Building an NBA title contender from Star Wars characters

Star Wars NBA contender Starting Power Forward: General Grievous

A jack of all trades, master of none, General Grievous projects to be a unicorn of sorts. An alien warlord who was transformed into a cyborg after sustaining serious injuries, Grievous had a short yet important run in the main Star Wars movies. His character arch was expanded through extended lore in comic books, animated television shows and literature.

General Grievous isn’t a clunky or stiff cyborg either. In fact, he’s an incredibly agile character who uses his cyborg nature to his advantage. Also noteworthy: General Grievous has four arms, so in basketball terms, he’s an absolute menace as a perimeter defender. Unfortunately for him, he’s tall, thin and lanky at 7’1″, so he’s viable to get outmuscled in the paint or on the drive.

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He’s not much of a facilitator and is about a league-average shooter, but Grievous makes his money on defense. Just as he collects the lightsabers from slain Jedi, Grievous gets inside opponents’ heads when locking them up on the perimeter. In that sense, he’s got some Kevin Garnett in him as the mind games and mental fortitude make him a tough opponent.

With four arms, Grievous is a tenacious rebounder. While he may not always be able to box his opponent out, his elusiveness allows him to slither in between bodies and time his rebounds excellently.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Grievous is on a strict minutes limit in the NBA due to what I refer to as ‘space asthma.’ If you’re a fan of the Star Wars movies, you’ll recall that Grievous coughs a lot due to the trauma sustained in his accident. With that being the case, he’s generally not allowed to play more than 5-8 minutes at a time without a breather in between.

His player comps are a bit all over the place. One player that comes to mind is Tayshaun Prince, who didn’t put on a ton of muscle but managed to be an effective offensive player and a competitive defender. However, the two other players that come to mind most certainly are incomplete.

General Grievous’ playstyle would mirror that of a more grown and polished Bol Bol or Aleksej Pokuševski without the guard skills.