The Fit vs Talent Debate Is Stupid
With the NBA Draft in the rearview and free agency rapidly approaching – the age-old “Talent vs Fit” debate re-emerged. And it’s all so dumb.
Fit vs Talent
This age-old debate rears its ugly head every offseason. NBA experts on Twitter rip apart draft picks and free agent signings for various reasons. Recently, getting players based on fit has become a sin. ‘How dare you?’ scream the “experts.” Anyway, here’s why this debate is stupid. Plus, some casting decisions. (Bear with me on this one).
Talent vs Fit
Talent and fit are two ways for front offices to think. Now, it should be said that a combination of these two strategies has to be employed at some point. But, I think you can point to teams’ decisions in the draft or free agency and make a discrepancy between the two.
Now, these two strategies are self-explanatory. Just in case you’re not clued in, here ya go;
Talent – Giving the finger to roster construction – always going for the best players (Swinging for the fences)
Fit – Being more conservative, finding pieces that fit the puzzle (bunting)
At their cores, one strategy is more aggressive than the other. Now, let’s take things a step further.
Talent Is Better…Until
It’s a superstars league. The days of winning titles without a top-15 player in the NBA aren’t realistic. No offense to the 2004 Pistons, but it’s hard to imagine teams winning titles without superstars in a salary cap era. When the going gets tough, it’s nice to have Kevin Durant instead of Tayshaun Prince.
Talent will always drive teams’ decisions…because it has to. If you’re not going to be aggressive and accrue game-changing players, then what are you doing? Do you think the Bucks would have drafted Giannis if they were more conservative? Or how about Denver taking a flyer on a little-known player named Nikola Jokic?
Going for the fences and trying to continually bring in the best players is a perfectly fine strategy – a strategy that continues to get used more and more in the modern NBA. However, there is a line to be crossed with this ideology.
Sure, taking the best player every time gets your star power. But, chemistry and roster fit are more important than ever. You can’t just throw a team together and hope it’ll work. Finding players that fit and play well together is just as important as talent. The Warriors didn’t win with Kevin Durant so much just because they were better than everyone. It also helped that they had players who knew their roles. There’s a reason they’re the only successful superteam over the past eight seasons.
We’ve seen so many teams fail in recent seasons because they didn’t value fit enough. I’m looking at you, 2021 Lakers. Again, you have to be aggressive to get the game-changing. But at some point, it has to occur to you that swinging for the fences will also lead to strikeouts.
Sometimes, a sure thing is better than the untapped potential guy. Just look at my Blazers during this year’s draft. I like Shaedon Sharpe’s potential as much as the next guy, but I would have loved a more ready prospect like Dyson Daniels.
Home runs are cool and all but, sometimes, bunting the runner over isn’t the worst thing in the world.
Fit Isn’t Perfect…But
If it wasn’t already clear, I’m a fit guy. Taking players based on fit makes the most sense in the world. Sure, sometimes making conservative decisions looks poor in hindsight. However, it’s easier to clean up a fit pick than a talent one.
Now, as I’ve mentioned before, you have to be aggressive to win. In the NBA, being conservative only works for so long. At some point, you’ve got to go for the jugular with a move. At the same time, there’s nothing wrong with taking the safer pick. The Sacramento Kings took Keegan Murray over Jaden Ivey with the fourth pick in the draft. Most people ripped the pick apart even though there was nothing wrong with it.
Sure, the Kings could have taken Ivey and then traded down. But, people seemed to think taking Murray was the mistake, which it wasn’t. Taking yet another point guard wouldn’t have made sense for Sacramento.
While I like the fit ideology more, I can’t ignore its flaws. Taking risks is how you get far in the NBA. You can’t find superstars by making the safe, conservative selections. The teams that win titles take a bold risk here or there to get it done. Teams who are a first-round exit every year don’t do that.
Golden State wouldn’t have won the Finals without Andrew Wiggins. Boston wouldn’t have made the Finals without Horford and White. Taking bold risks puts jobs at risk. They set back teams for years and years and years. But there’s always a chance they can go over the fence.
Conclusion (w/ Acting)
Shawshank Redemption is my favorite movie ever, and it’s not even close. Do you know who they were thinking of casting for Andy Dufresne? Instead of Tim Robbins, who was criminally underrated in this movie, here were the choices;
- Tom Cruise
- Tom Hanks
- Kevin Costner
- Johnny Depp
- Nicolas Cage
Tom Cruise is a very talented actor, but in Shawshank Redemption? His high-pitched voice wouldn’t fit anywhere in this movie. The only upside to Cruise is that he would look very majestic crawling through that sewer pipe.
Tom Hanks was too famous. Kevin Costner wouldn’t know how to be creepy and emotional. Johnny Depp would have been too pretty. Nicolas Cage would…ok, you know what, Nicolas Cage would have fine.
But, do you see what I’m getting at? There’s a perfect balance between fit and talent that every team can find. You’ll also see teams lean more heavily into one aspect than the other at times, which isn’t a problem, unless you let it become a problem.
The ironic thing about disliking fit picks is that they’re eerily similar to talent ones. With how versatile players are getting – talent and fit go hand-in-hand more often than not. That’s why I don’t like it when people hate on fit picks. It’s hypocritical.
So, as free agency is nearly upon us, keep one thing in mind. Just because you don’t think a player fits well on a new team, doesn’t mean your right. And with that, I will now prepare to laugh at the Knicks for throwing themselves at Jalen Brunson.
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