Okay, obviously I'm subjective. I'm a big Shaquille O'Neal fan. But I've noticed a lot of people looking at Shaq's stats and pointing out his decline and saying he's getting too old to compete (though 20 and 9 last year is not exactly something to sneeze at...). The problem I see is that the new rules in the NBA have made it harder for traditional post players to succeed. Last night there was a stat that in the point leader board for last season out of the top 150 scorers (PPG) only 10% were centers. Defensively wing players can do anything and almost any contact is considered a foul. With guys in the post you can body them all night and not get a call. But if a post player has the ball and is TOO aggressive with his move he easily gets called for a foul. There's definitely more offensive foul calls in the post.So now we're seeing guys like Yao and Amare who are getting their points from more jumpers and quick slashing cuts.Think the league has tied post players hands too much?
I agree to some extent. I also think that some is due to lack of talent of TRUE centers. many centers are converts now. hopefully guys like bynum and oden can bring back the center in a few years. I think the leagues focus will soon be on fairer big man calls. such as the Sheed Wallace clause this year.
Well, at least we have Dwight Howard. Most of his points come from the inside. Same goes for Elton Brand. I know they aren't centers, but they are really inside players.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Fouled Out @ Nov 13 2006, 09:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Wanna know why there are less true centers? The guard became the position that held all the glory.</div>Pretty much... Teams are no longer looking to build from the inside-out like they used to. The NBA is all about flair, Big men can't bring the same excitement a guard can.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nitro1118 @ Nov 14 2006, 02:19 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Not necassarily true....see: Amare Stoudemire.</div>That may be the case but the number of Big Men that are exciting to watch are limited. That's why people make such a big deal about Amare, It's not seen very often from a big guy.I also want to mention that saying Big men are not as excited as guards is not my opinion, I'm just saying most people feel that way.
The problem is that teams are all looking to play small now. Teams like the Mavs with the duo of Terry and Devin and so on. They are looking to play a more up-paced game and that is basically how the Mavs beat the Spurs last season in the playoffs. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Not necassarily true....see: Amare Stoudemire.</div>Thats 1 guy, I don't think you can say watching Yao is more exciting then watching Vince for example, because of their flashy play and high scoring.
