[B FreeParticipant]

Which one of the young Centers in the NBA right now has the possibility to really become a very good starter on a future contender and what are they missing that could hold them back?

I will start with Spencer Hawes.

 He actually had down year statistically but I think he is very close to being a very good player. If he continues to develope some post moves I see no reason why he can’t be the answer for the 76ers at center. He isn’t an elite athlete but he is a legit 7 footer with a 7-1 wingspan and has a great NBA body at 250lbs. I think he can be a 14ppg 9reb guy in the next two years if he can stay on the floor for more minutes.

 

[Anton123Participant]

 Roy Hibbert is already a pretty good starting centre, but if he continues to develop and stays in shape I see him being a future all star

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

I will undoubtedly get flack and hate mail for this one, but I feel if he is healthy, he could definitely help a team contend. The key word is "IF", of course, since he has played 82 regular season games in 4 years. Not to mention, he did not sound incredibly enthusiastic about his prospects of being ready for next season. Nonetheless, until I hear that he in fact can not come back and play basketball, I will stand by my feeling that he could be a game changer. Simply put, you can count on one hand the players in the league who have his combination of size, athleticism and skill set.

Say whatever you want about him being slow, or not liking the way he moves, but if he plays about half the game, he is more than likely getting you a double-double and a couple blocks.Simply put, you can not box him out and it is incredibly difficult to keep him off the offensive glass. Not to mention, his length and instincts make him a force on defense. He has been foul prone, turnover prone and of course, injury prone, but if you want to make a serious run at beating a contending team, having a healthy Greg Oden in the middle would be a gamble worth taking. I will point to guys like Nene and Marcus Camby as players who had injuries early in their careers and came back to be incredibly productive Centers. Not to mention, Greg has size and strength that both could only dream of.

As far as Spencer Hawes goes, he seemed like an appealing prospect, but I am kind of down on him. He definitely is a skilled player for his size, but I feel like he is lacking a fire when he is out there. He is not as aggressive as he should be on defense or the glass. He is big, that is for sure, but his wingspan and standing reach are pretty much average to below average for a player at his position. Nonetheless, he is still a young player and could develop into a servicable Center, but I am not seeing him being a major player on a contender. Still, after seeing some early flashes of him becoming a solid Center during his first couple years, he has not really impressed me all that much in his last two. He has been pretty poor in the Miami series, which just adds to my concern for his long term ability to be a pivot for a contender.

[omphalosParticipant]

If you count Cousins as a C then he is the obvious choice. Thing holding him back is attitude.

That said, Bynum is still the best C prospect around, even above Howard in my opinion, if he could just overcome injuries. He does so many things well, and he seems to have a team-first attitude too. Kobe’s reign is holding him back somewhat, but when Pau and Kobe slow down, Bynum will hold it down in L.A.

[Tha_PrinceParticipant]

 DeAndre Jordan.

With Kaman out the beginning of the season he got the minutes he needed to grow as a player this year. Really had a breakout year despite modest numbers. He averaged 7 ppg, 7rpg & nearly 2 blocks. I could see him being that strong presence in the middle for a team in coming years. 

[goneParticipant]

Greg Monroe if you consider him a center

[B FreeParticipant]

@mikey

Being a Portland fan I am with you on Oden I still have faith he will play one day.

But on Spencer he is only 22 years old and in his first playoff series trying to gaurd Chris Bosh at times who is a very different player then he is used to. The other thing that is making him look worse is that he needs an athletic PF to play next to but he has Brand they are both below the rim type athletes. If you put a Lamarcus or Kenyon Martin type next to him it would change the dynamic for the better.

[B FreeParticipant]

I was really expecting a few JaVale McGee.

[OhCanada-Participant]

I have to say Marc Gasol, he averages a very underated season12-ppg, 7-rpg, 2-bpg, on good percentages and while playing good positional defense with a true C body. Now during the Playoffs it seems he intends to make some payolla averaging 18-ppg, 11-rpg, 3-apg, a block and a steal on near 60% shooting, with his team up 2-1 on the #1 seed of the West.

I see no reason why Marc cant average close to those numbers on the right team and in the right situation, although it seems Memphis will resign him. They also are using him in more of a scoring role pounding San Antonio’s bigs with him and Randolph. It is not like he could never do this, just with the matchup advantage and Gay hurt it is a perfect oppurtunity to showcase his all around skillset.

