Just out of interest who do u think is the best centre of all time? And can u post who u think is the best at doing the dirty work i.e pickin up rebounds and creatin openins for his teammates.
I kinda agree with u but there was also Wilt Chamberlain. This season Eddy Curry has done a lot especially with reboundin so he does the dirty work well.
Best center of all-time - Wilt Chamberlain (then Jabbar, then Russell). Best (if they all would be healthy) center atm - Yao Ming. Dirty worker ? Tyson Chandler, Marcus Camby or Emeka.
If I had watched them all throughout their careers I'd be able to pick better, but essentially I have an unranked top 4 (Shaq, Wilt, Hakeem, and Kareem).
I'd put Wilt, Kareem and Russell all together at #1. I must say I enjoyed watching Hakeem play more than just about any big man, but if you give me one center to build a team around, Russell's my man.
I know that Wilt Chamberlain played in a different era, but still, you have to admire his accomplishments: 12 All-Star Appearances, 7 All-NBA First Teams, 4 MVP's, and 2 NBA Championships. Not to mention the amazing things he did statistically. His career averages are 30.1 ppg, 22.9 rpg, and 4.4 apg on 54% shooting. He also holds the all-time record for single-season ppg (50.4 in '62), single-season rpg (27.2 in '61), and FG% (.727 in '73), as well as the all-time single-game records for points (100 in '62), rebounds (55 in '60), and field goals made (36 in '62). All of that, and he was in the top three in apg two consecutive seasons ('67 and '68). And for those of you who argue that it was an era full of less talented, shorter players, here are some of the guys he played against: Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wes Unseld, Willis Reed, Jerry Lucas, Bob Pettit, Nate Thurmond, Bob McAdoo, Elvin Hayes, etc. So with that said, here's my top 10 - 1) Wilt Chamberlain (1959-73) 2) Bill Russell (1956-69) 3) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1969-89) 4) Shaquille O'Neal (1992-Present) 5) Hakeem Olajuwon (1984-2002) 6) Moses Malone (1974-95) 7) David Robinson (1989-2002) 8) Patrick Ewing (1985-2002) 9) Artis Gilmore (1972-88) 10) George Mikan (1948-56)
<div class="quote_poster">Voodoo Child Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I know that Wilt Chamberlain played in a different era, but still, you have to admire his accomplishments: 12 All-Star Appearances, 7 All-NBA First Teams, 4 MVP's, and 2 NBA Championships. Not to mention the amazing things he did statistically. His career averages are 30.1 ppg, 22.9 rpg, and 4.4 apg on 54% shooting. He also holds the all-time record for single-season ppg (50.4 in '62), single-season rpg (27.2 in '61), and FG% (.727 in '73), as well as the all-time single-game records for points (100 in '62), rebounds (55 in '60), and field goals made (36 in '62). All of that, and he was in the top three in apg two consecutive seasons ('67 and '68). And for those of you who argue that it was an era full of less talented, shorter players, here are some of the guys he played against: Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wes Unseld, Willis Reed, Jerry Lucas, Bob Pettit, Nate Thurmond, Bob McAdoo, Elvin Hayes, etc. So with that said, here's my top 10 - 1) Wilt Chamberlain (1959-73) 2) Bill Russell (1956-69) 3) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1969-89) 4) Shaquille O'Neal (1992-Present) 5) Hakeem Olajuwon (1984-2002) 6) Moses Malone (1974-95) 7) David Robinson (1989-2002) 8) Patrick Ewing (1985-2002) 9) Artis Gilmore (1972-88) 10) George Mikan (1948-56)</div> Most of the guys you mentioned didn't play against Wilt in 1962 (his 50 ppg year). They became stars later into his career. Year these players entered the league: Thurmond 1964 Abdul Jabbar 1970 Unsled 1969 Lucas 1964 McAdoo 1973 Hayes 1969 Wilt's Prime was from about 1960-1966 so these players missed most of those years. Also I think Shaq is being overlooked in this thread. I am not putting Russell over him (and this is coming from someone who doesn't like Shaq).
