What happened to all the great big men?

B

BMiller52

All-Star
#1
#1
Well Snaq O'meal is getting old, vlade retired, sabonis is done, DRob is gone, there just isn't any great/good C's anymore. They've like gone extinct. In the 90's had Olajuwon, Ewing, DRob, etc. Late 90s those guys slowed down but you still had DRob, Sabonis, Divac, Snaq, etc. Now you have Snaq, CAMBY, BRAD MILLER, Yao(honestly isn't all that great). The last 3 out of those 4 shouldn't even be considered top PFs if we had the big men of the early 00's/90s. They'd be in the 10-15 range. Seriously, how long till the center position is alive again and will it be?


Oh yeah forgot Big Ben Wallace but he's only good on D. Still 2nd best C in the league IMO though.
 
F

Fillmoe

Guest
#2
#2
shaq
ben wallace
tim duncan
stoudemire
camby
d howard


you could even consider

KG and Dirk..... even though they are PF's they could play C
 
A

AriesMar27

Guest
#5
#5
Fillmoe said:
shaq
ben wallace
tim duncan
stoudemire
camby
d howard


you could even consider

KG and Dirk..... even though they are PF's they could play C
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how is howard great? and arent all of them outside of shaq and camby pf's?
 
hrdboild

hrdboild

Moloch in whom I dream Angels!
Staff member
#6
#6
Howard routinely gets 15+ rebounds per game. And it doesn't really matter what position they play. If you're 7' or at least 6'11", I think that qualifies you as a "big man". Actually, looking at that list, I can see why there's a perception that the great big men are all gone. The big men of the past pretty much did two things: rebound and score inside. Big men today have got outside shots too. KG and Dirk are definately big enough to be centers, but they play on the perimeter more. You could say that the purity of the game is compromised or something to that effect, but really that's just nostalgia I think. The game changed. Everything changes. The big men of today may not be the bruising inside presence that we remember from years' past, but they can do more. They can handle the ball, pass, shoot. In many ways that makes them more valuable on a basketball court.
 
Bricklayer

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#7
#7
BMiller52 said:
Well Snaq O'meal is getting old, vlade retired, sabonis is done, DRob is gone, there just isn't any great/good C's anymore. They've like gone extinct. In the 90's had Olajuwon, Ewing, DRob, etc. Late 90s those guys slowed down but you still had DRob, Sabonis, Divac, Snaq, etc. Now you have Snaq, CAMBY, BRAD MILLER, Yao(honestly isn't all that great). The last 3 out of those 4 shouldn't even be considered top PFs if we had the big men of the early 00's/90s. They'd be in the 10-15 range. Seriously, how long till the center position is alive again and will it be?


Oh yeah forgot Big Ben Wallace but he's only good on D. Still 2nd best C in the league IMO though.
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The days of the great center have passed, for the moment. At one point in the 90'2 you could have found Shaq, the Admiral, the Dream, Ewing, Mourning, Deke, Sabas, Daugherty, Smits, Divac, Seikaly, etc. all roaming the paint at the same time. Seems like most of the big guys have shifted over to PF now. But these things normally go in cycles. Would not surprise me at all in 5 years to see a new crop of top centers starting to emerge.
 
F

Freakout

G-League
#8
#8
Bricklayer said:
The days of the great center have passed, for the moment. At one point in the 90'2 you could have found Shaq, the Admiral, the Dream, Ewing, Mourning, Deke, Sabas, Daugherty, Smits, Divac, Seikaly, etc. all roaming the paint at the same time. Seems like most of the big guys have shifted over to PF now. But these things normally go in cycles. Would not surprise me at all in 5 years to see a new crop of top centers starting to emerge.
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I agree. Still though I think certain centers are remembered better than they were. In a few years Oden, Bynum, Gasol, Bogut, Yao, Dalembert will be a few that will become pretty good to very good centers. Not really any superstars, maybe Oden, but enough talent to make the position respectable again.
 
F

Fillmoe

Guest
#9
#9
AriesMar27 said:
how is howard great? and arent all of them outside of shaq and camby pf's?
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he is averaging 15 points and 13 boards in his 2nd year

ewing was averaging 21 points and 9 boards in his 2nd year.......
 
Diabeticwonder

Diabeticwonder

Bench
#10
#10
Fillmoe said:
he is averaging 15 points and 13 boards in his 2nd year

ewing was averaging 21 points and 9 boards in his 2nd year.......
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Ewing's 2nd year was in the Big East. Howard's 2nd year in the NBA. Howard is going to be a complete monster to deal with for the forseeable future. Howard is not even 20 years old yet.
 
K

Kings113

All-Star
#11
#11
Dwight Howard's one of the top young players in the league, and one of my fav players in general. He's a beast. I'd say a top 15 player right now. He's obviously still quite young and learning, but he's going to be a top 5/8 player in this league, and a big force.

Pop/KG/Duncan all have praised him.
 
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SoupIsGood

SoupIsGood

Bench
#12
#12
Freakout said:
I agree. Still though I think certain centers are remembered better than they were. In a few years Oden, Bynum, Gasol, Bogut, Yao, Dalembert will be a few that will become pretty good to very good centers. Not really any superstars, maybe Oden, but enough talent to make the position respectable again.
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I sure hope so. :) Guy is cool
 
HndsmCelt

HndsmCelt

Hall of Famer
#14
#14
Sure some of the problem is that guys with size AND tallent tend to get moved to the 4 these days, but part of the problem is the way the game has changed. With more teams running and gunning big slow guys who can dominate the paint... when they get there, are just not valuable anymore. I suspect a new generation of centers will emerge who are fast and more versitile but for the moment they seem to be specialist who at their best complement the teams play eg Big Ben and at their worst just bring one of several needed diminisons but fail to fill the right gaps eg our currnet situation with Brad.
 
HndsmCelt

HndsmCelt

Hall of Famer
#15
#15
ONEZERO said:
the question should be what happened to all the "GREAT" players?
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em there was this guy in Sacramento last night named Lebron... 19 years old and already one of the best in the game. There are also a few other guys in the sport today who are truely phenominal (KG, Kobe, TD, and to a lesser degree T-Mac) The problem is NOT that there are no more great palyers it's that they are spread out over several teams that by default of expansion have wattered down role players. Not to take anything away from Jordan, Malone, Bird, or Magic but if you look who they played WITH it's easy to see how the TEAM helped bring out the best parts of their game.
 
F

Fillmoe

Guest
#19
#19
HndsmCelt said:
em there was this guy in Sacramento last night named Lebron... 19 years old and already one of the best in the game. There are also a few other guys in the sport today who are truely phenominal (KG, Kobe, TD, and to a lesser degree T-Mac) The problem is NOT that there are no more great palyers it's that they are spread out over several teams that by default of expansion have wattered down role players. Not to take anything away from Jordan, Malone, Bird, or Magic but if you look who they played WITH it's easy to see how the TEAM helped bring out the best parts of their game.
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lebron will be 21 this year.... late december..... ;)
 
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