One of the best all around C’s in the league and one of the most underrated players.

[RUDEBOY_Participant]

Hawes would be a much better player if he played beside Howard..His passing skills and outside touch would be the perfect compliment to D-12….I bet if Orlando got him..He’ll be a much improved player….

[OhCanada-Participant]

Hawes gaurding PF’s on a night to night basis would be a horrible mismatch. He has nowhere near the quickness to gaurd a prototypical modern day PF’s faceup game.

[B FreeParticipant]

He does have the ability to step out and hit that three which would definetly open things up down low for any post oriented big man. And his passing skill had people thinking when he was in SAC that he was Divac light. Pairing him with any athletic bigman would be his best chance to thrive.

[HaleParticipant]

 That is where D12 comes in, he makes up for it defensively.

[OhCanada-Participant]

Thats a misconception. You dont put uncapable players next to very capable players just for the fact that the capable player will pull more weight. Doing that takes away from the capable players superb effectiveness.

Thats like saying a team  is very unathletic, slow, and soft so you might as well play zone. The zone wont hide everything, and the fact that the players are missing key tools in defending will still make the zone weaker. That team would need to get better players to defend.

Howard is an excellent defender, that doesnt mean its okay to put him in a osition where he has to make a play at the rim more often then he already does. Thats dangerous thinking.

[B FreeParticipant]

Spencer’s defense isn’t terrible but what he has trouble with is gaurding smaller, quicker post players. He is over exposed in Phili because he and Brand have the same liabilities. If he had someone who is good at weak side defense and can gaurd the quicker bigmen leaving Hawes to utilize his skills against a real center like Hibbert or Marc Gasol, which are using his size and strength to body up and his good foot work to stay infront of his man, then he would be a much better defender.

[TallmanNYCParticipant]

Greg Oden could still be dominant. He has always put up big numbers when he has played. I’d take 25 minutes a game from Greg Oden and fill the rest of the minutes with a Jeff Foster career backup type over most of the Centers in the game. The only problem with that strategy is that you can’t plan on Oden even being able to finish a season playing reduced minutes. But maybe Oden ends up like Big Z; a guy who is "injury prone" until you notice that he has played four seasons in a row without a major injury. Big Z did that and some of Oden’s injuries could just be bad luck and not a bad body that can’t handle playing basketball.

[NYK2010Participant]

Bynum over Howard I don’t see it.  Bynum is only 2 yrs younger. and been in the league only 1 yr less he’s not the best Center in the league Howard is.  Lets see Bynum stay healthy or come close to being defenseive player of the year before he’s compared to Howard even.

Cousins is the obvious next big thing if he works hard and plays smart.

Oden still has plenty of talent and is young, the lockout will give him some more rehab time and if he’s healthy he’s capable of being an elite Center at least on defense.

[Moon RiverParticipant]

He plays center but is really a PF.  However, that is the position he plays and I think he will be a solid center for many many years.  He and Boozer have not played together enough this year (both out at different times with hand injuries).  Once they get some more experience playing together, I fully expect Noah to be a consistent 15 and 11 guy who defends, gives you all out effort from tip to horn and you don’t even have to run any plays for him on the offensive end.

[OhCanada-Participant]

Gaurding smaller quicker players is what he would have to do on a night to night basis.

I understand that Howard can help very well on Hawes when he gets beat off the dribble, but that is still not smart basketball. That means 2 players are being used on 1, which means one man is open, and if the team plays the possession right someone should be left open for a layup or jumpshot. That is not smart basketball.

Instead of having Hawes forced to play PF, just get a real PF who can stay infront of his man. Either way I dont think Hawes is a better basketball player then Bass, or Anderson, the sudden leap of faith the forum is giving him is all speculation as he has been given multiple oppurtunities to be effective including Miller being traded from Sacramento, and becoming sought after by Collins to the point where they dealt Dalembert (the better player of the two), and started him immediatly. He isnt even holding his own at C and to me playing someone who is a slow NBA Center at PF is not wise no matter who is the help defender.

[apb540Participant]

Spencer Hawes is average AT BEST.  He is a prototypical 15-20 minute per game bench player.  I have seen about 86 games too many of Spencer Hawes starting. 

