What is Brian Butch's philosophy anyway?

Remember when you were a kid and you wanted to play in the NBA and all the buzzkills in your world would recite some statistic pointing out just how unrealistic such a dream was? The implication I always got was that the odds were so long because the competition was so fierce. I don't think thats true.

The fact of the matter is there aren't very many good basketball players in this world. Or, rather, there aren't that many good basketball players who also meet the rare physical qualifications of the NBA. That's why so many draft picks suck... not because the competition is so strong, but rather because so few meet the minimum levels of competency.

Which is why I get so infuriated with someone like Brian Butch. Butch has the physical qualifications to play in the NBA, but instead of exploiting his asset, he negates it by choosing to play a style that can be played by players who do not have NBA physical attributes. Butch, at 6'11'', thinks he's doing something great by sitting outside and bombing 3s.

Why big men think there is any value at all to that practice is beyond me. Think about it. If Butch is in the game he has to play the 4, because he can't guard anything else. But team's count on 4's to rebound and score with efficiency. When your 4 man instead insists on lingering out on the perimeter, he is handicapping the team's productivity.

Its so sad. If you had to go through life as a freak, and let's face it, that's what anyone over 6'7'' is, wouldn't you want to make the most of your freakish attributes? I would. If I were Brian Butch, I would abandon anything outside the paint, I would work exclusively on my inside game, I would have a voracious appetite for rebounds, I would hit the weight room day and night, and I would skip rope like a mo fo.

In other words, I'd work on things that leverage my one exceptional attribute. What I wouldn't do is concentrate on things I could have done if I were a foot smaller.