Wave of Mutilation

Small Forwards are incapable of deciding a game of basketball. Since Larry Legend, none of the swingmen have done anything but flail helplessly at the monolith of guards and centers. While SFs are often praised for their versatility, that same versatility also condemns them to the life of an outsider--never intimately wrapped up in the outcome of the game. The ghetto of the swingman is one near impossible to break out of. If one does, one does it in style.

On to the next two of my Starting Five.

SF: Gerald Wallace

A ghetto superstar if there ever was one. G Walls was dumped unceremoniously on the Bobcats by the Sacto Kings after he failed to develop as they thought he might.

There, he blossomed into a dunking and occasionally shotblocking force at the SF spot, finally reaching a more perfect state in 2005-6 season. His offensive game has matured to the point of illness, his defensive game on its way.

His dunks have some of the power of Nique, along with some of his explosiveness to and from the ball. If he ever harnesses his physical power more than he has now, watch out.

PF: Josh Smith

He's techinically an SF, but then what the hell do positions mean anyways?

Smith is raw power embodied--his dunks are the most vicious since Shawn Kemp. He is still figuring out how to play the game though.

One night he might block five shots, dunk the ball six times, and make the opposing coach cry twice, but the next he could slip down into the oblivion that has occupied Small Forwarddom since Legend and Nique hung up their spikes.

He will fit into this squad's tempo perfectly, and give us another crazy person to hammer down dunks on unsuspecting opposition.

In Which the Possible Return of the Reign Man is Discussed in What Might be Considered a Cursory Manner

Before you read any of this, peep this:



Shawn Kemp at his best was barely controlled violence. During any one of those dunks, a temporal anomaly that would have resulted in the universe collapsing in on itself due to the sheer force being unleashed on the rim and ball could have occurred.

When GP lobbed one up for Kemp to slam, there was no question of blocking his path to the hoop. Nor was there any question of doing anything but watching in admiration as an athlete unrivaled in his brutality destroyed previous paradigms of athleticism on his way to attempt destruction of a wayward backboard.

It is worth noting that the lockout destroyed the Reign Man's reign. After the L came back, he was a shadow of his former self. A really fat shadow.

Now that he's been out of basketball for 3 years, entered rehab in 2001 and been arrested on coke/weed possession in April 2005, perhaps it is time for the Interregnum to end.

As Kemp astutely noted in an ESPN.com article (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2471906),

"It used to be where the bigger guys were inside," Kemp said. "Now most of the
bigger guys are on the outside, shooting jumpers. The game's not the same. It actually favors me a little bit since I was more of a speed guy on the outside anyway."

This is not to suggest that a career renaissance for Kemp is in order. In fact, it is possibly the opposite. His successor has appeared in the L in the form of Amare Stoudemire, a young big who also benefits from a superlative point guard.

Kemp also noted in the article that he was a well rested 36-year-old, a fact that can only add to his chances for a comeback. If he comes back with the Nuggets, don't discount the chance that rims around the league could soon be feeling the reign's wrath.