Who should start as center for the western conference next year?

Al Jefferson should...but I doubt he gets voted in...I'm guessing Duncan, Gasol, or Stoudamire.

 

There's really no good/true centers in the West any more. The rest are your PF/C blends, such as Duncan, Nowitzki, Jefferson, and Gasol.

Gasol will get the nod due to notoriety.

 

This is the reason why Yao is still the cornerstone of the team. Despite His injuries, The center position is not really deep for the entire league. If you have an All-Star center, it is best to secure until a replacement comes along.

 

If Yao makes the ballot, it will be Al Jefferson. Yao will still be voted the starting Center and the commissioner's office will have to appoint a new Center and clearly Jefferson is a cut above unless Bynum or Biedrins finally get some solid consistency in the first half of the season. Ming got 2 million votes more than 3rd place Bynum and that's with Bynum having a bit of a breakout early in the season last year. Yao fans will continue to vote for him as long as he is on the ballot. If he doesn't make the ballot than it's probably going to be Bynum which is really a shame because Big Al is a much better more consistent player.


Here is last year's voting for WC Centers with Shaq and Yao bolded to show they don't be options:
Yao Ming (Hou) 2,532,958
Shaquille ONeal (Pho) 1,850,018
Andrew Bynum (LAL) 549,131
Mehmet Okur (Utah) 437,106
Greg Oden (Por) 359,318
Andris Biedrins (GS) 357,984
Al Jefferson (Minn) 310,643
Tyson Chandler (NO) 242,356
Chris Kaman (LAC) 231,928
Marcus Camby (LAC) 158,491
Nick Collison (OKC) 154,309

 

Bynum is going to open up a lot of eyes this season.

 

Hakeem Olajuwon

 

Andris Biedrins?

 

Internet folks constantly undervalue Kaman and Bedrins, probably the two best true centers in the West other than Yao. Bynum is too inconsistent and all the other names mentioned have spent their careers avoiding the burden of matching up against the other center.

 

BIEDRINS???

If he even comes close to an NBA all star selection my head might explode.

Atleast Kaman and some of the others discussed (Amare, Jefferson, and even Bynum) have some skill in the low post.

 

However, they are actually power forwards, or they are Andrew Bynum.

 

It will be whoever the Chinese people as a whole choose to play center.......

Maybe there can be some way to get Chuck Hayes, if he ends up starting for us, on the ballot. Heh, heh, heh.

__________________

boom goes the dynamite

 

Perhaps they should play at least some of the season before we decide who deserves the spot. Just a radical thought.

 

Biedrins could deserve an All Star selection--we'll see how he does this year. The guy is a rebounding beast.

 

Al Jefferson.

 

It's frustrating because it used to be that Centers were all back to the basket players and now there are very few left in the league(Yao, Shaq, Dwight). The PFs were normally high post face up players. Duncan is a faceup player with a very good back to the basket game. Jefferson is really the only other true low post player left in the game outside of the 3 mentioned above. I think he deserves an all star game start if Yao is out. He's a beast inside - 2nd in inside scoring next to Howard but he doesn't dunk much which makes the fact he has a higher percentage inside even more impressive.

http://www.82games.com/0809/FGSORT15.HTM

 

It should be Jefferson. He is a beast.

The Clippers have 3 guys (Kaman/Camby/Griffin) who can play center that could make it to start. They will probably have Kaman/Camby on the ballot, both of which should be interesting.

Given that Antonio McDyess and DaJuan Blair are both true PFs, there is a very good chance that Duncan can play center this year, and if he is listed as a center on the ballot (tho I don't think he will be due to the fact that the ballot is written usually at the beginning of the year with positions based on previous year), he probably will deserve/get the nod. Even Amare, if he is listed at center, would be an interesting choice.

Gasol will be listed as a PF as Bynum is there. And Bynum is nowhere near as consistent as Al.



Honestly tho, I wouldn't be shocked if Yao gets voted in despite not playing a game.

 

Can Yao actually get voted in as a starter?

 

Well, they generally consider guys projected to play center all season long as centers. I understand, there are very few true centers (I don't think Biedrins fits the mold, anyway) - but we can't just throw anybody in the allstar game just because they're a "true center". If he's one of the first that comes to mind then DoD was right, it's time to rethink NBA positions.

But that's only one of the few things he does well and even that is exaggerated by the pace his team plays at.

 

al jefferson should start, but i believe that it will be bynum since LA will get a lot of focus and he should be playing good ball after fulling healing up over the summer.

 

A lot of people said Al Jefferson. I would say this too because he is truest center in the West but he is coming off a torn ACL injury.

I'm leaning towards Duncan if they list at him at C on the ballot.