Can you name Starting Centers of the NBA

Nets - spelled wrong...but you got the idea
Magic - Declerq most of the time

Grizzlies - Lo Wright
T-Wolves - Nesterovic
Jazz - Collins

Hawks - Mohammed - but only because Ratliff was hurt
Pistons - Rabraca
Pacers - Miller now
Bucks - Pryzbilla
Raptors - Clark

Warriors - Dampier/Foyle
Suns - Tsakalides
Supersonics - Signed Booth, played James and whoever you are thinking of...but Booth is the real starter.

 

Damn, the Eastern Conference sucks!!

Do you realize the EC Finals had McCullough and Battie at C?!

PEEEE-YOU!!

 

That's quite an impressive list!

Right now, on the other side of the world, Yao Ming is licking his chops!

Chris

 

Thats why he's the #1 pick.

You dont get picked #1 for no reason at all.


I'm just glad Kenyon Martin<i>(former #1 pick)</i> is with the east. He is probably one of the top 5 in the east as far as Pf's are concerned.

Yao is going to have some trouble with the Pf's in the west, and not to mention the few center'.

In the longrun, going to a western conference team as a big man , who'll start right away is a good investment.

 

Orlando: Grant starts at center, at least when Hill is playing.

Detroit: Robinson starts while Wallace and Rebraca spend time at center, but is Moore still with the team? Before trading for Wallace and Robinson, the active centers on the team (Moore, Montross) were so bad that 6'11" Matt Fish was brought into traning camp.

For contract information:
Salaries (Atlanta-Los Angeles)
Salaries (Memphis-Utah)

The clowns at USA today conveniently forgot Washington.

This source provides player salaries, but not contract length, since 1986:
http://www.dfw.net/~patricia/misc/salaries02.txt

Just change the year in the link if so desired.

Currently, you'll find plenty of overpaid stiffs in the Eastern Conference (Potapenko, Knight, Diop (an overpaid lottery pick who's turned out to be an overweight and physically-brittle Jerome Moiso), Ilgauskas (who makes the max) and countless others. Be prepared to add Curtis Borchardt to the list.

There is no doubt that centers are critical. They (the better ones) are the driving force behind team defense. While a center's offense won't always carry a team, his presence can; he can create shots for perimeter players and cutters. This is why no great NBA team has been without a dominating big-man. With that said, however, the fact that names like Lorenzen Wright and Eric Montross appear on the top of NBA payrolls is madenning.

What should team brass do when second-rate stiffs demand eight-figure salaries? Say no. Don Sterling is cheap, but at least he has the forethought not to sign Cato/Taylor to six-year deals.

EDIT: The site listed the Wizards' payroll on this page:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/nba/stories/2001-02-salaries-was.htm

 

Chandler has never started at center. Curry holds that spot. And when he's unavailable it will be Bagaric or Scott Williams...

Brenda Haywood is the starting center for whoa-zards.

 

Scott Williams plays for the Bulls? Since when....he's on the Nuggets last I checked.

Jahidi White and Christian Laettner are the centers for Washington; Brenda Haywood is the backup.

Here's the complete list...

Boston - Battie
Miami - Mourning
NY Knicks - K. Thomas (Camby when healthy, but Kurt is the de facto center)
NJ Nets - MacCulloch
Orlando - H. Grant (replaced Ewing and S. Hunter early in season)
Philadelphia - Mutombo
Washington - White (see above)

Atlanta - Mohammed (Ratliff when healthy, but that's rare)
Chicago - Curry
Cleveland - Ilgauskas
Detroit - C. Robinson
Indiana - B. Miller (though before the trade, O'Neal played here)
Milwaukee - Pryzbilla started the last half of the season at center, with E. Johnson off the bench
New Orleans - Campbell
Toronto - A. Davis (though other assorted centers got the start here to move Davis to PF, he played the majority of games at C)

Dallas - LaFrentz
Denver - Howard (after they traded LaFrentz)
Houston - Cato
Minnesota - R. Nesterovic
Memphis - L. Wright
San Antonio - D. Robinson
Utah - Jarron Collins (Ostertag was benched the last half of the year)

Golden State - Dampier
LA Clippers - Olowokandi
LA Lakers - S. O'Neal
Phoenix - Voskuhl/Tsakalidis (with Tsakalidis starting 47 and Voskuhl 34)
Portland - D. Davis
Sacramento - Divac
Seattle - J. James (C. Booth when healthy)

The list of centers is rather horrible; thus Ric Bucher's claim that Kandi is one year away from being the 2nd best center in the league isn't far off at all.

 

I'd personally put Jamaal Magloire as a good center and possibly the one young guy that is rising rapidly.

 

I'm looking forward in time to next season.
L8 was never a center.

 

L8 gets playing time at center half ot the time he plays

 

LOL, exactly!

I had to come back to this thread to look again at that center list. Amazing.
There is NO DOUBT that the center position in the NBA is at one of its weakest times. Ming really shouldn't have any problem against most of those centers.

As Rocket River said, that list of centers really puts things into perspective!

Chris

 

Don't count your eggs before they've hatched....Williams is a solid backup center/PF, but he was injured much of last year...and he may want to go to a contender before he goes back to the Bulls.