The Value of Versatility
With versatility and dynamism being the buzz words for the modern NBA game, I take a look at four non-traditional player archetypes that have risen in desirability in recent years.
Point Guard.
Shooting Guard.
Small Forward.
Power Forward.
Center.
Since the glorious game of basketball was invented and formally organised, these have been the five positions that have defined player roles on the basketball court. The standard five boxes that players have had to fit into. When people would have debates about a player’s best position, it was usually with a desire to fit them into one of these five pigeon holes.
“Is he more of a point guard or a shooting guard?”
“Does he play best as a 4 or a 5?”
“Physically he’s built like a PF, but does he have the skill to be a SF"?”
These are the typical questions you would hear between basketball fans all over the world as they scoped their favourite teams and players. Take a player like Allen Iverson for example. AI played both guard spots over his career, and excelled at both, but there is often still a desire from fans to label him as one or the other. Taking it to the extreme, LeBron James is listed on his Basketball Reference page as having played all five positions over his career, but there is still a drive to label him as primarily a Small Forward.
It’s understandable, to a degree. We, as humans, like simplicity and the ability to easily label a player as playing one of these five positions appeals to our human nature, however, as we know, basketball is not black and white. The true beauty of the game comes in appreciating those grey areas between those positions. Those tweener positions that were once labelled as undesirable have seen a shift toward desirability in todays super-modern, versatility driven game.
The evolution of the game has seen the transformation of these primary positions, often with each other, to produce a handful of new, dynamic, versatile options to any lineup. Look around the league today and you will of course find players that fit into the traditional roles and responsibilities of the accepted five positions, but you will also find scattered among them newer, highly-desirable archetypes. Today, I will take a look at four of these newer archetypes and find out what makes them so desirable and see which players in the 2025 Draft Class could fit these roles.
Combo Guard
Archetype examples: James Harden, Jrue Holiday, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
The words “Combo Guard” used to be dirty words. It was often a death sentence to a player’s longevity to label him as a combo guard, as it was viewed as basically saying that they don’t have the court vision and passing instincts to run an offense as a PG, or the scoring and shooting prowess to be a SG full time. These utility men were often used to plug gaps in a starting lineup caused by absence to the full time point or shooting guard.
The rise of the combo guard to prominence really started in the late 90’s and early 00’s with players like Allen Iverson and Jamal Crawford going between both guard spots regularly depending on the situation. Before that, teams usually had one true lead guard and one more scoring oriented guard in their starting lineups. Having a lead guard to facilitate the offense and an off-ball guard adept at scoring and shooting with defined roles helped the flow of the offense.
Combo guards of old were often difficult to fit into offensive systems. They usually fit into one of two camps - a point guard with great scoring ability but questionable ball handling skills or a shooting guard with great ball handling skills but struggled to score consistently. Having one of these players in the lineup often meant sacrificing one or the other - ball handling and playmaking or shooting and scoring. Essentially, you ended up with a player that was proficient but not outstanding in both of these areas.
As the game evolved, many things happened that raised the value of the combo guard. Jointly, the arrival of the three-point revolution along with the rise in the Jumbo Initiator (that we will look at later) meant that having guards that could make plays if needed and was comfortable shooting off the catch from deep became more important. Look at the Golden State Warriors of the mid to late 2010’s to see this working in action.
You had Steph Curry, who is a great ball handler and playmaker but more importantly is the best shooter we've ever seen, playing a lot of off-ball with Draymond Green, who often played Power Forward and even small-ball center, handling the ball and making plays while Curry’s shooting gravity caused havoc for defenses, knowing that Green was a fantastic playmaker but leaving Steph even semi-open would often result in a bucket. You can see examples of this all over the league, especially where teams field a jumbo Initiator or point-center, like the Denver Nuggets with Nikola Jokic handling the ball and Jamal Murray playing off-ball a lot of the time.
Best Example of a Combo Guard in the 2025 Draft Class: Dylan Harper
Dylan Harper is a name near the top of a lot of draft boards right now, and with good reason. His combination of offensive skill and defensive awareness is intriguing for a lot of teams, but it is his ability to seemlessly operate both as an on-ball or off-ball guard is where the real appeal lies.
As an on-ball guard, Harper displays all the traits you would want from your lead guard. He has an immense passing vision and awareness with the ability to find the open man. He reads the defense extremely well and makes the right play, whether that’s hitting a cutter, a pocket pass to a big man, a drive and kick-out to an open shooter or creating space for his own shot. He’s as comfortable off-ball as he is with the ball in his hands though and this is where he can provide immense value as a combo guard. He creates problems for the defense with his movement and although his shot is inconsistent, he is confident in shooting it and is a decent enough shooter to make defenses respect his shot. We’ll see this year at Rutgers how he displays both facets of his guard game as he’ll have the chance to have the ball in his hands, but he will also need to play off-ball alongside Ace Bailey.
