Ranking the game's best centers

If not this year, then next year, Yao is going to take the number 1 spot. I agree with Phil Jackson's assesment on Yao. He is not going to make a sudden leap but nice gradual improvement each year. If you compare him to where he was when he entered the league to now, you can see that he has changed a lot but you cannot go back to one specific point of time and say that's where major improvement came from. This year he will have Swift to do most of the dirty work for him, which is only going to make him that much more effective.

 

I'm tired of people always pointing out that Yao is a finesse player as if it's a bad thing. Shaq really is the only power player today and in the recent past. People might consider Amare a power player because he dunks so much, but he rarely actually overpowers anyone.

Is Yao more of a finesse player than Dream, Mchale, Duncan, Robinson, or Ewing? All those guys were finesse players in their prime. Barkley is the only recent big man i can think of who used power almost as much as Shaq, and he still relied on finesse as well. When Karl Malone was getting to the finals, he was a finesse player shooting fadeaways and flopping for freethrows.

In fact, I might venture to say that Yao is the closest thing to a power player other than Shaq in the league right now. Can anyone think of a top-tier player who uses more power in their game? Yao didn't shoot 55% by using the shangai shake all the time. He worked for position close to the basket and finished.

 

Don't forget Kareem and Wilt. Yes Wilt. Granted this had more to do with the fact that they kept adjusting the rules so he wouldn't dominate as much (I mean they didn't even allow him to dunk in college). If he ever tried lowering his shoulder and bouncing people out of the way, they might have just outright banned him from the league. Nevertheless Wilt was a guy who scored most of his postup point off of finger-rolls.

And Kareem was all about the sky hook. He wasn't running people over and initiating contact. Just the opposite, he always spun away from the defender. Not to mention the fact that he was a pretty scrawny dude by today's standards.

I'd say the only other great big man that can be truly classified as a power player is Moses. And that has more to do with his relentlessness on the offensive glass than his back-to-the-basket game.

 

I thought Amare was a PF, and the list I think is OK, in one or two years Yao will be No. 1

 

I like Yao and really want him to succeed (since he is a Rocket) but he seriously needs to cure this butterfingers and out of breath when running 2 times across the court dilemma.

Proof is in the pudding and what I want out of Yao this year is to average at or near 10 rebounds to think he is making progress. I know Stromile is suppose to help in this department and therefore Yao chance's of averaging 10 is greatly lowered, but I've seen other C/PF combos averaging at or near 10 (not that I'm expecting Stromile to averaging that, I'm realistically thinking around 7 or less for Stro).

Scoring wise, this is where TMac's next challenge is (and to lesser extent, the rest of the team). I know TMac is good enough to defer to Yao and get him enough touches where Yao can average more points this year, and still be able get himself (TMac) his own points and still average above 20. In order for Yao to average above 20 himself, TMac must make a conscious effort to look for him...yeah the rest of the team should look for Yao also, and JVG can make an emphasis on this (like he hasn't tried to do this before), but TMac should know he has the power if Yao can average 20 or not. This is of course assuming Yao keeps developing his post moves as he has one of the best touches around the basket amongst low post players...and also if defenses are going to gear to stop him and then this is where TMac takes advantage of defenses doubling down Yao...and of course the other small fact that will enable Yao to average more this year...

Yao needs to stay in the games more (foul trouble), I know a majority of the foul trouble is total friggin bogus touch fouls from refs, but Yao will have to work around this until he gets the superstar calls and respect from refs. Dream had the same problem but later in his years he curtailed it and he started getting the superstar calls from the refs. Yao has to understand he is bigger then his defenders and his movements are magnified more because of this. Yao has to figure out his foul trouble dilemma, then win JVG's trust to keep him in games more because I've noticed Jeff yanking Yao and keeping him on the bench for long periods, mostly due to Deke having a great game and Jeff doesn't want to ruin the momentum by pulling Deke. Yao should be playing at a level where the only reason Deke is in the game is to give a breather for Yao or...yeah foul trouble, not because where Yao has been inneffective in the game. As much as I like Deke, seeing him in games alot just means that Yao still hasn't figured out how to be the dominant franchise player he's suppose to be...or at least what we are waiting for Yao to be become. Yao better figure this out soon because Deke ain't going to be around much longer and I shudder to think Yao is still struggling to stay on the floor and Deke not around to make up for him, which spells TMac having to carry the team more. I venture to say that we won't get a better backup for Yao then Deke anytime in the near future after Deke retires.

Yao...I expect alot out of you this year and won't cut you much slack, you've had enough time to figure things out and you have the talent to carry the team to the next level (TMac has already proved himself and I already know know what to expect from him as far as contribution towards the team's success, this can't get out of the first round blame is bogus BS).

 

What an ugly list.

There aren't many good centers left.

Only Shaq and Yao are quality big men the rest are just average at best.