<div class="quote_poster">huevonkiller Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Most of the guys you mentioned didn't play against Wilt in 1962 (his 50 ppg year). They became stars later into his career. Year these players entered the league: Thurmond 1964 Abdul Jabbar 1970 Unsled 1969 Lucas 1964 McAdoo 1973 Hayes 1969 Wilt's Prime was from about 1960-1966 so these players missed most of those years. Also I think Shaq is being overlooked in this thread. I am not putting Russell over him (and this is coming from someone who doesn't like Shaq).</div> The first season that Kareem entered the league, in 1969, Wilt Chamberlain averaged 27.3 ppg, 18.4 rpg, and 4.1 apg. Then in his last two years before he retired, he led the league in rebounding over Kareem, and those two years wound up being Kareem's highest rpg's ever, so you can't tell me that Chamberlain didn't go up against Kareem. As for saying that Wilt's prime ended in 1966, I guess that you would consider 1967 a bad year, when he only averaged 24.1 ppg, 24.2 rpg, and 7.8 apg on 68% shooting, winning MVP and the NBA Championship in the process. Not a bad post-prime year, is it? Or how about his MVP season he had the following year? Bottom line is that Wilt played against all of those guys, and some of his best years were spent going head to head with Bill Russell, the player who most credible analysts rank right behind Wilt as the second or third greatest center of all-time. In fact, Chamberlain's 55 rebound game came against Russell.
<div class="quote_poster">Voodoo Child Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">The first season that Kareem entered the league, in 1969, Wilt Chamberlain averaged 27.3 ppg, 18.4 rpg, and 4.1 apg. Then in his last two years before he retired, he led the league in rebounding over Kareem, and those two years wound up being Kareem's highest rpg's ever, so you can't tell me that Chamberlain didn't go up against Kareem. As for saying that Wilt's prime ended in 1966, I guess that you would consider 1967 a bad year, when he only averaged 24.1 ppg, 24.2 rpg, and 7.8 apg on 68% shooting, winning MVP and the NBA Championship in the process. Not a bad post-prime year, is it? Or how about his MVP season he had the following year? Bottom line is that Wilt played against all of those guys, and some of his best years were spent going head to head with Bill Russell, the player who most credible analysts rank right behind Wilt as the second or third greatest center of all-time. In fact, Chamberlain's 55 rebound game came against Russell.</div> Obviously I'm just saying his absolute best years (which is empirically true) didn't include many of the people you mentioned. And that "remarkable year" that you are referring to in 1970, was still one of Wilt's sub-par years (24.8 PER). According to basketball-reference.com, Wilt's Per reaches 26/24 just a couple of times after his Prime. After those few decent years, it drops off even more. Whereas from 1960-1966 he averaged about 30 PER, compared to about 22 PER after. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> Year-Age-Team and League-Games played-Player Efficiency Rating 1960 23 PHW NBA 72 28.1| 1961 24 PHW NBA 79 27.8| 1962 25 PHW NBA 80 32.1| 1963 26 SFW NBA 80 31.8| 1964 27 SFW NBA 80 31.6| 1965 28 SFW NBA 38 29.8| PHI NBA 35 27.3| TOT NBA 73 28.6| 1966 29 PHI NBA 79 28.3| 1967 30 PHI NBA 81 26.5| 1968 31 PHI NBA 82 24.7| 1969 32 LAL NBA 81 21.9| 1970 33 LAL NBA 12 24.8| 1971 34 LAL NBA 82 20.3| 1972 35 LAL NBA 82 18.6| 1973 36 LAL NBA 82 19.1|</div> And I don't care about a single game of rebounds in an era that shot around 30% more per game... Though Wilt was known to put up very good stats against Russell, which I'll give him credit for that. But then again, I don't have Russell as high up on my list as you do.
<div class="quote_poster">DSaunders91 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I kinda agree with u but there was also Wilt Chamberlain. This season Eddy Curry has done a lot especially with reboundin so he does the dirty work well.</div>Agreed. Eddy Curry personifies the phrase 'doing the dirty work'.
