Thursday, June 7, 2012

What Happened To The Center Position In The NBA!?!?


The news of the Lakers picking up Andrew Bynum's option for another year at $16.1 million. Andrew Bynum is getting paid this much to be a decent player?!?! I didn't get it until I looked around the league and realized how terrible the center play actually is. Power forwards are dominating the boards and scoring down low now, centers are basically just there to foul it seems. That red headed step child on the Clippers is 6"10 and dominates with quickness and athleticism now. He's only been knocked on his ass once that I can remember, do that a couple times and he'll be a bit more hesitant to drive it as strong and jump out of the gym.


Here's a quick comparison of the all star centers that are currently running around the league vs the ones is 1994.



2012 All Star Centers
Roy Hibbert
Dwight Howard
Marc Gasol
Andrew Bynum 

1994 All Star Centers
Shaquille O'Neal
Patrick Ewing
Hakeem Olajuwon
David Robinson

There's no comparing these classes. the 2012 class still has some time to get their act together, but I doubt we'll be seeing any of these guys in the hall of fame. I doubt half these guys will still be playing in 5 years. 


The best by far in the 2012 class is Dwight Howard, he's in his prime and unfortunetly has back issues. Anyone from the 94 class would destroy Howard, he wouldn't be able to comer any of them in the post. Sure Howard can jump out of the gym and maybe block a couple shots, but he lacks the discipline to cover any of these guys with picking up fouls, his time one the floor would be minimal.  I don't hold him totally at fault for this, there's really no one to even challenge him out there now. 

Anthony Davis will be coming into the leauge next year and could be a start to the rebuilding of the position. Though he'll have to play power forward for a bit until he bulks up, the kid is only 19, he's got time.....








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