3&D Wing
Archetype examples: Mikal Bridges, Jaylen Brown, OG Anunoby
The idea of a wing player that excels at both 3-point shooting and defense isn’t exactly a recent phenomenon, but is one that we’ve seen take on increased importance in todays game. Having versatile players that can potentially defend two, three or even four positions but can also be a reliable shooter from deep has opened up so many different offensive schemes for teams.
While the term 3&D doesn't necessarily capture everything that these players can do on the court, it does highlight two areas that are deemed as highly important for a Wing. As 3&D Wings are usually off-ball players, they return the highest value when they can prove to be extremely effective shooters in a variety of situations but particularly from catch-and-shoot situations, as well as providing a consistent level of defensive effort.
3&D Wings aren’t necessarily the best player on a team, and very often can be role players off the bench, but the best 3&D Wings will be trusted to consistently guard the oppositions best player on a nightly basis. They will usually have sufficient strength, length and agility to be able to guard up or down a position and will usually fit into just about any switch-heavy system.
On offense, having a 3&D Wing with a high level of shooting gravity opens up the floor for a lot of different actions and creates the space necessary for some of the team’s star players to shine. Knowing that there is someone on the perimeter ready to knock down a shot from behind the arc allows a team’s star to be more aggressive and attack the basket or drive and kick-out. Going back to the Golden State Warriors for an example here, mid-to-late 2010’s Klay Thompson played this role perfectly.
While it’s maybe doing Klay a disservice to label him as a 3&D player when he clearly offered a lot more to the team, it was in these specific areas that Klay shined, allowing others like Steph Curry, Draymond Green and Kevin Durant to dominate. Klay was always willing to do the dirty work on the defensive end and often drew the toughest defensive assignment of the night, while at the same time, he was always ready to go off from deep, as evidenced by the fact he has the record for the most 3-pointers in a game at 14.
Best Example of a 3&D Wing in the 2025 Draft Class: Liam McNeeley
If you need any indication whatsoever of what a 3&D wing can provide for a team, look no further than UConn’s sharpshooter Liam McNeeley. We all know about his shooting but he’s no slouch on the defensive end either.
McNeeley’s status as a lights out shooter has never been in question and is being underpinned in his freshman season at UConn so far. Through four games so far, McNeeley has attempted 4.5 threes a game and made an excellent 38.9% of them, which is in keeping with his career average of 39.5%. Yes, he will face tougher competition as the season progresses, but I fully expect him to remain as one of the best shooters in this class. Where McNeeley is often underrated, however, is his ability as a defender. He is built well for a Wing, standing at around 6’7” or 6’8”, he uses his natural strength to his advantage. He competes hard on the defensive end and always plays hard, being able to defend three positions owing to his size and strength. He is a fantastic defensive rebounder just now and has the ability to develop into a great defender to compliment his ability as a knock-down shooter and become a premier 3&D Wing in the league.
Jumbo Initiator
Archetype examples: Luka Doncic, LaMelo Ball, Josh Giddey, Scottie Barnes
The Jumbo Initiator is an archetype that has seen it’s stock rise as the league trends towards bigger, stronger and longer players. Having come through the small-ball era, and arguably we could still be in the tail end of it, the rise of bigger players with the ability to handle the ball and initiate the offense has seen teams clamour over themselves to get one of these players on their team.
When looking at the Jumbo Initiator, the player archetype usually falls into one of two categories - either they are a true point guard with elite size for the position i.e. Cade Cunningham, LaMelo Ball and Luka etc. or they are what I would call a Point-Forward, a small forward or power forward with great size but also a great ability to handle the ball and make plays for themselves and their teammates i.e. Scottie Barnes or Jayson Tatum etc.
Jumbo Initiators are able to use their supreme size to create maximum advantage against smaller point of attack defenders, using their additional height to be able to see over the top of defenses and read the floor at a high level. Their strength usually allows them to be able to absorb contact better and as such, can be a threat to drive and finish at the rim, or kick-out to an open man on the perimeter, creating a multitude of scoring threats on the floor.
Having a point guard with elite size is sometimes seen as a counter to the small-ball lineups we have seen in recent years, as teams try to combat speed and quickness with size and strength. We have seen teams recently, such as the Orlando Magic, field lineups where the shortest player in their lineup is often around 6’5” or so. Indeed, the Magic this year have thrown out lineups where they have two 6’5” players in the backcourt in Jalen Suggs and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, two 6’10” players at the forward spots in Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero, with 6’10” Wendell Carter Jr. holding down the big man spot.
Having Banchero able to handle the ball and make plays as well as he does allows Suggs and Caldwell-Pope to play off the ball on the perimeter, opening up lanes for Banchero to attack or set up one of his teammates such as Wagner cutting to the basket. With Caldwell-Pope and Suggs also more than capable of handling the ball and making plays, this offensive variety keeps the defense guessing, knowing that plays can be made from anywhere on the court.
