What Happened to the NBA’s Short, "Thick" Point Guards?

Andy Hoops

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Transcript

00:01This is what the top 5 picks of the 2005 NBA Draft looked like.

00:05Do you notice something?

00:07Three of these five players were point guards with varying degrees of success.

00:11But for all of them, their stocky frames and thick builds were a feature of their game

00:16that gave them an advantage in one way or another.

00:21Chris Paul with his lower center of gravity and quick hands made him a nightmare for opponents to post up,

00:26so he was often tasked to guard players taller than him.

00:30Darren Williams, while he was on the taller end for point guards back then,

00:34his strength is what made him stand out and helped him absorb contact.

00:37Same with Raymond Felton.

00:39But it's not just these point guards from the 05 draft.

00:43Through the course of the late 1990s until the mid-2010s,

00:47plenty of all-stars or starting caliber point guards were well equipped with this thick bulldog body type.

00:53Chauncey Billups,

00:54Baron Davis,

00:55Damon Stoudemire,

00:56Kyle Lowry,

00:57Isaiah Thomas,

00:58Ty Lawson,

00:59Eric Bledsoe,

01:00Jameer Nelson,

01:01Derek Fisher,

01:02JJ Barea.

01:03They were all either stars or had a major impactful role throughout their careers.

01:08Curry's only taken five shots here in the first half.

01:11Lowry to Ibaka!

01:12But over time, the league has changed.

01:16Partly due to the fact that the modern NBA landscape prefers taller point guards.

01:20In fact, there were three point guards who made first team All-NBA in 2026 and all of them are

01:26at least 6'6".

01:27I read a stat that said the average point guard in 2025 was about 2 inches taller than the average

01:33in 1995.

01:34But every other position has gotten shorter,

01:37which indicates the NBA is moving more and more towards switchability at every position.

01:42In the modern era, there were guys we thought would be in the NBA for a long time, like Tyus

01:47Jones, who fits the short, thick archetype.

01:49Yet, his career crashed faster than you can blink.

01:53However, not all hope is lost for these guys.

01:56This country is built for thick men.

01:58And today, let's take a look at the guys of the new generation holding it down.

02:02Now, Fred VanVleet was just thrown out of the game.

02:04Uh-oh.

02:05What?

02:05Fred has got to be careful.

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03:08Fred Van Vliet

03:09Now, I know he's not super new, but Van Vliet is basically the spiritual successor to Kyle Lowry.

03:15Just like him, Van Vliet was also a late bloomer, making his first all-star appearance at 27 years old.

03:21He essentially turned the phrase, bet on yourself, into two massive contracts that paid him much more than his previous

03:27offers.

03:28The first happened in 2019, where he reportedly rejected a smaller extension with the Raptors, then had a breakout season

03:35and signed an $85 million deal.

03:37It happened again on his way out from Toronto.

03:40According to him, around 2023, he felt the Raptors lowballed him on his next extension, and instead accepted the Rockets'

03:48offer of 3 years $130 million.

03:50A substantial jump in salary that almost seems crazy for somebody like Van Vliet.

03:55But this is who he was every step of the way.

03:58When a sliver of doubt is in his mind, and the chip lands on his shoulder, he wants to prove

04:02the critics wrong.

04:04However, Van Vliet is far from the perfect player.

04:07And his small stature, his lack of athleticism and explosion has spawned a ton of weaknesses too.

04:13Van Vliet feels like he had a little food there, missed the layup.

04:16He's among the worst players in the league at converting close shots, cause he just doesn't have the package or

04:21the touch to finish.

04:23His shot selection isn't terrible, he's just not good at hitting them.

04:27Cause scoring has never been his main strength despite having several years hovering around 20 points a game.

04:33Why Van Vliet has gotten so much money is due to his exceptional ability to operate a controlled steady offense

04:38through his great passing and good reads.

04:41While he isn't great at scoring in a pick and roll, with NBA.com putting him at the 58th percentile,

04:46he's great at reading the defense and hitting the right guy without fumbling it.

04:51Van Vliet's assist to turnover rate is elite, a product of his high basketball IQ.

04:55And his 3 point shot is good enough to allow him to stand to the side and let it rip.

04:59The defense has to respect his shot.

05:02But above all this, he's not as much of a liability on defense as you would think.

05:07Yes, his foot speed isn't good anymore and sometimes gets exploited.

05:11But back in the day, the Raptors often used a strategy to put their smaller guards onto taller players and

05:16win the matchup.

05:18Van Vliet's low center of gravity and strong base makes him hard for taller players to back down.

05:23Similar to how Chris Paul used to defend Kevin Durant.

05:27And combined with his quick hands, he was a nightmare for opponents who weren't used to dealing with this.

05:35Good hands by Van Vliet, stripped it away.

05:37Van Vliet once said, quote,

05:50Of course, Smalls can also get away with a lot more.

05:54It's very apparent when guys like him defend taller, more inexperienced bigs because like he said, it really does throw

06:00them off.

