NBA Bigs Are Prime Poster Material For Small Guards
And they like it that way--Shipment No. 18
Alex Caruso had just secured the offensive rebound at the top of the key. Holding a slim three-point lead against the Utah Jazz with six minutes left in the game, the 6-foot-5 guard needed a bucket to keep his team above water. But the season was at the ocean floor for the Los Angeles Lakers at that point in 2019—the team had been eliminated from playoff contention for a month and was sitting its best players in LeBron James and Kyle Kuzma. None of that mattered to Caruso; he still had a lot to play for. He was a fringe player who managed to establish a role for himself, but he could find himself back in the G-League at a moment's notice.
With a second opportunity to score and the ball in his hands, the young guard with an old man hairline made a beeline towards the rim, a sacred place protected by future defensive player of the year—Rudy Gobert. The smarter play might have been a floater over Gobert’s 7-foot-1 height and his massive wingspan, or a pull-up jumper around the open space that appeared near the free-throw line. Anything to avoid the imposing big man. Instead, Caruso chose violence and tried to put one of the league’s best shot blockers on a poster—and it almost worked. Despite the miss, the Lakers bench erupted. LeBron was visibly impressed and awed, and the rest of the league was forced to recognize Alex Caruso for his bravery and ambition.
It’s not easy being Rudy Gobert, a defensive-minded center with a shot-blocking reputation so wide he earned the nickname “The French Rejection.” While the drastic change in NBA offenses remains the biggest threat to the traditional big man, there’s still the Alex Carusos of the world, small-ish guards with a bit of leap and load of desire to put 20K retweets on a 7-footer’s head. Guys like Rudy deal with this type of assault in the hardwood jungle all the time. Nature is scary, and the rim-protecting big versus the high-flying guard is akin to the bear versus the lion, both battling for reputation and dominance.
Daniel Gafford is nowhere near Rudy Gobert in terms of size or NBA reputation; the 6-foot-10 Chicago Bull is only in his second year of NBA play after being a second-round pick in the 2019 draft. Being a middling player isn’t what saved him from rookie phenom Lamelo Ball putting him in a dunk of the year highlight. What actually saved him was that Ball took off a bit too soon and was forced to throw the ball against the back rim rather than directly through Gafford’s grill. If Ball would’ve connected, it could’ve had the same impact Dwayne Wade delivered to Anderson Varejao. But Varejao, a 7-footer who isn’t remotely close to being a fearful shot blocker, wasn’t afforded any sympathy when Wade left him folded like an accordion underneath the basket.
You don’t need Anthony Davis or Joel Embiid's level of defense to become a target. Just be big, have patience, and hang around the restricted area. From Will Bynum to Chris Paul to Jaylen Brown—guards in all shapes and sizes will dunk on your team’s biggest or best defensive threat. And although it may seem like smaller dunkers actively seek out bigs to put on a poster, in most cases, it’s much less dramatic than that.
When Vince Carter reminisces about dunking Frédéric Weis into history, it sounds the same every time. Surprisingly, Carter wasn’t even thinking about the 7-foot-2 French center when he executed the greatest poster of all time during the 2000 Olympics. The 6-foot-6 guard and prolific leaper only wanted to make it to the rim, completely disregarding Weis—a former first-round pick for the New York Knicks who ultimately never played a minute in the NBA—his size, skill, and the infamy that would come from posterizing him.
Recalling the moment on The Jump, Carter admits he saw the big man in the lane, but all he remembers is hitting his shoulder. He told ESPN on the dunk’s 15th anniversary that he wasn't even focused on Weis once he left the ground, thinking the big man moved out the way or fell in a failed charge attempt. Instead, his only concern was coming up short of the rim from initiating his take-off too far from the basket. His post-dunk celebration looks like a man who knows he just cleared a skyscraper of a human, but Vince didn’t know he jumped over Weis until he saw the video footage at the end of the game. Carter reiterated his dunking mentality in that Olympic moment to fellow poster addict Dominique Wilkins, saying, “I’m just trying to be an athlete, just jump up there and figure it out from there.”
