Did not see it posted. Is the old time center a dying breed? Are we overly excited about Yao? link ========================================================= Posted 3/7/2006 2:11 AM Updated 3/7/2006 2:19 AM Top centers are new breed By David DuPree, USA TODAY The role of the NBA center has been diminished as the game has become more open and ruled by multi-dimensional perimeter players. The Suns acquired deft-passing Boris Diaw figuring he would back up point guard Steve Nash. By Tony Gutierrez, AP Only one center, Pau Gasol of Memphis, is among the league's top 20 scorers — and he is 20th with a 20.2 average going into Monday's games. Of the 30 starting centers in the league, 14 don't even have scoring averages in double figures. (Related item: Ranking the centers) When USA Basketball on Sunday announced its 23-man roster from which the 2006 World Championships and 2008 Olympic teams will be chosen, only one true center was on the list —Brad Miller of Sacramento. Shaquille O'Neal of Miami has been issued an invitation but has yet to commit. "We may not have the typical post man, but there aren't any of those guys in the country — except Shaq," says Jerry Colangelo, managing director of USA Basketball. Only a few teams use a traditional, conventional low-post center. Most of them prefer a more versatile player who can make a medium-range jump shot, handle the basketball and run the floor — such as Gasol, Miller, Boris Diaw of the Phoenix Suns and Marcus Camby of the Denver Nuggets. Other teams, such as the Detroit Pistons with Ben Wallace and Dallas Mavericks with DeSagana Diop, use centers as primarily a defensive presence. Only three teams — Miami with O'Neal, the Houston Rockets with Yao Ming and Cleveland Cavaliers with Zydrunas Ilgauskas— really have the old-time center, who is a dominant inside force and seldom ventures far from the basket or plays facing it. With a different focus on the role of the center, Diaw, who can play all five positions, comes out as the top center using a USA TODAY rating system that ranks the centers from each of the 30 teams against each other. Every category from durability to free throw shooting is measured and weighted equally. Diaw, who became the Suns' starting center only four games ago after an injury to Kurt Thomas, had been the starting power forward and was playing about 20 minutes as the backup center, as well. At 6-8, he is the shortest starting center in the league. He has two triple-doubles this season and is the best ballhandling center in the league, averaging 5.9 assists. When the Suns acquired Diaw this summer in the trade that sent Joe Johnson to Atlanta, coach Mike D'Antoni envisioned him as Steve Nash's backup at point guard. "He's so incredibly versatile," D'Antoni said. "On one end, we run the offense through him like he's a point guard, and on defense, we stick him on the biggest guy. It's a real burden for other teams to find a matchup for him." Diaw, who plays on the French national team with Tony Parker of the Spurs, prefers to play against guys his own size instead of the likes of the 7-6 Yao or 7-1 O'Neal. But he says he is eager to do whatever the Suns need of him. "I'm playing against some really big guys," he says, "but I'm getting used to it." Ranking the centers How the results were derived: The current starting center or the player who plays the most minutes at the position from each of the 30 teams were ranked against each other in 10 statistical categories. Name, team PPG Blk Stl Ast Reb FT% FG% 3FGM Durability Win% Total Boris Diaw, Phoenix 9 16 5 1 16 10 12 4 1 4 78 Pau Gasol, Memphis 2 5 8 3 9 16 22 5 1 8 79 Ben Wallace, Detroit 21 4 1 5 1 30 15 7 1 1 86 Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Cleveland 5 8 9 13 14 2 17 7 10 7 92 Marcus Camby, Denver 7 1 2 6 2 11 23 6 27 12 97 Mehmet Okur, Utah 4 19 13 4 8 5 26 2 1 17 99 Chris Kaman, L.A. Clippers 12 11 15 15 6 8 9 7 15 6 104 Brad Miller, Sacramento 6 26 4 2 13 1 18 3 18 17 108 Yao Ming, Houston 1 10 14 9 4 4 16 7 27 19 111 Shaquille O'Neal, Miami 3 7 22 8 7 29 1 7 26 5 115 The others: 11, Samuel Dalembert, Philadelphia, 125. 12, P.J. Brown, New Orleans/Oklahoma City, 137. 13 (tie), Brendan Haywood, Washington, and Zaza Pachulia, Atlanta, 144. 15, Mark Blount, Minnesota, 146. 16, Tyson Chandler, Chicago, 153. 17, Jamaal Magloire, Milwaukee, 155. 18, Nenad Krstic, New Jersey, 156. 19, Chris Mihm, L.A. Lakers, 162. 20, Jeff Foster, Indiana, 167. 21, Raef LaFrentz, Boston, 168. 22, Nazr Mohammed, San Antonio, 170. 23, Tony Battie, Orlando, 171. 24, DeSagana Diop, Dallas, 172. 25, Joel Przybilla, Portland, 173. 26, Eddy Curry, New York, 176. 27, Adonal Foyle, Golden State, 181. 28, Primoz Brezec, Charlotte, 190. 29, Robert Swift, Seattle, 209. 30, Rafael Araujo, Toronto, 258. Category key: PPG — points per game; Blk — blocked shots; Stl — steals; Ast — assists; Reb — rebounds; FT% — free throw percentage; FG% — field goal percentage; 3FGM — three-point shots made per game; Durability —% of team's games played in; Win% — team winning percentage. Related advertising links What's this? Place your ad here Subscribe Today: Home Delivery of USA TODAY - Save 35% USATODAY.com partners: USA Weekend Sports Weekly Education Space.com Home Travel News Money Sports Life Tech Weather Resources: Mobile news Site map FAQ Contact us E-mail news Jobs with us Internships Terms of service Privacy policy Media kit Press room Electronic print edition Reprints and Permissions Add USATODAY.com RSS feeds © Copyright 2006 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
Just look at the ranking at the end of the article, the author is plain stupid. There is no other way to put it.
