SunnyD has threads about the best/worst guard and forward rotations, so I figured why not make one about the centers.Some of the best- <u>Miami</u>: Shaquille O'Neal, Alonzo Mourning, Michael Doleac, and Earl BarronShaq is obviously the man, Mourning is still a defensive force, Doleac is a very solid 3rd option, and Earl Barron has a future as a solid backup.- <u>Denver</u>: Marcus Camby, Nene, Jamal SampsonOK, so Sampson is really nothing. But Camby is top 5 and Nene has size, strength, and a nice future ahead of him.- <u>Dallas</u>: DeSagana Diop, Erick Dampier, DJ Ilunga-MbengaDiop doesn't fill up the stat sheet, but he's young, HUGE, a very nice defensive presence, and a smart player. Damp is a 8+ rebound threat every night, and Mbenga is better than most 3rd centers.Some of the worst- <u>Toronto</u>: Rasho Nesterovic, Pape Sow- <u>Memphis</u>: Stromile Swift, Jake Tsakalidis- <u>Minnesota</u>: Mark Blount, and Eddie Griffin (even though he's a natural PF)I definitely left some out, but I want this to actually be a thread with legs instead of laying them all out.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (nba dogmatist @ Oct 29 2006, 11:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>there are alot of really bad ones.</div>Eh hem... Boston. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>here's a good one to add. chicago- ben wallace, pj brown.</div>I had to leave them out. They have Big Ben, but Brown is a natural PF, so is Sweetney, so is Allen. Ben is the only center the Bulls have. I mean sure Brown is capable of dropping back to center, I mean he was forced to in New Orleans, but he's really a 4.
The Knicks have a good center rotation, whether they suck or not.Channing Frye, Curry, Cato(Good Defender), Jerome James<--- he just fcks up the rotation.Nuggets- With Nene back yup their up there.Bulls Heat-Mourning n Doleac are good back upsGrizz are the worst Tsakalidis?... lol wait till gasol comes backHawks are crapRaptors are bad but can be better.Sonics suck but have the potential with how young their centers \ are.Cavs have no one to back up Z, but can go with vraejo and gooden as a small frontcourt.But most teams are either average or below average
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nitro1118 @ Oct 29 2006, 09:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Yao/Deke is a good 1-2 punch...</div>I agree, that's a very nice duo.I also like the Cavs with Big Z and Varajao. I wouldn't put them in the top 5 but Ilgauskas is good and I liked what I saw from Varajao. Lots of energy, good rebounding. I like him a lot.The Warriors centers right now are a little, eh... If Diogu and Murphy play there they are out of position and Diogu hasn't shown much yet. And Foyle isn't that good at all.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (S_Guard @ Oct 30 2006, 12:02 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>The Knicks have a good center rotation, whether they suck or not.Channing Frye, Curry, Cato(Good Defender), Jerome James<--- he just fcks up the rotation.</div>Channing Frye is a natural PF. He's not big enough to play center and he doesn't bang like a center should. He is slim, he's a good shot blocker and solid rebounder, but his offensive game is finesse and it goes out to 19 feet.That leaves the Knicks with Eddy Curry, Jerome James, and Kelvin Cato. Curry is a good offensive player, but nothing else (overweight, not a good rebounder, not a great defender). Cato/James as the #2 and #3 center options is laughable, especially James.
Heat are easily the best. Simply because we have the best center and a backup who's better than MOST starters.Also, counting Okafor as a PF, the Bobcats are definitely one of and probably the worst. You've got Brezec...Jake Voskuhl...then I guess May who's way undersized. Yikes.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (LightsOut @ Oct 30 2006, 12:34 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Heat are easily the best. Simply because we have the best center and a backup who's better than MOST starters.Also, counting Okafor as a PF, the Bobcats are definitely one of and probably the worst. You've got Brezec...Jake Voskuhl...then I guess May who's way undersized. Yikes.</div>No way you can count may as a center. Most people think he's an undersized 4. Okafor is MUCH closer to being a center than May. But, I'll have to agree: Brezec, Voshkul, and Ryan Hollins is pretty bad.
I know you can't really count May as a center, but the Bobcats have been forced to play him there in some occasions in the past, because of the lack of depth. But yeah, even at PF you can still call him undersized.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (LightsOut @ Oct 30 2006, 01:12 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I know you can't really count May as a center, but the Bobcats have been forced to play him there in some occasions in the past, because of the lack of depth.</div>No they havn't. May only played about 20 games last year, and he was used at the 4-spot basically the entire time. Brezec played about 30 minutes at the 5, Emeka played some when he was healthy, and the guy that filled in was Melvin Ely, not Sean May. Voshkul played spot minutes there as well.
Already noted by CelticBalla in the 1st post, but I really do like the Mav rotation even though I dont think they'd be considered great if they played on certain teams. If that rotation was on another team that didn't have a dominant power foward, it probably wouldn't work. I think They look good because of Dirk. They don't have to score, only rebound and defend. Lets say those 3 played on the Sonics or the Hawks, I think we'd only consider them marginal. I think they are only considered great because they play with Dirk though. They'd only be considered this though with a great 4 to play beside them. A la Duncan, KG, Dirk, Bosh, etc.Lets just look at who they played with on thier previous teams. Damp played with Troy Murphy in GS and Diop played with Drew Gooden. Sub-par power fowards. They werent considered "great" and in Diop's case, even good. Now that they play with Dirk, they play great. Now the other great combos like Shaq/Mourning and the Yao/Mutombo, they'd be considered great no matter where they play. Anyone agree?
