The Center Position: Is it weak?

[boozehound]

This is based on a comment by RMWG in the asik for green thread where he said it might be nice to have one of the few legit centers in asik.

So, my question becomes, are there really only a "few" legit centers in the league currently?

As I go through the league, I see lots of good or promising centers in the league right now. What do you think?

Atlantic
Lopez
Chandler
Jonas Christ
Noel (long term)

Central
Noah
Bynum/Vag
Drummond/Monroe
Hibbert
Sanders

Southeast
Horford
Big Al
Vucevic
Gortat

Southwest
M Gasol
Howard
Davis
Duncan

Northwest
McGee (sure, hes a knucklehead)
Pekovic
Kanter

Pacific
Bogut
Pau
Cousins

So, at least three teams in every division have a solid to very good center IMO. Am I wrong in this view?

and this isnt including dudes like r lopez or meyers leonard

[alenleomessi]

you forgot deandre who will have a better season than half of those guys.
and most of these guys are like PFs anyway...

[D.J.]

It's not weak, it's just obsolete. With today's game favoring perimeter players and outside play, points are really combo guards and centers are more like oversized 4s. The days of centers like Laimbeer and Parish are over.

[Rose'sACL]

There are centers who are good defensively but offensively they aren't that great

[JimmyMcAdocious]

It's a lot better than it was a few seasons ago. The center position is deep, but lackluster.

Now the SG position is talented at the top, and very much lacking depth. After Harden, can anyone confidently tell me of a young SG you are sure is an allstar player? I'm counting George as a SF, btw. Kobe and Wade are practically in retirement homes. After those 3 there's an enormous drop off in talent.

[sc19]

It is weak. Even in NBA 2k, it's a crap position to play.

[DuMa]

half of the list in OP are really power forwards who play center almost full time. the center position is so weak that power forwards can play the 5 hole can fool people like the OP into thinking that there are decent centers.

the 80s and 90s had real centers. it used to be really obvious what a center and a power forward is. and no a stretch 4 isnt a power forward

[Trollsmasher]

It is weak offensively. Defensively it just as great as ever, if not better.

[ispin69]

Weak compared to the dominance of Shaq and Wilt? Yes.

Hibbert (w/ West is very dangerous), Howard, Chandler, Lopez, Marc Gasol. All legit right now even if some are on not good teams. They are game changers. I agree with Jimmy that SG is weak right now.

[OldSkoolball#52]

This is based on a comment by RMWG in the asik for green thread where he said it might be nice to have one of the few legit centers in asik.

So, my question becomes, are there really only a "few" legit centers in the league currently?

As I go through the league, I see lots of good or promising centers in the league right now. What do you think?

Atlantic
Lopez
Chandler
Jonas Christ
Noel (long term)

Central
Noah
Bynum/Vag
Drummond/Monroe
Hibbert
Sanders

Southeast
Horford
Big Al
Vucevic
Gortat

Southwest
M Gasol
Howard
Davis
Duncan

Northwest
McGee (sure, hes a knucklehead)
Pekovic
Kanter

Pacific
Bogut
Pau
Cousins

So, at least three teams in every division have a solid to very good center IMO. Am I wrong in this view?

and this isnt including dudes like r lopez or meyers leonard

I made a thread nearly identical to this a few months back and concluded at least half the teams have a good quality center.


The issue is that centers are not asked, or even allowed to score like they used to because of the ball dominance of modern wing players. These days a center's primary responsibility is to be a defensive anchor - and by that standard there are some darn good ones.


Obviously, the majority of fans still believe "ppg = value". So they see a decline in ppg from the center position, they conclude centers today suck.


Incidentally, the two "best" centers in the game by talent are perhaps Oden and Bynum. And we all know their stories. Which is unfortunate, because they might have been able to quell the talk about no great centers, had things unfolded differently.

[Myth]

There are a bunch of good centers, but there are no great centers. It used to be that there were always 3-5 great centers at a time. Howard is the only 1 who comes close to that lable, but he is just missing something that prevents him from actually being great.

[Myth]

and this isnt including dudes like r lopez or meyers leonard

Well it shouldn't include them. Leonard just got bumped to 3rd string center by Joel Freeland. It is laughable that he was even mentioned as if "not including including him" meant something valuable. Might as well say "And this doesn't include Jason Collins."

[OldSkoolball#52]

Well it shouldn't include them. Leonard just got bumped to 3rd string center by Joel Freeland. It is laughable that he was even mentioned as if "not including including him" meant something valuable. Might as well say "And this doesn't include Jason Collins."

Ok bro now youre just purposely being a bigot.

[JimmyMcAdocious]

Also remember that along with Dwight, Yao, Bogut, and Oden were supposed to be headlining this era of centers. All three of those guys have had terribly injury-plagued careers. Now we can't be sure how Oden would have turned out, but Bogut was a legit anchor down low and Yao was a borderline superstar.

[boozehound]

I purposefully left him off. and, no, the only ones on there who are possible pf's are monroe and davis. You can claim that duncan is a pf but hes not, and horford hasn't lined up at the 4 more than ~20 games in his career (even if he would play better there).