiah Thomas (although y'all know I think he was overrated, right?). The point is...if you look at that list, and any of them said, "I want to be an NBA coach," who really doubts that they'd have gotten a head coaching job within 3 years? Maybe some of them might have to put in a year as an assistant (MAYBE).
Kareem? He's been trying since 2005. And sure, he had a reputation as a sullen guy. But hell, Michael Jordan was by many accounts a pretty big ass to a lot of his teammates, and how fast would he have won a coaching job if that had been his chosen path? Ewing has been trying since 2007. The Dream probably gave up on it when he realized he could just charge a fortune to practice with some big men in the offseason.
It's funny how playing for Princeton under Carill makes you a highly desirable coaching candidate, but a completely undesirable player prospect. Also, playing point guard is surely the best way to start an NBA head coaching career. I think we all have a prejudice that we assume the tall players are not very knowledgable about the game, but I think it's rather unlikely that there is any real correlation between position and basketball smarts (although I have no idea how one would measure it to find out!).
Food for thought? Am I nuts?