How is the Hawks horrible? Lorenzen Wright is a good athletic center, and Zaza Pachulia had a great season last year, not to mention the Landlord, he can play center too.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Pistonfan11 @ Oct 30 2006, 08:45 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>How is the Hawks horrible? Lorenzen Wright is a good athletic center, and Zaza Pachulia had a great season last year, not to mention the Landlord, he can play center too.</div> Lorenzen Wright is no better than Tony Battie anymore, he's past his prime. Pachulia is alright but the Hawks don't have one of the better center rotations in the league. Nobody has mentioned the Blazers duo of Joel Przybilla and Jamaal Magloire.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (pjcolpitts? @ Oct 30 2006, 02:02 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Already noted by CelticBalla in the 1st post, but I really do like the Mav rotation even though I dont think they'd be considered great if they played on certain teams. If that rotation was on another team that didn't have a dominant power foward, it probably wouldn't work. I think They look good because of Dirk. They don't have to score, only rebound and defend. Lets say those 3 played on the Sonics or the Hawks, I think we'd only consider them marginal. I think they are only considered great because they play with Dirk though. They'd only be considered this though with a great 4 to play beside them. A la Duncan, KG, Dirk, Bosh, etc.Lets just look at who they played with on thier previous teams. Damp played with Troy Murphy in GS and Diop played with Drew Gooden. Sub-par power fowards. They werent considered "great" and in Diop's case, even good. Now that they play with Dirk, they play great. Now the other great combos like Shaq/Mourning and the Yao/Mutombo, they'd be considered great no matter where they play. Anyone agree?</div>About Damp/Diop improving because of Dirk - no. Damp actually played better in Golden State, definitely. Diop just got better as the years went on. When he was in Cleveland he was an overweight kid out of high school with no offensive game whatsoever. He's gotten into shape since coming to Dallas and he's improved his game. So personally, I don't think Dirk has much of anything to do with the success of Diop. And like I said in the beginning of this paragraph, Damp played better in Golden State then slowed down once he got his big contract.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CelticBalla32 @ Oct 30 2006, 11:53 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>About Damp/Diop improving because of Dirk - no. Damp actually played better in Golden State, definitely. Diop just got better as the years went on. When he was in Cleveland he was an overweight kid out of high school with no offensive game whatsoever. He's gotten into shape since coming to Dallas and he's improved his game. So personally, I don't think Dirk has much of anything to do with the success of Diop. And like I said in the beginning of this paragraph, Damp played better in Golden State then slowed down once he got his big contract.</div>The thing is, Damp really didnt play great in Golden State. He had that great year because it was his contract was up. That year he his averages were all career highs. CONTRACT YEAR03-04PTS-12.3 REB-12.0 FG%-53.0 BLK-1.8 TO-1.77AVG From GS Years 97/98- 02/03PTS-8.9 REB-6.8 FG%-43.7 BLK-1.6 TO-1.84AVG From DAL Years 04/05-05/06PTS-7.2 REB-8.1 FG%-52.2 BLK-1.3 TO-1.5He's averaging just about the same as he did in Golden State. Closer to the 97/97-02/03 years than the 04/05 year. See, he wasnt really that great in Golden State, just average. He's playing the same way, but gets a lot more credit as a great center due to the great play of Nowitzki. Now with Diop, its a little bit harder to tell with the stats, but they too are very similar, although we can agree that he really is playing better in Dallas. But what I'm saying is, lets say he was playing like this for the Cavs right now, he wouldn't be getting considered "great" or "good" by any standards. Just marginal or sub-par.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (pjcolpitts? @ Oct 30 2006, 01:09 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>The thing is, Damp really didnt play great in Golden State. He had that great year because it was his contract was up. That year he his averages were all career highs. CONTRACT YEAR03-04PTS-12.3 REB-12.0 FG%-53.0 BLK-1.8 TO-1.77AVG From GS Years 97/98- 02/03PTS-8.9 REB-6.8 FG%-43.7 BLK-1.6 TO-1.84AVG From DAL Years 04/05-05/06PTS-7.2 REB-8.1 FG%-52.2 BLK-1.3 TO-1.5He's averaging just about the same as he did in Golden State. Closer to the 97/97-02/03 years than the 04/05 year. See, he wasnt really that great in Golden State, just average. He's playing the same way, but gets a lot more credit as a great center due to the great play of Nowitzki. Now with Diop, its a little bit harder to tell with the stats, but they too are very similar, although we can agree that he really is playing better in Dallas. But what I'm saying is, lets say he was playing like this for the Cavs right now, he wouldn't be getting considered "great" or "good" by any standards. Just marginal or sub-par.</div>Well, yeah.. He wouldn't get the minutes he does in Dallas, because Big Z is a top 10 center in the NBA. Another reason is because Dallas put him on a diet/workout routine that actually got him in shape. Cleveland did nothing to push him, and he was always kind of fat there. Thirdly, they have Verajoe. Diop would get 10 mpg in Cleveland.About Damp, you are right about that contract year, and that definitely had something to do with his numbers (I had no idea they were 12 and 12 though, wow). But considering his final year in Golden State (contract year or not), he regressed once he came to Dallas. He wasn't as much of a rebounding powerhouse (granted he still grabbed them, but he wasn't as physical as he was in Golden State from what I can remember). His points, I could care less about. That's obviously going to do down considering he's not much of an offensive player and he went from the Warriors (who were even worse then than they are now) to a legit team with offensive stars on it. But he didn't play with the same physicalness or tenacity that he brought in Golden State.
Dude, you forgot Andrea Bargnani and Uros Slokar. It's true though, we dont have a great center rotation. But when you already have Chris Bosh, it doesn't really matter. I find it kind of funny that you neglected to name the Celtics. Youre a homer.
Indiana has Jermaine O'neal, who is playing Center this year, and Jeff Foster and David Harrison backing him up. That's definately top eight, probably higher.
