San Antonio Spurs fan favorite Boban Marjanovich has been productive in limited minutes against inferior opponents so far this season, but would benefit greatly from regular playing time against better teams.
Boban Marjanovich is not your average NBA rookie, at 27 years old and with years of professional experience overseas. He’s not your average basketball player, with a forever baffling combination of size and silky-soft touch. He’s far from an average human, towering over other really big humans at 7-foot-3 and 290 pounds.
The Serbian San Antonio Spurs center has had some nice moments so far this season, not least the playground-like humiliation of fellow rookie Jahlil Okafor in a blowout win over the Philadelphia 76ers, and chants of “BOBAN!” have become quite common at the AT&T Center.
Boban however is still somewhat of a novelty, due to his limited playing time. He generally plays when Tim Duncan rests, against inferior NBA opponents, and has appeared in only 17 games so far, and only logged more than 10 minutes four times.
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When he is on the court, he can be extremely effective on offense. Per 36 minutes this season, Boban is averaging 27 points, 14 rebounds, and three blocks; with a Player Efficiency Rating of an absurd 33.8, per basketball-reference.com.
Of course, he’s not as good as the numbers in this tiny sample size say he is, but the principle behind the numbers, that Boban is an extremely skilled offensive basketball player, is spot on.
From anywhere within 10 feet of the hoop he has great touch, can turn over either shoulder, with either hand, and score with the jump hook or set shot off the glass. He has great footwork that defies his gargantuan frame, and a great feel for which way his defender is leaning in the post.
Away from the basket, he sets a monster screen due to his sheer size, leaving defenders struggling to navigate a mountain of a man. He has an uncanny feel for the game. During dribble hand offs, he’s comfortable holding the ball during multiple cuts from a Spurs guard, reading how the defender reacts, and making the appropriate on time pass.
He’s an absolute load to keep off the offensive glass, a constant source of extra possessions. He regularly buries helpless defenders under the rim, providing a huge target with his wide frame, and having great hands to control passes whipped in from the perimeter.
The trade off for Boban, and the thing limiting his minutes, is his defense. He fouls too much, averaging six personal fouls per 36 minutes. He’s not a bad team defender, he drops back on pick-and-rolls effectively, keeping an eye on the rolling big while simultaneously deterring the ball handler around that foul line no man’s land.
He plays hard, putting in the effort on closeouts and doing his best to shuffle his way to rotations. His problems come protecting the rim against quicker bigs and jitterbug guards, he just can’t help his size, and any contact inevitably results in a foul because he’s often a costly second behind the play.
If he can learn to defend without fouling so much, he can be a huge asset for the Spurs. There’s no reason he can’t do this, he’s fundamentally sound, if a little lurchy. He should never jump on defense, it leaves him way too vulnerable, and with his length, he really doesn’t need to in order to block shots and act as a rim deterrent.
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He needn’t look any further than Duncan for the all-time authority on how to provide elite rim protection without jumping.
He needs to learn to mitigate his flaws on defense in order to maximise his opportunities on offense. But he needs regular minutes to do this. His playing time has been trending upward of late, which is a good sign, and if he can get between 10 and 15 minutes on a nightly basis it will speed up his learning curve.
Finding Marjanovich minutes with the second unit duo of Manu Ginobili and Boris Diaw is the ideal scenario, as the teams two best passers are brilliant at locating the big Serb in the post and rolling to the rim on offense.
Perhaps Patrick Mills and Kawhi Leonard would round out Boban’s ideal five-man unit, as both are exceptional defenders and floor spacers. It’s this five-man group that Boban has seen the most minutes with so far this season, and they have outscored opponents by a whopping 61 points when on the floor together.
There is an undeniable novelty to watching Boban play basketball; the eye-popping physical reality of the man, so blatantly visible when held up against other objectively gigantic players, is a spectacle in itself.
But this shouldn’t overshadow the many nuances and attributes of a highly skilled NBA big man. Amidst a constant narrative of endangered NBA post-play, Marjanovich is a reminder of how useful, and compelling, traditionally skilled big men can be.
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The Spurs and head coach Gregg Popovich have an opportunity heading into 2016 to rest Tim Duncan even more, develop Boban Marjanovich, and add a 7-foot-3 Serbian wrecking ball to an already potent and varied offensive arsenal.