[B FreeParticipant]

I don’t know who said Hawes should play PF because he absolutely should not. Im saying pair him with someone so he doesn’t have to gaurd centers like he occasionally has to now while paired with Brand.

[TheFactionCoalition.comParticipant]

Hawes has trouble guarding players bigger than him too, not just smaller guys. It seems a little wrong to say something like team him with the 3 time DPOY and it will make up for his shortcomings. Bass can at least keep his guy out of the paint, which helps Howard out. Hawes can hit the 3 but isn’t very consistent with it. That said he is very young and it takes most big guys awhile to develop. If he dedicated himself I think he could become a legit center. 

I have to add saying Bynum is a better prospect than Dwight Howard is crazy! ! ! He’s the 4th scoring option as the starting center on a team that could use a powerful post player. Howard dominates on a regular basis and teams change their game plan around him. I promise you when a team plays LA Bynum is hardly the one they are game plannig against. . .

[WizardofOzParticipant]

He’s a physical and athletic specimen, and he’s more skilled than you think, so he has all the tools to become the next big thing, but the main thing holding him back is his head. He lacks basketball IQ and has the tendency to make some dumb plays on offense and defense. He jumps to much for blocks (even though he toned it down toward the end of the season), and will get called for a lot of goaltends. He will also try to act like a PG sometimes and try to take it all the way down the court on a fast-break instead of throwing and outlet to a guard, and it usually ends up in a bad result. And whenever he does it, he gets benched but he never listens, so it makes it seem like he’s stubborn.

He also needs to get stronger. He has the frame to add a lot of weight, so he should fill out eventually, but I don’t want him to get to strong to the point where he loses quickness and explosiveness, his best strengths.

But on offense, he has more skill then most of you guys think. He doesn’t have NO offensive game like most of you guys say. He has a few spin moves, dropsteps, and an unblockable hook shot. But he still needs to polish his offensive game. He said he going to work with a big man, so that’s one of his focuses.

He’s a freakish shot-blocker, probably the best in the NBA. He has crazy height, length, and athleticism, which can’t be teached.

So if he works on all the things he said, he could be something significant.

[OhCanada-Participant]

McGee is an idiot. The only way  find him being effective in this league is if he listens to everything his coach tells him to do, lets the coach do the thinking.

[Bad DogParticipant]

 I still have faith in Oden. Even if he never becomes the dominate big he was supposed to be, he’s still better than 75% of the bigs in the NBA. He could end up having a career similar to Marcus Camby’s. I think the next very good centers are not even in the NBA yet. You have to be intrigued by Andre Drummond and Isaiah Austin. Those two have enormous upside. Enes Kanter is another player. If you consider him a center, i’d say he has a chance to be a very good center for the next decade

[aamir543Participant]

David lee if you consider him a center(I know on any other team he is not a center but with the warriors Earl Boykins could end up playing the 5)

The thing holding him back is the fact that wilson chandler sucked his blood, and he is not getting that back.

(There is a reason Lee’s stats went down and chandler’s up, it all in the blood! 

 

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

 Here is a little story, figure it is harmless enough. My little bro works at Nike Town in LA, so he gets to see a lot of athletes and celebrities on a daily basis (for those that do not know, it is in Beverly Hills, right on Rodeo). Well, Mr. Jordan so happened to come into the store on a comp, and went slightly over (happens). So, he slides his credit card numerous times, and it does not seem to be working. Finally, my bro swipes it, and it works. DeAndre goes "How did you finally do it?" My brother, not missing a beat, says, "Shooters touch!" OH! I thought it was a sick line personally, especially given the fact that DeAndre is a fairly abysmal shooter, lol.

Are people really that high on him, though? I think he did nice as a role player, and again, athletic, young, seems to work hard, but I still feel something is missing. He is a nice rebounder, and I think his defense is improving, but I do not feel he is extraordinary in either category. Not to mention, VERY limited on offense. Definitely still in the developing phase of his career, and of course, has not had notable injury concerns. Still, his production is fairly mediocre, and you would honestly like to see slightly more from him given his minutes. The kicker is, his free throw shooting is ABYSMAL! He is not exactly Shaq or Dwight Howard with an impact to make up for it. He has been a great value pick thus far considering he went 35, but I am not sold that he is a starting center that can help you contend. 

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