Post by eric on Nov 25, 2015 18:46:16 GMT -6
The evolution of positions has always been really interesting to me.
IN THE BEGINNING
Everyone knows terms like point guard and shooting guard are recent innovations. As late as 1961, players were noted in box scores as left guard, right guard, left forward, right forward, and center. Even further back, Dr. Naismith started with nine player formations that resembled soccer very closely: three to defend, three in the middle, three to attack. Note how "guards" are, as the name suggests, part of the defense and are stationed in the "backcourt". The teams were reduced to five players in 1897. Note also the descriptions of guard/center/forward in the preceding pages, including the amazing line "It is not a foul to bounce the ball and catch it while running, thereby making progress." But it wasn't until the 30s that the idea of forcing the entire offensive team to go past half court became part of the rules, in an ultimately vain attempt to eliminate stall tactics, and as long as guards were in the frontcourt they figured they may as well take some shots, and the etymology of the names became completely invalid.
NINETEEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY
In the year of our Lord Kyrie Irving 1980 the NBA introduced the three point field goal. Slightly earlier the NBA had also begun recording offensive/defensive rebounds and turnovers, so it is this period when we can perform the most measurements by position to try and see how they have evolved. At all times we will use five year moving averages to smooth out the lines without losing too much information. At all times the red line will be the point guard, orange shooting guard, yellow small forward, green power forward, blue center. At all times we are greatly indebted to b-r for the data.
So that's a lot of information. The only real shifts I see are as follows:
(1) a shift away from wing play from the 80s to the 90s, a split circa 2000 where SG are now used far more than SF, steady increases in PG and PF(??) uses, a recovery(??) in C uses since the introduction of zone defense. All quite interesting, and unfortunately not extendible very far into the previous era because uses means turnovers, and those have only been recorded since 1978. I will continue to record true shot attempts, which comprises the rest of usage, and perhaps we will see interesting things in the past too.
(2) is flat as h*ck. You can see SF slightly approach SG, but there's still a clear distinction between SF and SG. My hope is that forwards in the past will meet by PF sinking, leaving C alone at the top.
(3) shows playmaking responsibilities becoming more concentrated in the PG, but everyone else has declined pretty much the same amount. Again my hope is that guards in the past will meet by SG rising.
(4) is the first to show a real change. SF goes from clearly above the guards to indistinguishable from both(!). Power forward gets a lot closer to the perimeter men. Everyone has declined: jump shots! No idea what will happen in the past, and free throw rules have actually changed quite a lot over time so it may not even be valid to compare across eras, but we'll see.
(5) guards start out in sync, frontcourt guys below. SF pretty rapidly diverges from them but it's not until ~2005 that point guard inexplicably slows down, and a couple years later SF's 3Pr/yr accelerates, blowing past PG and catching up with SG. PF gradually distinguishes itself from C. As in (1), this analysis cannot possibly be extended backwards because there were not three point goals before this era.
(6) nothing happens and the analysis is dead anyway.
(7) it was really interesting for me that wings used to be the premiere offensive board crashers (proportionately speaking), and it makes a lot of sense that all perimeter guys have plummeted. Again though, contrary to popular knowledge wings used to be more alike than guards, now guards are more alike than wings.
(8) Kind of the reverse of (3), shows similar results. Hope to see the same in the past.
IN THE BEGINNING
Everyone knows terms like point guard and shooting guard are recent innovations. As late as 1961, players were noted in box scores as left guard, right guard, left forward, right forward, and center. Even further back, Dr. Naismith started with nine player formations that resembled soccer very closely: three to defend, three in the middle, three to attack. Note how "guards" are, as the name suggests, part of the defense and are stationed in the "backcourt". The teams were reduced to five players in 1897. Note also the descriptions of guard/center/forward in the preceding pages, including the amazing line "It is not a foul to bounce the ball and catch it while running, thereby making progress." But it wasn't until the 30s that the idea of forcing the entire offensive team to go past half court became part of the rules, in an ultimately vain attempt to eliminate stall tactics, and as long as guards were in the frontcourt they figured they may as well take some shots, and the etymology of the names became completely invalid.
NINETEEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY
In the year of our Lord Kyrie Irving 1980 the NBA introduced the three point field goal. Slightly earlier the NBA had also begun recording offensive/defensive rebounds and turnovers, so it is this period when we can perform the most measurements by position to try and see how they have evolved. At all times we will use five year moving averages to smooth out the lines without losing too much information. At all times the red line will be the point guard, orange shooting guard, yellow small forward, green power forward, blue center. At all times we are greatly indebted to b-r for the data.
So that's a lot of information. The only real shifts I see are as follows:
(1) a shift away from wing play from the 80s to the 90s, a split circa 2000 where SG are now used far more than SF, steady increases in PG and PF(??) uses, a recovery(??) in C uses since the introduction of zone defense. All quite interesting, and unfortunately not extendible very far into the previous era because uses means turnovers, and those have only been recorded since 1978. I will continue to record true shot attempts, which comprises the rest of usage, and perhaps we will see interesting things in the past too.
(2) is flat as h*ck. You can see SF slightly approach SG, but there's still a clear distinction between SF and SG. My hope is that forwards in the past will meet by PF sinking, leaving C alone at the top.
(3) shows playmaking responsibilities becoming more concentrated in the PG, but everyone else has declined pretty much the same amount. Again my hope is that guards in the past will meet by SG rising.
(4) is the first to show a real change. SF goes from clearly above the guards to indistinguishable from both(!). Power forward gets a lot closer to the perimeter men. Everyone has declined: jump shots! No idea what will happen in the past, and free throw rules have actually changed quite a lot over time so it may not even be valid to compare across eras, but we'll see.
(5) guards start out in sync, frontcourt guys below. SF pretty rapidly diverges from them but it's not until ~2005 that point guard inexplicably slows down, and a couple years later SF's 3Pr/yr accelerates, blowing past PG and catching up with SG. PF gradually distinguishes itself from C. As in (1), this analysis cannot possibly be extended backwards because there were not three point goals before this era.
(6) nothing happens and the analysis is dead anyway.
(7) it was really interesting for me that wings used to be the premiere offensive board crashers (proportionately speaking), and it makes a lot of sense that all perimeter guys have plummeted. Again though, contrary to popular knowledge wings used to be more alike than guards, now guards are more alike than wings.
(8) Kind of the reverse of (3), shows similar results. Hope to see the same in the past.
