SPORTSCENTER: JACK RAMSEY'S TOP 10 CENTERS OF ALL TIME

Your right DavidS.

My favorite of all time is Charles Jones.

 

Who's on your top ten list?

Greatest Center...

 

Believe me, Charles Jones is not one of them.

 

I think just about all of us can agree that the top 5 centers in NBA history were (in alphabetical order):

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Wilt Chamberlain
Hakeem Olajuwon
Shaquille O'neill
Bill Russell

Given that, it seems like trying to determine this order is just an expression of opinion rather than assertion of fact. However, Wilt's individual numbers and Russell's team achievements are absolutely staggering! Still, once we get beyond this fact, this topic becomes repetitive.

P.S. If we are truly considering the greatest centers ever to play basketball (as opposed to greatest NBA centers), then I would agree that Arvydas Sabonis should be somewhere in the top 10 or at least top 15-20. Many European players who actually saw him play or played against him in his prime (i.e., Vlade Divac) say that he might have been the greatest PLAYER ever. While I doubt that, he does qualify as among the game's best centers of all time.

 

Russell is not top 5 and Cowens is not top 10 or even top 20.

My list:

1. Kareem
2. Wilt
3. Shaq
4. Dream
5. Moses Malone
6. Big E
7. Tim Duncan
8. David Robinson
9. Russell
10. Lanier

Remember Big E at the beginning of his career played center for the Rockets and was the second best center in the league behind Kareem.

Shaq will overtake Wilt before it is all said and done. Duncan should also gain some ground.

 

No Worries your list just doesn't stack up mainly because if you are going to call someone the best of all time it would seem appropriate to have them play a majority of their career at that position. The Big E would then fight it out with K.Malone for the PF position but not the Center position. Same goes for Duncan.
Cowens wasn't an all-star shot blocker but he was tough as nails, could shoot with range and was a tenacious rebounder and defender.
I do like your Lanier pick though. A very underrated guy who was big, tough and could shoot the rock from outside. A much better ballplayer than the overrated W.Reed IMO. Unfortunately for him you didn't get to see him play much until the end of his career with Milwaukee when he played with Moncrief (sp?) and Marques Johnson. But he was a beast with Detroit. They just didn't have a squad to put around him except for maybe Dave Bing. He was another guy who was an all around ballplayer and if I'm not mistaken he used to own the biggest pair of shoes you ever seen in his day. I think they were size 23's As for a little history lesson he and Calvin used to have a monster rivalry in College. The 2 schools St.Bonaventure and Niagara had their greatest days in the sun when those 2 played with Calvin being the 2nd leading scorer in College his sophomore and junior seasons only to another no-namer Pistol Pete Maravich I can't remember where Calvin ended up his senior year but I do remember his scoring went down but the team wins skyROCKETed that year. He would put on baton twirling shows at halftime of the Niagara Purple Eagle games. He was more amazing with the baton than he was with a basketball and that should tell you something right there.

 

No Worries your list just doesn't stack up mainly because if you are going to call someone the best of all time it would seem appropriate to have them play a majority of their career at that position. The Big E would then fight it out with K.Malone for the PF position but not the Center position. Same goes for Duncan.
Cowens wasn't an all-star shot blocker but he was tough as nails, could shoot with range and was a tenacious rebounder and defender. I do like your Lanier pick though.
How many NBA teams would play Duncan at the 4? When Big E was with the Bullets, how many other teams would have played E at the 4?

When Robinson leaves, Duncan will become the Spurs 5 (until he bolts for greener pastures).

How many times is E is listed as one of the greatest 4s of all time? People seem to remember best his glory days in college and first four years as a pro with the San Diego and Houston Rockets. In those years, he played the 5 and put up phenomenal numbers. Since E did not play one position his whole career appears to put him at a disadvantage wrt all time lists.

Dave Cowens was a thug. He played the exact same game as Lambier. IMO Lambier was the better player (and he got ranked 20th). Cowens' stature (and to a certain extent Russell's) benefited greatly from wearing the Celtic green.

 

Ah! Don't worry... Yao's name will come along sooner or later...

 

probobly later. it takes time to match up with the top 5 guys on that list.

 

Leme put it this way:

Chamberlain was to the NBA as Yao Ming was to the CBA. Sometimes even MORE dominant.

There is no way Chamberlain shouldn't be the greatest PLAYER of all time, much less the greatest center. He did whatever his team needed. He could pass, rebound, score,and play D. He CHANGED the game. You could maybe make a case for Jabaar, but not a strong one. Russel was a great, but he only won all those rings cuz of help from his cast. Wilt made him look bad. If Shaq played in the Dream/Ewing/Zo/Mutumbo/DRob era, he wouldn't be nearly as dominate as he is againt the Divac/Nesterovic/BWallace/RWallace undesized-center hero. Like Shaq said himself, he's "the last of the dinosours" (he means true centers.

1- Wilt
2 - Kareem
3- Russel
4/5 - Dream/Shaq (tie)
6- Moses Malone
7- DRob
8- MiKan
9 - Ewing
10- Cowens

 

I actually agree with Ramsey... sorry to say.

Russell had the crazy kind of NBA success that no one has come close to except Michael Jordan. He absolutely dominated his era.
Plus he was the only one that could contend with Wilt.

Wilt put up probably the best personal numbers by a single player in the history of the game. Leading the league in assists, the 100 point game, he was ridiculous.

Shaq is dominating our era. Whether you like him or not, he's bigger, stronger, faster, and has better skills (cept Duncan) than any other center in the league. (but he's still bigger, stronger, and faster than Duncan)

Kareem forced RULE-CHANGES. He was a freak. He won a lot. He was in a bad ninja movie. Be nice to him. I might put him in front of Shaq.

Hakeem was better than any other center in his day. He had early success with Sampson, team issues later, and then a big payday with the championships. He showed a center could dominate with finesse. The only player you might want to put him over in this list is Shaq, and that's just sour grapes.

 

I think ESPN's User Raning of top 25 is pretty accurate.
My top 5 centers fo all time are:
1. Wilt (the stilt)
2.Kareem (sky_hooking ninja )
3.Bill Russel (have no nickname for him)
4.Shaq (the diesel)
5.Hakeem (the dream)

Please consider that I did not watch these players play in their prime (exept for shaq)