Smallball is dominant; that's the word on the street. But perhaps it's losing some of its luster. Not only are the Suns, who made all this popular in the first place, playing with a much more traditional lineup, but I now count three teams among those who have defied the trend and gone big -- real big.

The most notable of the group is Orlando, which last season started 6-foot-10 Hedo Turkoglu, 6-10 Rashard Lewis and 6-11 Dwight Howard together in the frontcourt. That was an exception, we thought, because of the outstanding perimeter skills of Turkoglu and Lewis -- neither of whom really plays like his height.

But more recently, two teams have gone to huge frontcourts and had some success with it.

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Maybe it will fizzle and teams will go back to playing small, but it's an early trend to watch. After years of teams shifting lineups smaller and smaller, we might be heading in the opposite direction.