Top 25 Centers of All-Time Voting Part 5: Players 21-25

[L.Kizzle]

Select and rank the next 5 (players 21 through 25) of the greatest CENTERS of All-Time. A 48 Hour window will be given to make your choices or debate why said player should or shouldn’t be here. After 48 Hours, the final 5 will be selected and we'll be moving on to the POWER FORWARD position.

Thanks all who participated. Trying to bring different dialogue to the forum besides the same topics over and over. Hope to see you all in the Power Forward Voting in a few days, but let's get the center position out of here with a bang! [Mike Breen voice.]


Players to choose from:
Al Horford
Ben Wallace
Bill Laimbeer
Bob Lanier
Brad Daugherty
Clyde Lovellette
Dan Issel
Ed Macauley
Jack Sikma
Marc Gasol
Neil Johnston
Walt Bellamy
Wayne Embry
Yao Ming
Zelmo Beaty

and

Three Wildcards
DeMarcus Cousins
Karl-Anthony Towns
Nikola Jokic

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Top 25 Centers: 1-20
1 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
2 Bill Russell
3 Shaquille O'Neal
4 Wilt Chamberlain
5 Hakeem Olajuwon
6 Moses Malone
7 David Robinson
8 Patrick Ewing
9 Willis Reed
9 George Mikan
11 Bill Walton
12 Dwight Howard
13 Dave Cowens
14 Bob McAdoo
15 Robert Parish
16 Wes Unseld
17 Nate Thurmond
18 Alonzo Mourning
19 Artis Gilmore
20 Dikembe Mutombo


Voting Results
Number of Voters - 5
Number of Players Receiving Votes - 9


Wes Unseld - (3) 1st Place Votes / (1) 2nd Place Vote
Nate Thurmond - (1) 1st Place Vote / (1) 2nd Place Vote / (1) 3rd Place Vote / (1) 5th Place Vote
Alonzo Mourning - (1) 1st Place Vote / (1) 2nd Place Vote / (1) 3rd Place Vote
Artis Gilmore - (2) 3rd Place Votes / (2) 4th Place Votes / (1) 5th Place Vote
Dikembe Mutombo - (1) 2nd Place Vote / (1) 3rd Place Vote / (2) 5th Place Votes
Bob Lanier - (1) 2nd Place Vote / (1) 4th Place Vote
Ben Wallace - (1) 4th Place Vote
Walt Bellamy - (1) 4th Place Vote
Bill Laimbeer - (1) 5th Place Vote

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Voting Criteria
Five Years or more played in the NBA.
1st = 10 Pts
2nd = 7 Pts
3rd = 5 Pts
4th = 3 Pts
5th = 1 Pt

Top-25-Centers-of-All-Time-Voting-Part-4-Players-16-20

[Phoenix]

Can I just cast a vote for Ben Wallace at #21? I feel like he should have found a way into the top 20 somehow but I don't think he warrants going any lower than this.

[L.Kizzle]

Can I just cast a vote for Ben Wallace at #21? I feel like he should have found a way into the top 20 somehow but I don't think he warrants going any lower than this.

Bruh, just case your vote.

Bob Lanier
Clyde Lovellette
Dan Issel
Ed Macauley
Jack Sikma
Neil Johnston
Walt Bellamy
Wayne Embry
Yao Ming
Zelmo Beaty

These ten are Hall of Famers.
Just pick who you think are the best four from here,
Yao is a contemporary.

Bob Lanier and Walt Bellamy are the best 2 not on the board yet, IMO. Issell, Sikma, Johnston are probably right below. Beaty won an MVP in the ABA.

[RoundMoundOfReb]

You should've just gone up to 10 or 15. Attempting to place players in this tier is virtually impossible.

[L.Kizzle]

You should've just gone up to 10 or 15. Attempting to place players in this tier is virtually impossible.

I didn't do ten because we would just be discussing the same player we do all the time.
I wanted to dig a little deeper. So we can discuss players that rarely get bought up on this forum.
It could turn out to be a good thing.

Who are your remaining 5 to complete the Top 25?
Ben Wallace, Bob Lanier, Yao?

[Phoenix]

Wallace
Lanier
Issel
Yao
Bellamy

[RoundMoundOfReb]

I didn't do ten because we would just be discussing the same player we do all the time.
I wanted to dig a little deeper. So we can discuss players that rarely get bought up on this forum.
It could turn out to be a good thing.

Who are your remaining 5 to complete the Top 25?
Ben Wallace, Bob Lanier, Yao?

The thing is it's impossible to really have a discussion at this point since it's so hard to say someone is flat out wrong. It's all in the eye of the beholder.

Wallace
Lanier
Issel
Gasol
Yao


Jokic and Embiid gonna be in here in a minute. I mean I picked Yao but he was good for like 6 seasons. Jokic 2 more seasons at his current level and he's in here easily.

[L.Kizzle]

Wallace
Lanier
Issel
Yao
Bellamy

Issell was like one of the first stretch 5's. He was shooting long range bombs when bigs weren't really going out that far.

[L.Kizzle]

The thing is it's impossible to really have a discussion at this point since it's so hard to say someone is flat out wrong. It's all in the eye of the beholder.

Wallace
Lanier
Issel
Gasol
Yao


Jokic and Embiid gonna be in here in a minute. I mean I picked Yao but he was good for like 6 seasons. Jokic 2 more seasons at his current level and he's in here easily.

But how is it possible to discuss Wilt vs Russell vs Kareem for he umpteenth time (not directed at you specifically), but impossible to discuss Bob Lanier vs Walt Bellamy? or Yao vs Ben? Hell, Yao vs Ben actually happened 15 seasons ago a twice a year when Detroit played Houston.

[Phoenix]

Issell was like one of the first stretch 5's. He was shooting long range bombs when bigs weren't really going out that far.

What's your thoughts on that order? At this point I could be way off.

[L.Kizzle]

Wallace
Lanier
Issel
Yao
Bellamy

I'd replace Issel with Neil Johnston. I know how some folks feel about players from the 50's but he was the dominant center post Mikan and pre Russell if only for a few seasons.

[dankok8]

21. Bob Lanier
22. Ben Wallace
23. Jack Sikma
24. Walt Bellamy
25. Neil Johnston

[L.Kizzle]

21. Bob Lanier
22. Ben Wallace
23. Jack Sikma
24. Walt Bellamy
25. Neil Johnston

Jack Sikma is a recent inductee of the Hall of Fame.
Ben Wallace should get in soon ... hopefully next season.

[L.Kizzle]

Random stats on players left in the pool.

Bob Lanier - Four Seasons in the Top 10 of MVP Voting. (Two of those seasons as Top 4.)
Ed Macauley - Traded for Bill Russell. Went on to beat Russell & the Celtics in 1958.
Walt Bellamy - NBA record 88 games played in 1969
Neil Johnston - Neil had a six season stretch 53-57 where he either led the league in points, rebounds and/or FG%. 1953 was Points / FG% and 1955 was Points and Rebounds.

[And1AllDay]

wallace
gasol
lanier
horford
issel