It's that time of year again, where upside and potential are mentioned as much as proven talent. And what you hear the most often during the period in between the lottery and the draft, specifically about athletic big men, is that they're not NBA ready but they will be a star eventually. The refrain that big men take longer to develop is mentioned ad infinitum, and I decided to check and see if that was true by looking at the rookie season of each and every all-nba first team center in the history of the game.Amare Stoudamire - Rookie of the year his first season, 20-10 player his second seasonShaq - As a rookie averaged 23-14-3.5Zo - As a rookie averaged 21-10-3.5Hakeem - Averaged 21-11-3 as a rookieDavid Robinson - Averaged 24-12-4-2 right off the batEwing - as a rookie averaged 20-9-2 and won ROYKareem - Averaged 29-15 as a rookieMoses Malone - Averaged 19-15-2 as a 19 year old rookieWalton - 13-13-5-3, and more or less was at his peak (just playing a small amount of minutes, hence the lowered stats)Elvin Hayes - Put up 28 points and 17 rebounds per game as a rookieWillis Reed - Averaged 20-15 as a rookieWes Unseld - Peaked as a rookie, winning the MVPWilt Chamberlain - Averaged 38-27 as a rookie and won the MVPBill Russell - Won a championship as a rookie as the main manBob Pettit - All NBA first team as a rookieDolph Schayes - All-NBA as a rookieGeorge Mikan - the champion and league's leading scorer as a rookie.There you have it, every single all NBA first team center in the history of the game had a stellar promising rookie season.
The thing is, big men today just put on 50 or more lbs of muscle and are put on the court. Hence 7 fotter 275 lb andrew bynum who has no fundamental skills. Also, add Tim Duncan to that list:1997-98 All Star 1997-98 Rookie of the Year 1997-98 All Defense Second Team 1997-98 All NBA First Team 1997-98 All Rookie First Team All in his Rookie Year dammit.
Big men generally do take longer to develope. The transition from HS to college is hard for most bigmen because they lived off their size for years and when they go to college, they face more equal players and have to be more fundamental and learn the basics.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (RaptorFan#1 @ May 28 2007, 02:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>The thing is, big men today just put on 50 or more lbs of muscle and are put on the court. Hence 7 fotter 275 lb andrew bynum who has no fundamental skills. Also, add Tim Duncan to that list:1997-98 All Star 1997-98 Rookie of the Year 1997-98 All Defense Second Team 1997-98 All NBA First Team 1997-98 All Rookie First Team All in his Rookie Year dammit.</div>wow, never realized he did all that in his rookie season.But theres recent players like Dwight Howard, Yao Ming, Chris Bosh whos rookie seasons werent all that great..but now people are starting to say they might become great and legednary players.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (RaptorFan#1 @ May 28 2007, 12:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>The thing is, big men today just put on 50 or more lbs of muscle and are put on the court. Hence 7 fotter 275 lb andrew bynum who has no fundamental skills. Also, add Tim Duncan to that list:1997-98 All Star 1997-98 Rookie of the Year 1997-98 All Defense Second Team 1997-98 All NBA First Team 1997-98 All Rookie First Team All in his Rookie Year dammit.</div>I was just doing centers, duncan may be a center but he's never been the All-NBA center<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Big men generally do take longer to develope. The transition from HS to college is hard for most bigmen because they lived off their size for years and when they go to college, they face more equal players and have to be more fundmental and learn the basics.</div>Maybe, but clearly not great big men, which is what I've heard. It's absurd to expect somebody like Andrew Bynum or somebody on that ilk to become a superstar because it's unprecedented.
There's no doubt in my mind that Oden could be just as good as these players even if his rookie season is about 14 -10 - 3
The reason bigmen take longer to develop is because being a post player in today's NBA is a nightly power-struggle. Guys don't come into the league at the size they need to be and have to fill out before stronger veterans stop dominating them. Everyone pre-Ewing on your list played in a day where players weren't as big and size wasn't sch a huge deal. Everyone post-Ewing on your list came into the league with a great body and played throughout their career as the tank they came into the league as.
Pesty, I don't want to do this for PF's, but if you would want to that'd be great. I say that because there are a LOT more PF prospects out there than centers, especially this year. And besides, this is only taking into account the All-NBA superstars. This doesn't mean that a raw 19-20 year old can't be a hell of a player in 3 years or so. Jermaine O'Neal took 5 years to average double-figures in scoring, now he's a legit 20/10 guy and also one of the better defenders in the post. Zach Randolph started off slow, he's now a legit 20/10 option.All this does is show you how the all-time greats started off. Everybody develops at a different pace and everybody has different expectations. You don't have to be an All-NBA 1st team player to be an outstanding player in the NBA. That's why I don't think this is very relevant (though interesting).EDIT: By the way, how much longer do you have to wear that username?
Yeah, that's another thing. There's an old saying that you can make a poll say anything you want. This is a great example. For every guy on that list, there's 5 who didn't develop.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>EDIT: By the way, how much longer do you have to wear that username?</div>are you kidding? I wear this username with pride. I don't intend to get rid of it any time soon......Nah, I can get rid of it after the finals.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (RaptorFan#1 @ May 28 2007, 02:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>The thing is, big men today just put on 50 or more lbs of muscle and are put on the court. Hence 7 fotter 275 lb andrew bynum who has no fundamental skills. Also, add Tim Duncan to that list:1997-98 All Star 1997-98 Rookie of the Year 1997-98 All Defense Second Team 1997-98 All NBA First Team 1997-98 All Rookie First Team All in his Rookie Year dammit.</div>Tim Duncan went to college for four years, unlike Oden. He scored only 9.8 ppg in his freshman year, while scoring 20.8 ppg in his senior year. I don't really see how that supports the point of not needing time to develop. It seems to support the opposite.
