literature - "be any good" meaning + articles omission in case of 3 nouns conected with "and"

I have some questions regarding this fragment of Philip Roth's American Pastoral:

"The Swede started as end in football, center in basketball, and first baseman in baseball. Only the basketball team was ever any good - twice winning the city championship while he was its leading scorer - but as long as the Swede excelled, the fate of our team didn't matter much to student body"

1) The Swede started as end in football, center in basketball, and first baseman in baseball.

1) why there are no articles before end, center and first? I know, there's a rule that says articles can be omitted when nouns referring to two contrasting people or things are joined by 'and'. Is it also a case here?

2) Only the basketball team was ever any good - twice winning the city championship while he was its leading scorer (...)

2) Does this sentence mean that the basketball team was good or not?

I've noticed that be any use/any good is mostly used in a negative context, e.g. A boat like this wouldn’t be any good in a storm. or It isn’t any use complaining – they never listen.