Greatest Of The Three Point Era: Centers

[The X]

Hakeem didn't just outplay the Admiral, he absolutely destroyed him. Hakeem went to a whole new level.

I see the Admiral as a taller, better defending, stronger version of Chris Bosh. Read into that as you will.

If I was building a team & had to choose a centre, then he would be fourth on my list behind Hakeem, Shaq & Moses Malone.

[NovU]

Hakeem didn't just outplay the Admiral, he absolutely destroyed him. Hakeem went to a whole new level.

It seems it's everybody's common thought why the Admiral wasn't as good.

But...

http://www.myexpiringcontract.com/2010/ ... akeem.html
Too long to quote. But a good read about David Robinson. Sorta like benji's usual debate post for beloved Kobe Bryant.

[benji]

Hakeem didn't just outplay the Admiral, he absolutely destroyed him. Hakeem went to a whole new level.

Not really, it was nowhere near the beatdown the myth implies. And we're really going to judge on five games when one players sidekick decided he didn't give a shit and quit? And who had to play with Vinny Del Negro instead of Clyde Drexler? We'll ignore that Robinson's career TEAM record against Hakeem looks like Russell vs. Wilt right?

I see the Admiral as a taller, better defending, stronger version of Chris Bosh. Read into that as you will.

You have to be joking.

[Andrew]

It does tend to get exaggerated by the highlight reels. The way Hakeem embarrassed Robinson on those plays was more a testament to The Dream's footwork and skill than failure on The Admiral's part; Hakeem burned pretty much everyone like that and made really good and athletic defenders look bad at one time or another.

[NovU]

IMO, highlight reels, meaningless award system, and team success don't really reflect true individual's contribution to the team's success.

And here is another interesting article to support the case especially on David vs Shaq. I find his arguments valiant based on advanced stats.

http://wagesofwins.net/2008/09/07/the-b ... %99s-life/

[The X]

Hakeem didn't just outplay the Admiral, he absolutely destroyed him. Hakeem went to a whole new level.

Not really, it was nowhere near the beatdown the myth implies. And we're really going to judge on five games when one players sidekick decided he didn't give a shit and quit? And who had to play with Vinny Del Negro instead of Clyde Drexler? We'll ignore that Robinson's career TEAM record against Hakeem looks like Russell vs. Wilt right?

I see the Admiral as a taller, better defending, stronger version of Chris Bosh. Read into that as you will.

You have to be joking.

Of course I'm joking. I wouldn't have him above Malone and Kareem if I thought he was a taller Bosh.

The similarities in their games were that they're both lefties who like to face up and shoot the midrange J

[Lamrock]

Okay, let's see here.

1. Shaquille O'Neal (95-02) - Just couldn't put Hakeem over him. I mean, fuck, Shaq was absolutely incredible. So dominant. While he didn't quite reach his ceiling, he was practically the 3pt era Wilt.
2. David Robinson (93-01) - I never realized how fucking good this guy was, but in his prime, he was incredible. He's criticized for his lack of titles without Duncan, but I'd argue that he was a more productive and effective player than Olajuwon was, as his stats (metric ones, not raw) were better.
3. Hakeem Olajuwon (88-95) - Never as dominant as Shaq but close to as accomplished. He won the Rox two titles and was what you wanted in a star center.
4. Dwight Howard (04-11) - Dwight has only played 7 seasons, so he is at a disadvantage statistically, with his prime not being reached until his fifth. However, with his durability and trends in his game, I'd expect him to hold this spot down, as he is a top 3 player in this league at age 25. Rich man's Ewing.
5. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (77-84) The three point line came as he started the tail end of his prime. He nonetheless had some very good seasons in his thirties, and his longevity helped him take the all-time scoring record and further boost his legacy.

Honorable Mentions: Mose Malone, P. Chewing, Ben Wallace, etc.

[rise]

1. Shaquille O'Neal (92-93 to 99-00) - Well, I really wanted to include the first ten years of the Big AARP's career, but had to cut it down. He had two half seasons in 96 and 97, so I included his first eight seasons. He had career highs of rebounds (14) and blocks (3.5) in his rookie season, plus 23 ppg. For the next TEN years, he consistently put up 26-29ppg, 11-13rpg, and over 2bpg. He was so dominant in his prime, but Dwight Howard's current numbers actually rival this, give or take a little.

2. David Robinson (89-90 to 95-96) - The Admiral really had numbers that rival the Big Shaqtus's. 25ppg, 12rpg, 3bpg, those are crazy numbers, and then you factor in his extremely good defense. I wish we could have seen Duncan and Robinson together in their primes.

3. Hakeem Olajuwon (88-89 to 94-95) - Like I said about Shaq, there are at least ten years that you could consider as his prime, but I included years in which The Dream won two championships, averaged 14 rebounds in a season, and during this seven year stretch, he averaged more than 3.5 blocks per game. That is some crazy stuff.

4. Moses Malone (78-79 to 84-85) - I didn't realize how dominant Malone was until now. Anyone who can average 30/15 or 25/18 in a season is automatically a lock for this list, although at 6'10 and 215lb, there's no way he'd be putting up anything close to these numbers in today's NBA, which, along with his defensive numbers being inferior to the first three on this list, is why I dropped Malone to #4.

5. Patrick Ewing (89-90 to 95-96) - Patrick Chewing put up similar numbers to Shaq, and his prime starts with his best season: 28.6ppg, 10.9rpg, 4.0bpg. He was extremely durable over this seven-year stretch, only missed 14 games over that stretch and consistently put up that 25/10 with at least a couple blocks.

6. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (77-78 to 83-84) - I was just going to do a top five, but I couldn't leave this one out. The three-point era began when Kareem was 30. He was still among the best, and he led the league in blocks twice. His numbers started to diminish by the end of this period, and even his diminished statline of 21/7 is damn good at age 36.

Others: Ben Wallace, Zo, Yao, Mt. Mutumbo, Parish, Dwight Howard

[shadowgrin]

6'10 and 215lb, there's no way he'd be putting up anything close to these numbers in today's NBA

LMAO
You don't actually think that he played his whole career with that weight, do you?
You do know that Moses was drafted straight out of high school?
Ever considered that the weight listed (in BR) was his listed weight when he entered the pros and that by some sort of magic and witchery! that he could have gained some weight during the course of his playing career?
Jordan is listed as 195 lbs., I clearly remember he was listed as 216 in his first comeback. KG is listed as 220 but iirc he was about 240+ by the year he won his MVP.

[The X]

Yep, Moses was a lot bigger than 215lbs by the time he was with 76ers winning a title. Check out YouTube & see for yourself