HoopsHype.com Columns

No middle ground for centers
by Chad Rader / September 17, 2002

With Patrick Ewing announcing his retirement from the game, you can click around the Internet and read stories about his standing among the all-time centers in NBA history.

Along with a story, readers could rank their top 25 centers of all-time. Russell. Shaq. Chamberlain. Abdul-Jabbar. The foursome easily comprised the top four spots, in that order for me.

Then I kept ranking the rest of the names. Dave Cowens in the top 25 ever? Arvydas Sabonis – do European stats count? I couldn’t believe the bottom five I was selecting.

Then it really dawned on me. In the last 10 years, fans have been blessed with the Big Five of Shaq, Ewing, The Dream, The Admiral and ‘Zo. But suddenly, with Ewing hanging up the sneakers, Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson near their final year and Alonzo Mourning shelved for the 2002-03 season, a question arises.

Who is just the second-best center in the league today?

After Shaq, the question does leave a fan scratching their heads. Who is number two? Definitely a good question, but a not-so-good answer.

Well, for starters, we need to toss out Tim Duncan, who plays both power forward and center. Otherwise, the argument would be very brief and no one wants to dare think of searching for a third-best.

Now, just wade through the starters in the league and it doesn’t take long to cross them off with a simple agenda.

No points, then no point

Tony Battie. Todd MacCulloch. Brendan Haywood. Eddy Curry. Ervin Johnson. The Dream. And don’t forget the Atlanta tower tandem of Nazr Mohammed and Theo Ratliff.

All eliminated. If you can’t average double digits in scoring, you are automatically out. This also tosses out such power forwards converted to centers such as Portland’s Dale Davis, Golden State’s Erick Dampier and Utah’s Jarron Collins.

What’s in a name?

Cleveland’s Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Minnesota’s Radoslav Nesterovic and the Suns’ Iakovos Tsakalidis resemble a conglomeration of dropped Scramble tiles in their names. Oh yeah - besides their name, they need work on their game.

Wipe this class clean

Okay, so they average double digits, but to be the league’s second-best center, the man in the middle has to post 10 or more rebounds per contest. Normally, this would be assessed a career average, but in today’s game, let’s just settle for last year.

With this standard, a long carom out of bounds goes to New York’s Kurt Thomas, Indiana’s Brad Miller and Memphis’ Lorenzen Wright.

And simplifying things, even Michael Olowokandi (8.9), Raef LaFrentz (8.2) and Vlade Divac (9.3) bid adieu, despite being the top candidates behind his Royal Shaqness.

Finally…

This leaves just two candidates. In 1996, Shaq, Hakeem, Ewing, Robinson, Mourning, and Dikembe Mutombo averaged double-doubles. Now in 2002, just three did in the previous season – and one was Marcus Camby (11.1, 11.1) in just 29 games.

So for the breakdown, it’s quite simple. Mutombo stands tall as the number two center in the league. And that’s not taking away from prized acquisition of the New Jersey Nets. In all but one of his 11 NBA seasons, Mutombo has posted a double-double season average. He has averaged over 3.4 blocks per game throughout his career. And for the NBA East Champions to feel he’s the final piece to overcoming Shaq and the Lakers is a major statement in itself.

But we’re talking about a 36-year-old center anointed as the second-best in a league of young run-and-gun stallions. In a league that is dominated by O’Neal in the playoffs, it’s amazing that the second-best center in the league isn’t a young groomed stud, but instead, a defensive shotblocking veteran who ranked merely as an afterthought after the Big Five were mentioned throughout the 1990s. And even then, Mutombo wasn’t a shoo-in for the sixth spot, as he was contested by Rik Smits, Rony Seikaly, Sabonis and Divac.

After simple deductions – based on merely having reasonable numbers for a center - Mutombo ranks as the second-best center in the NBA. That is, unless Yao Ming has something to say about it.

If Ming adapts to the NBA quickly, it will not only be a blessing for the NBA’s marketing in the Far East, but at least a start to the NBA avoiding an era of centers being the Far Worst.

If not, then the debate is wide open for the league’s number three best center. If only Benoit Benjamin was in the league now…

Chad Rader is a regular contributor to HoopsHype.com

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