You have to be on the court to be better. A guy missing from your list would be Cousins. Right now, Tyson Chandler is probably the #1 guy despite no offensive game.
I'm eating a BIG BOWL of crow in regards to this guy. I thought the signing was awful at the time and he has proven to be an excellent signing for Morey (in fact now I wish the deal was longer, he will be expensive when he's up again). Keep in mind this is the first time the guy has ever started and played significant minutes. IMO he's a top 10 center NOW and going into next year I would say top 5.
Definitely Top 10 PPG - 8th FG% - 7th FT% - 12th ORPG - 5th DRPG - 1st RPG - T-1st APG - 11th TO - 3rd with most TO per game SPG - 9th BPG - 11th Personal Fouls - 14th with most PF per game Definitely Top 10 Center
I think he's top 10, in terms of his actual production this year and also his trade value. Edit: In light of meh's post, I'll amend to top 15. He mentioned some players I wasn't considering.
You have to define "center" first because there is a fuzzy line between centers and power forwards nowadays.
Defense is more important than offense from the center position. I'd much rather have a rim protector like Asik than a pure scorer like Al Jefferson.
Never ever ever would I trade Asik for Lopez. You can value the 18 points a game as much as you want but I prefer Asik who is not just better but a superior defender to to Lopez. How many Rockets points started from a fast break created by an Asik defensive rebound and outlet pass? A ton. If you really think because Lopez averages 1 block a game more than Asik that he is even in the same galaxy as Asik on the defensive end then you just don't recognize defense when you see it. By the way, Lopez still seems to be allergic to rebounds. Asik does not block as many shots as Noah but he is every bit as good of a defender. If Noah is better than Asik let him prove it on the court, he has failed in two tries. In the same system Asik was a better defender than Noah. Not debatable.
all we have to know is that when those guys you've listed(except howard) go up against Asik, they get sought and destroyed and their fg% drops below their average. all your rebounds are belong to asik!
I put him top 10. 1)Dwight 2)Tim Duncan 3)M.Gasol 4)Tyson C. 5)Noah 6)Greg Monroe 7)Asik 8)B.Lopez 9) Pekovic Bynum is a wild card, but he's never healthy so I wouldn't know where to put him. I don't count Al Jefferson as a C, but if you do he'd probably be just outside the top 5. Note: I did this without a list so I probably missed someone.
Your list is fine, and I don't mean to come off disrespectful but... LOL at even mentioning Kosta Koufus.
It's interesting that Chandler and Noah are put higher on different lists. Maybe there are some advanced stats that say that they are better than him, but on the eye test, I'd actually rate Asik higher than them for what I think a center should ideally do. Offensively, they have similar capabilities and their offense is not the reason they're considered good centers so it's all about their defense and rebounding. Chandler and Noah are great defensive players. But their real strength is their ability to move their feet and cover a lot of territory down low, while also being able to keep people honest out to 18 ft on the switch. Omer does this really well too with surprisingly quick feet. But what those other two aren't very good at is post-defense, especially against bigs that can knock them off-balance. When Bynum is playing in the post, those two are out-matched and need a double team. Omer has the ability to play straight up on those guys. Also, I would put him over Lopez too. Obviously Lopez is a better offensive player, but the guy rebounding is embarassingly poor for a center. Omer rebounds better than all three of those guys and grabs more than 50% more than Lopez. I'd rather have a center that is an elite rebounder and passable scorer than a good scorer, but poor rebounder.
NBA is more about defense. While Asik may have the slight edge on defense over Noah and Chandler, the other two are miles ahead of Asik on offense. Last year in NY Jeremy Lin was able to lob the ball up and have Chandler jump and throw it down? This year? Asik can't even catch the ball on the ground, let alone in the air. Noah is the best passing center in the NBA and plays up at the top of the key so he can get a better view of the play. Asik? We're lucky he can pass, let alone run a play. There's your answer.
Well Lopez has the second highest PER among centers thus far, and puts up 22 and 9 per 36 compared to Asik's 12 and 14. And yes when the block leaders are separated by tenths of a point average, an additional 1 per game is pretty significant. Asik alters a lot of shots, true, but to act like Asik's defensive presence is enough to offset the huge disparity in every offensive stat available, thats just not true. For the money Asik is a he'll of a value, and is probably my favorite player on this team cause I love big guys who pound the glass, but to argue Asik is a better Center then Lopez is a bad argument. And if you base your argument on who is a better player by lookin at two games, as you are with Noah, then I don't know what to tell you. Noah is averaging almost 5 assists a game, and his ability to play defense or get a rebound and start the break far exceeds Asik's. 5 assists a game, on top of having similar season averages. And Noah got defensive second team last year, so unless Asik makes second team this year, which I don't see happening, then every voter for that award disagrees with your statement. Like I said, Asik is probably my favorite player on this team, but he really isn't better then either one of those guys as of now. In 3 or 4 years, maybe, but not right now.
