Australia's PG Dilemma

Will we ever see another pass first PG like Phil Symthe?

From my last post somehow the comments section become a venue for people to discuss the point guard situation of Australia, so I'll discuss a few of the points that have been raised.

First, Eric wanted to know why our leading PG CJ Bruton can only register five and a half assists per game.

Well Eric the days of a traditional pass first PG's are few and far between which will have a drastic effect on assist numbers from this position.

There is no doubting the CJ is still Australia's best answer at this position but I'm not sure where he stands as far as the national team goes.

Is he a pass first point guard?

This is a tough one to answer because he has the ability to score the ball so well. This is proven on an almost nightly basis in the NBL when he takes over the fourth quarter. There is no doubting CJ is thinking score first but he does have the feel and understanding of the game to create opportunities for others. Hell, he was only on of four players to average better than 5 assists per game this year, so he wasn't too bad.

Here is what I feel has had the biggest impact on this stat within the league. The average basketball players skill level in the NBL from the 1980's and early 90's has lifted remarkably.

You think back to the days of Phil Smythe and Gordie McLeod at the point guard spot. These guys were as rare as hen's teeth. The point guard role was dominated (and still is to a point) by imports. Of the top of your head, name another ten Aussie players of that era that dazzled you with their ballhandling. (Scott Ninnis' right hand coast to coast does not count!)

As for today's player, some teams can have three or four guys that can grab a rebound and start the fastbreak.

With better ballhandlers per team, this allows more creativity amongst the team, and your assist leader's total will be a little lower.

An example here is the West Sydney team I played on back in 2004. Both Sam MacKinnon and myself averaged over 5/game, while we had Aaron Trahair, Simon Dwight and Scott MacGregor all having the ability to create for others.

We did not need a dominate ballhandler as we had a squad that had versatility in this area. It was this trait that made us a tough outfit to defend.

I honestly believe the days of seeing someone average 10 assists (it has been done by only three guys; Darryl McDonald (3), Derek Rucker (1) and Gordie McLeod (1) in a NBL season is long gone.

Here is a little evidence to support my statement.

I recently had a very good discussion with AIS coach Marty Clarke. In the discussion we talked about the type of player that gets recruited these days at the junior level.

First, coaches are looking for length and athleticism. Skills that cannot be coached are priority. My argument to this is, we have no specialist players these days and everyone plays with the same skill set. Talk about Groundhog Day and no ability for a team to change their style on the fly.

This leads me to my last rant of the night and in line with what readers were commenting on.

When we go to play at an international competition (WC's or Olympics) we certainly do not have the depth at the PG spot like some power teams do.

I tend to look at it a little differently, though.

I never doubt the skill of these players who fill these positions, they are just not the norm when comparing to other international PG's.

Who's to blame or how do we fix that can be debated until the cows come home.

Where I feel we let ourselves down is we worry way too much about what we don't have instead of maximizing what we have. You can only go with what you have once you get to a tourney, so make the most of it.

As one reader wrote, we play run and gun in the NBL, then we try and play a different style when we play against the rest of the world.

Why don't we run and gun I say? For any team to win a medal you need to find a style that suits your team makeup and you need a little luck along the way. Remember, there is very little that separates most of these great teams from around the world

As the saying goes, a leopard never changes his spots so why do we continue to change our style once we leave our shores?

We need to dare to be different. That is what the Europeans did. They figured out if they wanted to compete with the USA, they needed to create a style of their own. Low and behold, they ended up beating them and making the USA rethink their team structure.

If Australia is to ever become a power on the international stage, we need to step outside the box instead of travelling down the same road.