Every year, NBA scouts and GMs obsess over big men -- especially centers -- and point guards come NBA draft time.
The tired cliché that you need a true point guard and center to win a NBA championship certainly didn't apply to Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls teams over the years and more recently didn't really hold true for Kobe Bryant's Los Angeles Lakers teams the past few seasons. That Miami Heat team everyone is picking to win it all this year? It is led by a shooting guard and a small forward.
What's interesting about the NBA's big man and point guard obsession is that, for the most part, the NBA is stocked with centers, power forwards and point guards. According to John Hollinger's PER statistics, this season, there are 34 point guards, 42 power forwards and 25 centers with a PER better than 15.
Teams really need to be mining the draft for a few wings. Currently, there are just 21 shooting guards and 19 small forwards who cross the 15 PER barrier. And 13 of those wings who are putting up those plus-15 PERs aren't even starters.
This year's draft could offer some welcome relief. We have four wings in the top 10 of our Top 100 and another four in the rest of our top 30.