There is a saying in the NFL that the most important player on any team is the quarterback and the second-most important is the backup quarterback.
If you believe that, then Curtis Painter (Peyton Manning's caddy with the Indianapolis Colts) and Mark Brunell (Drew Brees' wizened understudy with the New Orleans Saints) are key and crucial members of their respective Super Bowl teams -- even though neither is likely to drop his clipboard or shed his ballcap in the big game in Miami.
It doesn't work that way in the NBA. Having reliable reserves -- somebody who does more than hold a clipboard -- and something that resembles a depth chart is a good thing.
Still, when two talented players vie for the same position, there sometimes is redundancy and disharmony, which typically intensifies to the point where someone has to go. Think Joe Montana and Steve Young, two NFL Hall of Fame quarterbacks who -- for an awkward period with the San Francisco 49ers -- tried to share the same space and time. Or more recently, Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers. Only after the old guys left did the young guys thrive.
No one in the NBA, history tells us, ever is happy holding a clipboard for someone else. And if two guys laying claim to the same spot happen to be peers, close in experience and age, a situation can become downright untenable. Corrosive to team chemistry and unpleasant on a 24/7 basis.
Granted, you can get that even when teammates play allegedly complementary positions -- no one is forgetting Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal and their intramural friction anytime soon. Still, it's far more common when two centers or two points guards can't peacefully co-exist and their coaches can't effectively find minutes for both.
Here are some of the NBA's current position logjams. Next week we'll stroll down memory lane for some famous ones that, well, got resolved one way or another:
Minnesota is one of those teams so in need of roster help that it should be grateful to have two talented forwards like Jefferson and Love. Then again, the team that loves to stockpile point guards (or potential ones, either playing domestically or abroad) also has overlap at power forward. Offensively, these guys mesh nicely, with Jefferson a low-post beast and Love adept at passing and hitting mid-range jumpers. Defensively, though, is where it breaks down. Jefferson plays center but often is too small; Love doesn't have the foot speed to handle small forward. Said coach Kurt Rambis: "When you go play against a team like Boston or the Lakers, who have that tremendous length, they can be doing all the right things defensively, they're boxing out, and those guys just reach over them.'' With long-term sustainability in doubt, Jefferson trade rumors have flared and there even was an anonymous claim (immediately shot down) that the two don't get along.
This is not what the Jazz had in mind when they matched Millsap's four-year, $32 million offer sheet. Boozer backed away from free agency and exercised his $12.7 million option. Presto! Logjam at the 4 spot! Boozer has played up to All-Star levels, while Millsap's major numbers all have drooped: 26.1 minutes from 30.1 a year ago, 10.3 points from 13.5 and 5.8 rebounds from 8.6. It's expected that this will get resolved this summer by Boozer's overdue relocation, but there might be some slack sooner than that: Boozer suffered a strained right calf Wednesday in Portland and Millsap responded with15 points and 12 boards in the Jazz victory.
Rose's arrival last year and development into the NBA's Rookie of the Year (and the Bulls' best bet for a franchise player) enflamed rumors that Hinrich would be traded. Then a funny thing happened: John Salmons, the shooting guard expected to replace free-agent departee Ben Gordon's offense this season, whiffed on the opportunity. After Chicago's first 27 games, coach Vinny Del Negro decided to start both Hinrich and Rose. The results have been terrific. The Bulls are 11-4 when Hinrich starts, and he has averaged 13.2 points, 5.4 assists and 1.33 steals when he's on the floor from tipoff. Rose has been better in January (23.3 ppg, 6.5 apg, 51 FG percent) than in the two months prior to that.
Ellis is 6-foot-3, 180 pounds. His greatest asset is his ability to score. Curry is 6-foot-3, 185, similar attribute. So leave it to Golden State coach Don Nelson, the mad scientist of NBA head coaches, to resolve the overlap by starting both of them in an undersized but potent Warriors backcourt. Neither of them is a classic playmaker but they do pose matchup problems for opposing defenses. When they're the defenders? Well, not so much.
There are plenty of teams with playoff ambitions that would welcome Marcus Camby's defensive presence. There are plenty of teams, period, that wish they had a center as active, with a potential still as bright, as Kaman. The Clippers have them both, using the 35-year-old and the 29-year-old in the starting lineup together (Camby gets designated as the forward) and playing each in excess of 30 minutes nightly. This figures to change, of course, once No. 1 draft pick Blake Griffin gets healthy.
At first glance, you wouldn't characterize this as redundancy. Brooks is dwarfed even by a lot of point guards in this league, while wingman McGrady has good size and obviously plays a different position. Yet in their roles within the Houston Rockets' offense -- Brooks' currently, McGrady not -- the ball cannot be in both guys' hands often enough to make it work. That's how T-Mac ended up estranged from the team he was supposed to lead to an NBA championship, working out in Chicago while waiting for his expiring contract to dictate his short-term fate, maybe by the trading deadline.
We could throw Jerryd Bayless into this overlap to make it real Manhattan gridlock. As much as Portland craved a veteran point guard to impose order on their offense -- the reason the Blazers acquired Miller -- it didn't need the drama and uncertainty that has followed. Injuries (Miller's back) and illness (pneumonia) just compounded the questions about who did what better than whom. Miller has started 31 times but doesn't always finish. Blake has squeezed in 27 starts. Bayless is back from an ankle injury and seeking more time, too. Coach Nate McMillan has managed the logjam by going with his gut, which keeps the players on their toes but doesn't do much to settle rotation questions.
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