The lexicon of basketball is ever-growing. From early entries like “layup” to recent neologisms like “3 and D guy”, the vocabulary of the game is both a look into the past and a snapshot of the present.
Humbly, I’d like to present my own term for inclusion into the Dictionary of Ball: “Speightsing”
This daring portmanteau of “Speights” and “Spacing” surely reflects the last NBA trend: a big guy who shoots a lot of long twos but never threes and it seems like he’s not very good at them but he actually is and is thus a valuable player.
Marreese Speights is the namesake of this new creation, obviously. His range stops right inside the three point line, and that is where he makes most of his living. Kind of like a way,way less version of LaMarcus Aldridge, who could also be said to possess “Speightsing.”
I’m proud of my creation. I’m slowly starting to use it in general conversation, to get the public used to it. People are looking confused when I throw it out in the middle of talking about politics or whatever, and even when I explain it they still don’t understand. That’s okay. Trail-blazers like myself, those who stand at the vanguard of the English language, are not afraid of a little hardship in getting their creations recognized.