DD

 

^^^
are you kidding??? amare isn't a quality big man?? i know he isn't a natural center but his is going to play it for yet another season and was completely dominate at the position last year.

regardless i disagree with this list putting yao before amare. i know a lot of people will hate on this but it's the truth. amare is RIGHT NOW and probably in the future too, a better player than yao ming. yao is going to be a great player and be one of the cornerstones in bringing this franchise another championship but amare is a better player. he's a better scorer, rebounder, and defender. yao is getting better but amare is flat out awesome.

 

Better defender my ass. Amare has made about, oh, one good defensive play in his career. At least Yao tries to keep his man from scoring. Rebounding, they are pretty much dead even for their careers. Neither of them are great at it, but good. Yao is probably a little better per minute, though that doesn't mean much.

Amare can score, but that doesn't make him dominant in my book. It would be hard not to score with the team surrounding him and the pace they played last year. Hell, Steven Hunter had stretches where he looked like a young Karl Malone in that offense. I'll wait and see how Amare does handling more double-teams this year. Besides, a lot of people could score a ton of points if they cherry picked all the time and played as little D as Amare.

 

So if you can re-do the draft, you select Amare over Yao, or not?

 

WTF are you smoking? And can I have some of it?

 

Haha I hope Erick Dampier is reading this post. 2nd best center. bah!

 

Amare's idea of defense is getting out of the way when his man drives to the basket. On several plays I have noticed him just slide over, givng his man an open lane to the basket, instead of even pretending to make an attempt to defend. Even if yao decided to do the same, he would still be a better defender than Amare simply because of how much he clogs the lane due to his size and presence. Yao has always been a better defender. He even eats Amare up during head to head games. Rebounding wise, they are both about the same. Both need improvements.

You could present Amare as a better scorer. Even then, Yao isnt very far behind. Yao is actually better in terms of commanding attention to himself. Shaq and Yao change opposing teams gameplan just by their presense. Yao is a much better passer than Yao. Amare's game is brutish, while Yao's is more refined and polished. If a well rounded team is built around Yao, emphasizing team basketball, his skills will be maximized. IMO, he would be a perfect fit in Sacramento Kings, but I think JVG and Dawson have been doing a wonderful job of surrounding him with the right pieces. The only complain I have is that JVG does not utilize Yao's passing skills as he should.

What Amare is way ahead of Yao is terms of imposing his will and fiery attitude. If Yao ever decides to be one mean sonofabitch, he will leave Amare in the dust.

 

Amare struggled when Nash was injured and he's not that great of a defender. I know I've said he's a Shawn Kemp clone but now I'm thinking he's sort of a Karla Malone clone too...depends on a great PG for his production, gets better every year, but without the consistent outside J yet, also no real post up moves or patented pet moves, just depends alot on the 2 man game.

Karl Malone is 2nd on the list of alltime points for players, has other records, but can anyone honestly say that Karla was a better player then Hakeem? Cause I can't, and not just because I am pro Rockets.

Yao is maybe behind Amare as far as stat production and overall affectiveness to his teams success, but it's not like Amare would be tearing it up if he was on another team like ours, TMac won't baby and spoonfeed him the ball like he's been getting, it's not that TMac can't, it's just that TMac isn't a PG that his sole purpose of playing is to spoonfeed Amare the ball, which Amare needs for someone to do.

 

Absolutely! Shaq, and his dominant physical presence is almost unique in hall of fame centers. And don't forget Wilt had turn-around fall-away jump shot (similar to DreamShake) that was money. Also, he didn't average 50 pts for a season playing against the little people. He played against the likes of Russel, Thurmond and Lanier; all hall-of-famers.

BTW: I think Motumbo belongs on that list based on his performance last year. IMO he outperformed some of the guys on the list.

 

The center position has dwindled because the new rules aren't conducive to good play from centers.

 

I count 5 of the 10 players listed as being forwards or converted centers. That Chandler managed to make the list is pretty sorry.

Amare's defense is paltry, mostly because he half-asses it. He's a guy that's only thinking about getting back to the other end of the court. Only time he'll show up is if he can get an easy highlight reel weakside block on someone (not on his own man).

As far as his offense, he's lethal in Phoenix's small ball lineup because almost no team in the league (aside from maybe Denver) can put out a frontcourt that's quick enough to guard both Amare and Marion. Teams had to bench their real centers or go to a zone (and Phoenix's backcourt was full of zone-busters). Adding to the problem is that for most teams, the center is responsible for guarding the basket against dunking slashers. No-can do if the center is guarding Amare or on the bench.

I personally expect Amare to have a much harder time now that Phoenix has traded in small ball for a half-court game. Teams can put their center on Thomas and their PF on Amare. This also allows the center to cheat and help guard the basket against Amare's power drives.

Evan

 

Where were the shooting guard rankings?

 

They were posted in the GARM because T-Mac was on the list.

 

As long as Nash is in Phoenix playing the way he plays, you can pretty much expect Amare to put up Incredible numbers right up there with Lebron and TMAC but... BUT without Nash I dont think Amare is as good as his stats may say.

And I do believe, If Yao had Nash, he would put up about the same numbers... I see Yao fumbling the ball, or getting the ball stripped a lot more than Amare. We definitely need to hit more 3`s this year to open up the lane for Yao to work.