06:01Would Van Vliet be better if he was faster or more athletic? For sure.

06:05But with the tools he has, he's made the most of his ability and optimized his game as best as

06:11he could.

06:13Jalen Brunson

06:15Believe it or not, someone told me recently I was built like Jalen Brunson.

06:19You know, big head, on the thicker side, not sure if muscular or fat.

06:23I don't know if that was a compliment or not.

06:27But in terms of all NBA guards, Brunson is the best representative of the modern short, thick point guard that

06:33found tremendous success.

06:35He doesn't view his size and frame as a crutch, yet he's been told this his entire life.

06:40The most prominent example coming from Coach Becky Hammond, who once claimed back in late 2023 that the Knicks need

06:47a true 1A superstar to win the title.

06:49So yes, he is your 1A, and all I was saying is that I don't think you win a championship.

06:57It was a strange statement because this was right after Brunson went off against the Miami Heat in the playoffs.

07:03Dude averaged over 30 a game and got everything he wanted against one of the league's best defenses.

07:09The Knicks lost the series, but it was more due to his lack of help, not because Brunson is incapable.

07:15Over time, as you can tell, he obliterated that opinion.

07:18Yet, Brunson is a massive exception.

07:21He's built a career off of things like his footwork, his creativity on post-ups, his tendency to pull up

07:27for mid-range shots, even though the rest of the league is slowly abandoning that.

07:32I think we, as a fanbase, have an obsession with athleticism and potential.

07:38We kind of equate players who are more athletic as having more potential, but is that really true?

07:43Brunson was fantastic in college, won two titles with Villanova, and put up great numbers along the way.

07:49But the visual appearance of him immediately caused teams to look away.

07:53Players who are more ripped, look more athletic, and taller, they're the ones who scouts are always high on.

07:58That's why Brunson was a second-round pick, because with the way he's built, he was projected to fight an

08:04uphill battle right when he entered the league.

08:06I mean, they were right, but he made it all the way up the hill.

08:10I'd even say, if Brunson was more athletic, the other parts of his game would not exist.

08:15Would he work countless hours on his footwork if he could just jump over and dunk on someone?

08:20Would he have spent his entire life working with his father on his dribbles and handles if he could just

08:25explode past the defender with his first step?

08:28I'm biased, but I truly believe Brunson has the best controlled handles in the league,

08:32in the sense that he keeps the ball so close to his body and rarely turns it over in a

08:37one-on-one situation.

08:39According to the tracking data, for his career, Brunson has doubled the turnovers from passing the ball compared to just

08:45losing it from dribbling.

08:46He's also among the best high-volume three-point shooters in the league, both catch-and-shoot and off the

08:51dribble.

08:52Brunson does both so well, and this presents him as a massive threat, even off the ball.

08:58Brunson is one of just a few players in history who nullified his physical limitations

09:02and excelled with a playstyle that most modern point guards don't even think of doing.

09:08Donovan Mitchell

09:09I was hesitant to talk about him in this video, because Mitchell is not a real point guard.

09:15According to Basketball Reference's position estimate, he spent roughly 35-40% of his career minutes at point,

09:21but this stat is usually not super accurate.

09:24More oftenly, he'd get paired with an actual point guard in the backcourt.

09:27But he does fit the theme of being a shorter, stocky guard who built his game around this identity.

09:36Donovan Mitchell

09:37In fact, he was measured at 6'1 in the draft combine, so I think it's even more impressive he

09:42was able to have a highly successful career as a very undersized shooting guard.

09:46However, unlike a stereotypical stocky guard like Van Vliet, Mitchell is a legitimate top-tier athlete, and his game revolves

09:54around this.

09:55Mitchell is definitely a thick fella, and you combine this with his elite physical tools like a 41-inch vertical

10:01and a 6'10 wingspan,

10:03Dude has insane measurements and excelled in the NBA partly due to these physical tools.

10:09His explosive first step blows by the defender, and his frame allows him to absorb contact at the rim and

10:14finish with ease.

10:16Mitchell has an insane conversion rate within the restricted area, a career 65%, with some seasons of over 70%.

10:24I think him and Steph Curry might be the only point guards under 6'2 who've had multiple years of

10:30hitting over 70% of their shots there.

10:33However, Mitchell is more clearly defined as a combo guard because he's not a natural passer whatsoever.

10:39He only has to play point when his team has no other options, and he's quite turnover prone.

10:44Theoretically, he should be a good defender due to his speed and wingspan, but he's not.

10:53He's never put in great effort to defend, but his teams have always tried to cover for this weakness by

10:58pairing him with elite defenders in the frontcourt.

11:01From playing with Rudy Gobert in Utah to Evan Mobley and Jared Allen in Cleveland, Mitchell-led teams have always

11:07been elite defensively, even if he himself could do better.

11:12There are few stars who fit the archetype of the short, thick, stocky point guard.

11:16You can kinda put Jamal Murray in here too, but he's pretty tall for a point guard, honestly.