Are you bleeping kidding me. We may be a tad bit overly exicted about Yao because he may not be able keep up his incredible production. But this notion that he's less valuable because the center position sucks and is transforming with smaller, athletes is insane. Fact: If Yao keeps up his current production for the next few years, the league is F***ed. And the only reason why Yao isn't higher on this list is because he's missed a bunch of games and the Rockets have a poor record as a result. Not to mention the fact that their methodology in determining the best center is essentially using Fantasy points. Players with a wide range of stats gets a higher ranking than a guy that's superior in one or two categories. This article tells us nothing.
Its funny that they say that Pau Gasol is the leads centers in ppg, but then they have Yao ranked above him on the chart. The fact that Yao and Shaq are ranked last in those ratings means these guys are morons. Yeah, I am sure that every GM in the league would take all those players over Shaq and Yao Also they should take into account how many of their teammates it takes to guard the opposing center. Diaw might think hes a badass for keeping Yao below his averages but he needs the help of 2 other guys to do it.
A far better thing to do is looking at how he ranked it. Here's Diaw: he's 9th in the league (among centres) in PPG, 16th in blocks, 5th in steals... 4th in win % (which isn't adjusted for games missed btw) So he's total score is 9 + 16 + 5 + ... + 4 = 78. The lowest overall ranking score. I have to say David DuPree takes making false conclusions with stats to a whole new (and probably a never achievable again) level. I think it's pretty safe to say he's a moron.
It only means Yao is that much more of a mismatch for other teams. Incidentally, I think this is basically BS. They name Yao, Ilgauskas and Shaq as the only traditional centers in the league, as if historically centers were all 7'2"+ 300 lbs +. I don't know when people started thinking that, but it must have been when everybody started gravitating towards gargantuan centers to try to put a stop to Shaq. Pre-Shaq, it was Hakeem, David Robinson and Ewing, all of whom were 6'10-6'11 and around 250 pounds. And if you look at all of the greatest centers of all time, only Shaq and Kareem were taller than 7 foot. Bill Russell was what? 6'8? George Mikan was like 6'10 or 6'11 too if I'm not mistaken. Anyway, there are plenty of traditional centers in the league. Most of them aren't that great, but they're traditional centers anyway. For whatever reason, most of the star players that would have been centers 10 and 15 years ago are playing power forward now, and some of them, like Dirk and Kevin Garnett, are definitely launching some threes, but not all of them. Tim Duncan, Jermaine O'neil, Dwight Howard, Amare Stoudamire and Chris Bosh are all examples of guys who would have been centers 15 years ago, and none of them would have been considered undersized if Shaq never came along. That's my opinion anyway.
Formatted stats: Code: Name PPG Blk Stl Ast Reb FT% FG% 3FGM Durab Win% Total Diaw 9 16 5 1 16 10 12 4 1 4 78 Gasol 2 5 8 3 9 16 22 5 1 8 79 Wallace 21 4 1 5 1 30 15 7 1 1 86 Big Z 5 8 9 13 14 2 17 7 10 7 92 Camby 7 1 2 6 2 11 23 6 27 12 97 Okur 4 19 13 4 8 5 26 2 1 17 99 Kaman 12 11 15 15 6 8 9 7 15 6 104 Miller 6 26 4 2 13 1 18 3 18 17 108 Yao 1 10 14 9 4 4 16 7 27 19 111 O'Neal 3 7 22 8 7 29 1 7 26 5 115
Let see, we will trade Boris D. to another team without S. Nash or the Matrix, or the offensive set of the Suns, & see if he can be truly be the best center in the league. I DOUBT IT!!!!!
...the author's ranking is assinine (misspelling intended) I'll take a true center like Yao/Shaq/Ilgauskas over Diaw any day, especially in a 7 game series.
The way they rank the players is kinda moronic, isn't it? 3FGM is a factor of ranking the centers? ROFL And who is authoritive enough to grade the durability of each player? Winning % of his team...I think they also count the games in which the players didn't even play in due to injury. Is it kinda stupid?
Steals and 3PT field goals are not important center stats. The author of this article was trying to use statistics that would make his article seem relavent. I don't buy any of it. However, Diaw does deserve more credit. He's making the best of a bad big-man situation for Phoenix. Yao ranked 9th and Shaq 10th? At center? And you want me to believe that your stats are well researched and useful? Oldgunrules, thanks for letting us read an example of how not to write a sports article.
I dont know a human being could be stupid like this. And Boris Diaw is not playing center. There is no center position ever in this Phoenix lineup.
Those categories should have been weighted to better reflect their individual importane for the center position. Saying that rebounding and three point percentage is of equal importance for a center is ridiculous. Being on a team with a poor record shouldn't drag a player down. They don't completely control that.
These guys must be talking about fantasy basketball. That's the problem with fantasy sports. I like them and I'm in a couple of leagues, but you can't judge players by their fantasy stats. I doubt these guys even watch the games.
