Partizan NIS Belgrade's small forward Rade Zagorac uses the first post on his EuroCupBasketball.com blog to discuss what is needed to be successful at his position, small forward, in modern basketball.
Blog: Rade Zagorac on playing small forward
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One of the pillars of the recent success of the Serbian powerhouse Partizan NIS Belgrade has been its forward Rade Zagorac. The 25-year old, who is in his third season with the club and in the competition, has been known to step up in big games and clutch moments. He is no stranger to big performances, scoring bursts and MVP of the Round performances, but he generally stands out as a do-it-all player who helps out wherever his team needs. The position on the floor he most often occupies, small forward, is the topic of his first blog for EuroCupBasketball.com.
Hello everyone, it's Rade Zagorac from Partizan NIS Belgrade. First of all, I hope that everyone who reads this blog is well in these awkward times we are in and that you are managing to follow basketball with at least a similar level of passion as you have in previous years.
It is a great pleasure for me to have the opportunity to share some of my thoughts with fans of European basketball and my club in this blog on EuroCupBasketball.com. I have been thinking for a while about topics that could be interesting to cover from someone who is participating in this competition for the third year in a row and I decided to write about the role of the small forward in modern basketball.
"A small forward must be at a very high level physically and ready to play a lot of minutes."
Our sport changes from year to year, like everything does in various spheres of life. Teams and coaches adapt to each other and these changes are reflected in many ways, like the different selection of players in the creation of the team, or a different style and way of playing, in the physical characteristics of the players, also marketing, off-court activities, and many others. One of the changes that has become a trend in recent years, and which I will focus on, is the job, duties, and requirements asked from the players at the position of small forward.
At 2.06 meters, I belong to this group of players and even though I was often developed in four different positions during my time in youth selections, naturally, most coaches see me in positions '3' and '4'. Some of the players who have successfully competed in the EuroCup in that position in recent years, and against whom I had the opportunity to play, are Charles Kahudi, Sammy Mejia, Sam Dekker and Kyle Weems. Some of the players playing in the Euroleague at this position are Nikola Kalinic, Shavon Shields, Will Clyburn and Vladimir Micov.
I believe that fans who watch games in a bit of a superficial way, or in a fan-like way, tend to underestimate this role and this position. For sure, a small forward will rarely be the best scorer, have the most assists or lead his team in rebounds. If we talk about the stats, however, a small forward will likely be present in all these categories, but even more importantly, he will have an invaluable contribution to both his team's offense and defense.
Today's basketball (I know that generalization is not the smartest thing to do and there are always exceptions, but I will talk about most cases) does not require too much ball-handling or an excessive number of shots and possessions. Those are the jobs of playmakers and combo guards. It does not require a constant threat from the low post; that job belongs to power forwards and centers. And yet we find all of the players mentioned above in all of these situations, often as creators, often as low-post threats.
A small forward must be at a very high level physically and ready to play a lot of minutes while being very active in transition and in many cases the leader of his team in that area. Spacing in today's game also requires him to be able to shoot from behind the three-point stripe at a high percentage and more often than not he must be able to help his team both as a secondary ball-handler and as a low-post threat.
As a part of the above-mentioned change in the style of play, one of the main roles and demands of a small forward comes in the increasingly popular switching defense, the kind that Fenerbahce has developed to perfection in the EuroLeague in recent years.
"A small forward must possess leadership skills because he is the link between his backcourt and frontcourt teammates."
In particular, if we take those fantastic clashes we had against Virtus Segafredo Bologna last season. Playing under Coach Andrea Trinchieri, I often found myself in a situation where I defended point guards Milos Teodosic or Stefan Markovic, all with the idea that when Virtus plays pick-and-roll, I am the one switching to their big man, in this case, Julian Gamble.
An interesting comparison for a small forward would be with the goalkeeper in soccer; if a small forward successfully defends the low-post game of the opposing center, he will not receive credit equal to the critique which comes if he unsuccessfully defends that same center. Unsurprisingly, it makes being a small forward quite delicate.
Another important element that a small forward must possess is leadership skills because he is practically the link between his backcourt and frontcourt teammates. All the players I mentioned above are guys with enviable leadership characteristics and very often a psychological backbone of their teams because they do not depend on any specific things, not even a bad shooting day at work. A small forward must also always be active on the offensive glass and thus largely the first defense against the opposing team's transition.
In the end, I think the players who play the small forward position in a way represent the driving force of their respective teams, its strength, engagement and commitment. It is difficult to grade the performance of these players solely through the box score because they bring intangibles that show why it is no wonder that all the successful coaches have been spending a significant part of their budgets and resources on this specific type of a player.
That's it for this first blog. I wish everyone good health, and here's to this season to be as exciting as any of the previous seasons and wishing to see basketball fans back in the arenas to create fiery atmospheres throughout Europe.