11:20Same with somebody like Marcus Smart, who's been around for a long time, and he had such a heavy impact

11:26defensively for a point guard.

11:28And even somebody like Isaiah Collier, who I talked about in a recent video.

11:32Dude is a brute, a hidden gem off the bench who can't shoot further than 10 feet out, but he

11:38uses his massive body better than most young point guards.

11:41But let's take a look at smaller ones who've also made a name for themselves.

11:45TJ McConnell

11:47For over a decade, McConnell has been a mainstay in the NBA with a game that you can only describe

11:52as unorthodox.

11:58But he has everything you want in a backup point guard. Steady, consistent, doesn't do too much, but can elevate

12:04his game when the opportunity comes.

12:06The most impressive part is how he almost never loses control or gets off balance, or throws up a wild

12:13shot because he can't stay grounded.

12:15McConnell is always grounded. Literally.

12:18He hasn't dunked a single time in his NBA career, and I'm not sure if he can even dunk.

12:23But he doesn't need to.

12:25While point guards of his build, especially bench players, have been slowly fading into irrelevance,

12:30he's continued to refine his game to perfect as much as he can with the tools he's been given.

12:35That includes a very calculated approach to running the offense, carefully getting to his favorite spots for his patented short

12:41turnaround jumper.

12:42Good, but not flashy passes.

12:45And above all else, dude is a workhorse.

12:47You don't get this far at his size without having a relentless motor because on paper, he only has a

12:526'2 wingspan.

12:54Everything is working against him, but he still works so hard on defense.

12:58It helps when he's very strong and deceptively thick, and uses his body like a shield to repel defenders to

13:04pull off moves like this.

13:05Third straight double figure game against his former team.

13:08Count the basket and a foul!

13:11Davian Mitchell

13:13There is a common trend among these shorter, stocky point guards, and it's that defenders tend to bounce right off

13:18of them.

13:19That's more so the case with Davian Mitchell, as he's equipped with an incredible first step and speed that's unseen

13:24from most players of his build.

13:26But watching him play in Miami, he takes advantage of his compact frame more frequently than any other point guard

13:31I've seen.

13:37Mitchell's passing has always been reliable, and he excels in a rigid structure where he knows who and when to

13:43give the ball to.

13:44The Miami Heat have developed a reputation for finding players who are lost and giving them a role to turn

13:50their careers around.

13:52You combine this with Mitchell's renowned work ethic that got him drafted so high to begin with.

13:57Darren Fox, his former teammate back in Sacramento, once claimed he was, quote,

14:01probably the hardest worker we've seen outside of Kobe.

14:04It didn't stop there.

14:06Kings legend and summer league coach Bobby Jackson went off on him when he realized he was getting cramps because

14:11of working too hard.

14:12Quote, I just looked at him and said, you really worked out twice before coming here?

14:16Bro, you can't be doing that.

14:18We've definitely had to scale him back a little.

14:20He's just wired differently.

14:21This was in response to him getting cramps in a summer league game,

14:25because he worked out twice right before that.

14:27So by the time he got to Miami, the improved shooting is a pleasant surprise,

14:31because this was originally a debilitating part of his game he needed to fix.

14:36Defenders respect him more if he has a jumper, and that allows him space to dominate in the spot he

14:40excels in the most.

14:41The paint.

14:44Peyton Pritchard

14:46There's another common trend among these guys.

14:49Unless you're a high-profile athlete like Donovan Mitchell,

14:52it takes a while for their team to realize, oh, this guy is actually good despite his appearance.

14:58Pritchard is barely six feet tall, he doesn't have a super long wingspan,

15:02and for a long time, he was their designated benchwarmer.

15:10Instead, Pritchard built his game around the one thing he's great at, shooting.

15:14He joined the NBA in 2020 as a late first-round pick, but honestly, if he got drafted a decade

15:20earlier,

15:21he might not even stay in the league for long, because he started off his career strictly as a small

15:26shooter.

15:27Over time, however, there was a huge opportunity by getting drafted to a team like the Celtics.

15:33They were already trying to contend for the title, so they were so good already.

15:37They blew out so many teams to the point where their entire starting lineup would sit the entire fourth quarter.

15:42This gave the chance for Pritchard to check in and shine.

15:46He quickly became a fan favorite as the garbage time assassin, and this was basically his role for his first

15:52four years.

15:53As time went on, the team started to notice something.

15:57With all the work he put in, they noticed he was actually good and deserved more minutes.

16:02He knew he was a great shooter already, but became a more well-rounded point guard over time,

16:07and soon found himself getting significant minutes in the most important games of the year.

16:13Anyway, that's all folks.

16:15Let me know your thoughts of other players in this category who found success in their own way.

16:19Nowadays, there are very few short stocky guards who are all-star caliber,

16:22much less so compared to the past as the position is getting taller.

16:26Let me know in the comment section.

16:28Thank you all so much for watching.

16:29I hope you all enjoyed the video, and of course, as always, I'll see you next time.

16:34Peace.

16:42Peace.

16:43Peace.

16:45Peace.

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