I believe the NBA changing to a more guard oriented league is why the Center position will become obsolete once Shaq retires. Shaq and Yao are the more traditional centers. Since the illegal defence has been eliminated the NBA has allowed as many players in the paint as possible guarding centers. In the Hakeem days centers were given a chance to play by illegal defenses being called when double and triple teams would clog the paint. Due to Shaq's success and dominance the NBA was forced to get rid of the illegal defence calls and now teams simply clog the paint and front on centers. That combined with fouls being ignored in the paint and touch fouls being called on the perimeter is why Yao will continue to develop slowly. Amare, Timmy D, Garnett will benefit and be the typical Center/Power Forward molds the NBA wants. Yao and Shaq (one dimensional Centers) will suffer. I know some of Yao's problems are self inflicted but he is confused by the rules, when to be aggressive, when to ease off on defence. He's in a no win situation. Again, just my 2 cents.
I couldn't get past the part where you call Yao a traditional center. Outside of size, how is he a traditional center? He doesn't really excel at rebounding, he doesn't have a great low-post game, he prefers fadeaway jumpers (or so it seems anyway), and he's not a banger.
When I think of a traditional center, I think of the biggest guys on the floor, of pivot men in the post, and of defensive anchors. I think Yao is all of those things. I don't think he prefers fadeaways. It's just that this year, without T-Mac as a running mate, he's not finding as many easy scoring opportunities as he did last year, and so he can score solely from his work in the post. Problem with that is that when he gets good low post position, hes being fronted and/or double and triple teamed. He has to set up much further out in order to get only one defender on his back and his only options are spin baseline or fadeaway for a 12 foot jumper. This year 48% of his shots have been jumpshots, whereas last year, only 43% were.
He's a traditional center because that's what Van Gundy wants him to be and what Van Gundy forces him to play.
