Big man and Dirk in the same sentence?? More like overgrown pu$$y with a sweet jumper which disappears when going against quick agile forwards/SG , such as Tmac, Marion, and Bowen. I refuse to call anyone a big man if he gets shut down COMPLETELY by a guard. Bowen ate Dirk alive and excreted german feces on National TV. It was embarassing. It was humiliating. It was also, amusing. If Dirk was a big man, you would think he would post Bowen up and abuse him. Probelm is Dirk does not have a post game.
That's true, but you have to remember that having a great center is better because it is easier to fill the PF slot with a pretty talented player because they are more abundant. It's kind of like the value of a great hitting shortstop in baseball. Arod is so valuable because it is hard to find a guy who can play SS and hit for power. There are tons of slugging 3rd basemen, so it's much easier to get a solid one for less money.
Dirk while he is a good player, is kind of soft.......he shoots too many jumpers for a big man. I would rather have a great center like Yao, Shaq who require double/triple teaming, fouling out the other big men, get to the line, and get dunks and layups, play defense, block shots, rebound and makes his teammates better.
Like I said he's technically a Big Man. He's big, and he's a.... hmm.... maybe not. Well who's to say that all those talented PFs couldn't play center. If you look back on the history of the NBA, the size of centers used to be 6'9" (and sometimes even less) to 6'11", 230-250 lbs, maybe 260 tops. There were some exceptions who were taller, like Kareem, Wilt, Artis Gilmore (who was tall but was an absolute stick), Parish and probably some others that I've missed. But nobody was really massive or bulky. All of these guys who used to play center, Walton, Lanier, Thurmond, Unseld, Cowens, Hayes, Reed etc are approximately the size of guys like Duncan, KG, Amare, Dwight Howard, Okafor, Gasol, Bosh, J. Oneal, Brand, Chander, Randolph etc. We didn't have the massive centers until Shaq bulked up. And then the rest of the league had to put in guys like Longley and Sabonis to even have a chance at slowing Shaq down. Everyone made it seem like Amare was some revolutionary change playing center at 6'10", 245. But he's actually a throwback to the kinds of guys that they used to play at the 5 position. He was so effective because he had explosiveness and skills and was matched up against a league full of big stiffs. And Suns are so good because they can trot out 5 guys with some degree of skill and quickness against teams that play weak "centers". I mean ideally you'd want a 7 footer who's massive with skills, quickness, and athleticism. But they are so rare. There's only been a handful in the history of the league. So I think it's crazy to try and only put guys that fit the current "mold" of a center at the 5 spot. Eventually teams will start playing two "Power Fowards" on their frontline and suddenly start having much more success.
He is without a shadow of a doubt the Numero Uno Center of the league. i've been saying it for months now. with Shaq's graduall decline and his rescent stellar performances, the Mantel of the most DOMINANTE MAN IN THE MIDDEL, belongs to Yao.
So more people have voted "Obviously Eric Dampier, now that Shaq's done" than "Duncan counts, and he's the best"? Unbelivable.
Well, at least Jason Kidd is convinced that Yao Ming is the best centre of the Western Conference !!! In the following interview with Basketball Pioneer, Jason Kidd clarified his highly controversial triple-double in the match with the Rockets, and praised Yao Ming. http://sports.tom.com/2006-03-15/0424/10523582.html[/b][/color] 1. He said he and Jefferson were not intentional/unsportsman to add salts to injury to keep scoring with less than 2 seconds left just to complete his triple-double. He thought Jefferson just wanted some fun to try that long-range shot, but the ball went in. To him and to Jefferson, that attempt was just a fluke. 2. He said Yao Ming has to be the Best Centre of the Western Conference right now, and the only centre in the whole league that can compete one-on-one with Yao Ming is Shaquille O'Neal, but Yao Ming is still young, and he believes Yao Ming will further develop to become a NBA legend as Hakeem Olajuwon.
