I agree and even for the NBA. Especially at PG.

Most the top playoff teams are the older teams. Vets even young vets help the real young and Collison, Krstic and Sefolosha help.

Someone who knows the ins and outs of his teammates could outperform their age. Play the young guys, find the best 5 man lineups and then ride those heavy for the short-term efficiency and to help make them even stronger.

They do seem to overdo the vets over young’uns though. Lots of young guys who become high 1st round picks stuck at 10-20 minutes over there when they are probably the greatest talent. Granted maybe not the best teammate in the moment but the choice usually isn’t between the best team player and the best talent but between the best talent and a mid-level talent and team impact player who has just been there longer.

My two biggest beef’s with College hoops are these:

1. In college, you’re lucky if two people on your whole team can create their own offense. The ball skills of slow athletes makes the other team look overwhelmingly gifted at playing defense. You see players catch the ball and run and run and run around in the half court, passing it to a team mate just in the nick of time, all the while praying that their team happens to get the shot off before the shot clock. The defensive rotations are just as fast as the offensive ball movement, and few can beat the zone or their man.

In the pros, you probably have only two guys who can’t create their own offense. Even slow guys like Peja has a move or two up his sleeve. Shaq may need you to pass him the ball to get things started, but he has dozens of post up moves. Nearly every 1 or 2 can take their man off the dribble most of the time. Defense in college just looks good because the offensive talent isn’t so great.

2. The way the games are officiated is night and day. College officiating drives me up a wall. I can hardly stand to watch it. The NBA refs let a guy get away with a travel from time to time, and the stars get the benefit of the doubt. But by and large, they are far and away more consistent than their NCAA counterparts. One game, you can get away with murder, the next game, you breath on a guy from across the court and it’s a foul. In the NBA, the refs are privy to game clinching moments, and they let the players play in that situation, while everyone knows that moment is distinctly different then all the others. Unless the foul or the turnover is flat out obvious, they let the players earn the moment with their ability. In college, the moment doesn’t matter, the refs call whatever they want, often times making the game more about them than the players.

Sloan likes the Thunder, and despite how good and steady he is, his 2 most used lineups are moderately negative on +/-. He is a big win with the bench guy so maybe that explains to some degree his like of a Thunder team apparently going the same direction. Even if a lot of their quality bench starts.