Are we finally going to have league where there will be big men battles again? Look around the league and the younger big men. You have guys like L. Aldridge and Bynum showing potential to be special, as well as established all stars in Bosh and Amare. You also see guys like D Howard and Okafur getting point where they are a force every night (and becoming legitamite all stars) and Eddy Curry seemed to be finally to give a damn. And then there's the best center in the league in Yao. Even the second rung centers aren't too bad, certaintly much better than years past in guys like Kaman, Brad Miller, Big Z and Mehmett Okur. Add to that an aging, but still decent center in Shaq and a phenom name Greg Oden next year, I think we are finally at the edge of the start of a new golden era for big men. I for one can not be more excited.
Does Bosh even play like a big man? Or more like a SF trapped in a PF's body? You don't have big man's game unless you can play with your back to the basket at least some of the time.
Most of those guys you mentioned aren't traditional 'big men', or play like it... I mean come on, guys like Brad, Okur and Bosh can threes... The days of dominant big men are gone when guys like DRob, Ewing, Hakeem etc mixed it up (although Deke's still around to remind people)
You named three dominant centers. Next year there will be Yao, Dwight Howard and Greg Oden. None of them may ever be as good as Hakeem, but all three of those guys are definitely within reach of the Robinson/Ewing level and they'll all be in the league at the same time. So if all it takes is three dominant centers then the days of the dominant big man are back. Amare plays with his back to the basket too, btw - I just don't think he'll ever be dominant again after his microfracture surgery. Besides that, he's more of a power forward in the model of Shawn Kemp than he is a center in the model of Hakeem, Ewing or David Robinson.
I'm hoping that in a few years Yao, Howard, Oden and Bynum will battle it out in the pivot and usher in a new age of great center play. That would be awesome.
It would. Especially if Oden lands in the East. Then you have two dominant centers in the West and two in the East. Nice for some championship rivalries.
Don't think the NBA zone and the hand checking rules will ever allow a roll back to the Big Man era. In this thread only the elite back to the basket C's were memtioned. But there were many other bigs who played the interior banging style and were just under the top tier radar. Robert Parrish, Kevin McHale, Shawn Kemp, Tree Rollins, Kevin Willis, & Brad Daugherty to name a few. Saying that there were 3-4 elites 10-20 years ago and there'll be 3-4 elites next season is misleading. Look below the elites and the older eras had "truer" low post play.
Judging purely on the skills I saw in the tournament last year, if Patrick O'Bryant can get away from Don Nelson, he's got even more potential than Bynum. He already has an 8/10-speed Dream Shake and a pretty good baseline spin.
a) Big Z is as far into the decline as Shaq is, so don't lump him in with any of the others. b) Curry has had short stretches during his career--that's how he has a contract. Don't be fooled by it.. he doesn't really care. c) Bosh has a post game and can use it. He just adapts his game to his defender, who is more often stronger but slower than him. Therefore, he'll face up and do his damage. When his defender is smaller and quicker (a Boris Diaw type), he'll go to the post and score it.
Won't happen. The rules prevent this from the get go. You can just zone up a big man all day, even if he doesn't have the ball.
