29 Dec 2009  ::  And one
For some reason, today found me checking out some of the retired NBA player stats. I check out the stats for the players on the season somewhat regularly, though I do look at box scores often enough that nothing I see really surprises me.

Currently, I think the NBA is flush with great point guards- Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Deron Williams and Chris Paul probably top the list, but there are several more that might end up being in all time consideration by the end of their careers. This isn't a new trend- Bob Cousy, Magic Johnson, Mark Jackson, John Stockton, Gary Payton have all been in consecutive generations.

Shooting guards, same deal- The Black Mamba has been consistently great statistically, and he came in on the end of the Jordan Era, who was preceded by Gervin and Drexler (slightly) and probably began with Jerry West.

For every position, I feel like every generation has featured one or two greats, and I've recently decided that the center situation was looking up- excepting O'Neal, much of the last decade has been guys about to retire and guys sort of on the scene. Then we got to see elite defensive centers like Marcus Camby and Ben Wallace, offensively talented centers like Brad Miller and Yao Ming. Not really great, mind you, but pretty good, especially considering how terrible centers really were during Shaq's prime (Blazers trotted out an over-the-hill Sabonis and Dale Davis), things were looking up.

For some reason, I started thinking that Dwight Howard was amazing last year. I realized that he had about one post move- dunk- but I figured it was similar to O'Neal's repertoire, with less of blowing through someone's chest. So I compared Olajuwan, my favorite center, with Howard. It is not even close. I knew Dwight wouldn't even touch Hakeem's offensive output, but I thought he would put up a fight defensively.

So far, Dwight's best marks for rebounding and blocks were 14.2 and 2.9, though those were both posted over a season ago. Olajuwan had a 14.0 and a 4.59. Then remember that Olajuwan played when there was a substantially slower pace and was actually exerting effort on the other end of the court, having the offense go through him.

Now I really want Brook Lopez to continue to get better, and Greg Oden to have three seasons worth of playing time uninterrupted by injuries. Good centers are too hard to come by.

Did you read Simmons' take on The Dream in the Book of Basketball? He pretty much concludes rightly so that we'll never see another player like Hakeem again. He wins the best modern center debate hands down and yet doesn't seem to get his due.

Comment added on 4 Jan 2010 by Mash

I've been avoiding ESPN because of the ridiculous levels of their whole Insider gig. Doesn't surprise me that Hakeem is a little overrated. In some ways, I think he underachieved, considering his ability. Even then, he is likely to be matched by a modern center. I think I am starting appreciating what he brought to the table. LeBron and Kobe touch MJs numbers, though their numbers are pace inflated and they are playing in a different league when you consider the defensive rule changes. They still don't quite compete, but they get close. No one gets close to what Hakeem did. And that is how you know he was stinking close.

Comment added on 12 Jan 2010 by Paul