While I agree that center's aren't what they used to be, to say that the fact Dampier is in demand is evidence of it is ridiculous. Does he not remember Jim McIlvaine getting his ridiculous contract? Shawn Bradley? Even when there were a dozen quality centers in the league, there was still a shortage of quality big men and anybody over 7 foot tall with a pulse was still getting big money.
The last real dominant center was Shaq, and when Shaq was at his prime there was no one that could defend him. It was always a drag have him just beast on anyone and everyone. The year of the Yao, oh what a hopeful year; We saw a game changer, legend to be, made an ass kisser out of that blob we got in 97', & made Shaq eat his own **** talk along with all the other doubters, but we all know how the story has panned out on Yao. Still full of hope, yet full of frustration. Dwight is the number one Center in the league, and see him developing to be the most dominant in this generation. Yeah you still have great young centers out there, Al Jefferson, Bynum, Perkins, Marc Gasol, Noah, David Lee, Horford, etc... There is potential in these centers have potential but won't develop to be dominant. Anyways what I'm leading to is this story out of India, I don't know if this has been made a thread or has been discussed. "The Yao effect" Bringing the BIGGEST star in china to the NBA, revenue sky rocketed, fan base grew by the millions, well billions. India is a country full of people, and not a very big NBA market, but there's is a 14 year old kid that the NBA will have their eye on for the next 5 years. http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/hopes+seven+foot+year+iceberg/3533015/story.html Quodos to the boys at ********** for the link and nice read.
Marc Gasol out of that list looks to be the most legit and promising traditional C. Bynum is overrated and injured, Jefferson is to soft as is horford. Perkins is a very good defensive big, but even he is overrated..
These two bolded statements are contradictory. The fact that Dampier has become in demand is not because the game has become fast-paced. It's because there is a dearth of talent at the 5. So as long as they can at least rebound and block shots, any center is in demand, especially if he's the second best in the L like Dampier. Size still matters (as the Lakers have shown the last 2 years). The game has become fast-paced because there aren't many good bigs these days.
its a guard league now, with no hand checking, its easy for guards to drive in the lane and create or get fouled. now you can zone a big man like yao...where you front him and put a "safety" defender behind him for help in case he beats the fronting defense. in the 90s that would have been an illegal defense.