Wilkins agreed: "It's all instinct. It's nothing that you plan, it's nothing that you think about,” the long-time Atlanta Hawk and Slam Dunk champion said. “You think about attacking. You see a big guy, and you say, "Oh, I'm going to get him. I'm going right at him. Those things just happen organically. You can't plan that." Although ‘Nique admitted that dunking on bigs wasn’t a pre-game mission, they always felt good to pull off when the opportunity presented itself. “The best dunk for me, in-game dunks, was on 7-footers. I love 'em,” Wilkins said. "When I dunked on the [Robert] Parrish's, and the Bob Laniers, and all those big guys, it was like I had died and gone to heaven.”
Of course, some players attack bigs with a certain message to send. A kick to the back of the head from Oklahoma City Thunder center Kendrick Perkins in a matchup game earlier in the season fueled D Wade to banish Perk to the shadow realm on a vicious revenge poster. When Dikembe Mutombo taunted Michael Jordan before the 1997 All-Star Game for not being able to put him on a poster during his six years in the league, Jordan likely thought about dunking on the legendary shot-blocker every day until he finally upped the score on him later that year in the playoffs. And RJ Barrett is still looking for that poster on Kristaps Porzingis.
But attacking the NBA’s biggest players is a tradition for smaller guards, whether for revenge or bragging rights. Before Michael Jordan put Mutombo, Patrick Ewing, and Tree Hollins in his legacy, younger MJ tried to make a name for himself over an aging Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and almost succeeded. The attempt is eerily similar to when Ja Morant tried to rise above Anthony Davis. But NBA centers know who they are and what dangers can flash in front of their face every drive attempt. They’re paid to take it.
If you’re going to post in front of the rim and send shots to the bleachers with attitude, you have to expect leapers to return the favor with emphatic slams. It’s simply a part of the game. Shot blockers shouldn’t take a poster from some of the greatest athletes in the world personally, as Alonzo Mourning did with Vince Carter. It’s easier to just think about the next block.
When asked if he cared that Donovan Mitchell had made him a highlight earlier, JaVale McGee—a prolific rim protector and posterizer in his own right— knew it came with the territory. “I’m a shot-blocker, so I don’t give a f*** about getting dunked on,” Javale said moments after the poster. “That ain’t s*** to me ‘cause when I block a dunk, you’re like ‘ooh!’ It’s the exact same reaction. I don’t care.” Mutombo still has to field questions about what it felt like when Jordan put him on a poster almost 25 years ago. And while he’s flirted with denial, unlike many fans, he doesn’t think about the moment in a vacuum: "It took Michael 7 years to get one dunk,” Mutombo said. “I'm in the hall of fame just for blocking shots. So give me some credit."
In response to RJ’s desire to dunk on him, Kristaps welcomed the guard to try. “That’s fine. I’m a shot blocker,” Porzingis said. “I’m always up for the challenge … I respect that.” Some posters might come with an air of disrespect, but challenging an NBA big at the rim is one of the most honorable things you can do. Rim protectors welcome any and all challengers. They get credit for swats, too.
Rudy Gobert, who seems to be a magnet for posters, mimicked many other shot blockers’ comments after Damian Lilliard dunked him into the trending topics. “Getting dunked on, I really don’t care. It’s just a play. I like to block shots,” Rudy said. “Sometimes it can happen. If you don’t block shots, you don’t get dunked on.”
Like Mutombo, Gobert has hardware in his trophy case and respect league-wide as a rim protector. You don’t get that from standing in the corner when someone like Alex Caruso or Damian Lilliard charges at you with something to prove. Rudy and other bigs like him will probably get carpet-bombed with dunk attempts from smaller guards until the day they retire. But as an NBA big who hang their hat, cashes their checks, and polishes their trophies off the strength of swatting shots, there’s no other place they’d rather be.
And it’s not all one-sided. Bigs get to return the favor to their shorter rivals pretty often.
Welp, hope y’all enjoyed this edition of Packs.
Between Packs, follow me on all the socials: @Tribecalledni on damn-near everything.
Until next time, be cool.