Best Example of a Jumbo Initiator in the 2025 Draft Class: Egor Demin
With some impressive performances to kick off his college career, Demin is a name quickly rising up draft boards with his fantastic combination of size, playmaking ability, court vision and awareness.
So far in four games for BYU, all as a starter, Demin is averaging an incredible 7.5 assists per game, leading the Big 12 in both assists per game and total assists. With an assist % of 38.8% and an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.75:1, he is proving that he has the court vision and playmaking chops to run an offense. He is showing great understanding of the flow of the offense and has been making some incredible reads to set up his teammates. While he has shown great ability to be a lead guard, that ability has also translated into Demin being a capable creator for himself. He is able to use his size and strength against smaller guards to create advantages and even is even holding his own when defenses switch a bigger wing or forward onto him. He is shooting extremely well just now, shooting 63.4% from the field and 55% from three on five attempts per game. He is someone that could very well be picked at the top end of the lottery come draft night.
Stretch Big
Archetype examples: Kristaps Porzingis, Karl-Anthony Towns, Victor Wembanyama
The idea of having big men that can shoot is one that has been around as long as the NBA has had a 3-point line, but the concept of weaponising a stretch big really gained traction from the early 2010’s onwards. Before this, big men were often restricted to action in the post, scoring on finishes around the rim, dunks, lobs and put-backs. Havjng your big man operate out of the low post was the accepted norm, but as the 3-point revolution started to take effect, we started to see big men operate further and further away from the basket.
Taking a look at some data, I looked at shooting data for big men from this season, the 2014-15 season, the 2004-05 season and the 1994-95 season i.e. every 10 years, to see what the trends are. As you can see from the data below, there is a marked upward trend in number of 3-pointers attempted per game, the 3-point shooting percentage and the 3-point attempt rate, i.e. the percentage of a players shots that are 3-point attempts.
The stretch big man evolved alongside the concept of the small-ball center with the skillset of each overlapping with the other in some areas, namely having a center that is able to step out to the perimeter and be a threat from deep. While the small ball center uses an undersized player in that role, often a power forward playing up a position in order to gain a speed and skill advantage against traditional big men, the stretch big has the usual size associated with the center position but with an added scoring threat from outside. In some cases, stretch bigs can play a dual role on offense and be as effective in the low post as they are from deep.
Having a big man that can provide an interior presence and rebounding along with shooting prowess but a huge strain on the opposing defense as they have to decide whether to maintain a presence in the paint themselves to deter drives to the basket or to step out to the perimeter to guard in space, potentially stopping the shot from deep but opening up the paint to cutters.
Take a look at last year’s champion Boston Celtics for a definitive example of how to deploy a stretch big. Kristaps Porzingis provided shooting from the center spot and allowed the team to play with a five-out scheme with all five posing a threat from deep, forcing the opposition to commit to defending on the perimiter and opening up passing and cutting lanes that could be exploited via mismatches. We are seeing more and more teams incorporate this into their lineups with players like Victor Wembanyama, Chet Holmgren and Karl-Anthony Towns stretching the floor to provide spacing for their teams to take advantage of.
Best Example of a Stretch Big in the 2025 Draft Class: Zvonimir Ivisic
Looking at the 2025 Draft class, there are players that look like they have the potential to become outside threats in the future, but there is a name that looks like they could play that role now - Zvonimir Ivisic.
In his first year of college ball at Kentucky, even with all the issues he faced, in the 15 games he played, he still attempted 1.1 threes a game and made 37.5% of them in just 11.7 miutes a game. Those are respectable numbers for any big that would make you confident in their shot, however, he has kicked it up a gear in his sophomore season for Arkansas this year. In four games so far, three as a starter, he has attempted 3.5 threes a game while making an incredible 64.3% of them! That pace is likely unsustainable but even if he again averages out at around the same percentage as last year with the volume he is attempting this year, paired with his clear traditional back-to-the-basket big man skills then we could have a clear first-rounder on our hands.
Conclusion
As we can see, these positional archetypes have become increasingly important and valuable in todays game where positionless basketball is the norm. Look over any roster in the NBA and you will find these player types all over the place. Taking it back to the Boston Celtics, their starting lineup features the four archetypes above exclusively with Jrue Holiday and Derrick White (Combo Guards), Jaylen Brown (3&D Wing), Jayson Tatum (Jumbo Initiator) and Kristaps Porzingis (Stretch Big). Other teams don’t necessarily take it to this extreme, but most lineups will feature at least one of these archetypes. They say that variety is the spice of life, and that is certainly true when it comes to the possibilities that teams have open to them now outside of the traditional player roles.