Wayne
Years ago

Centrs like Ewing and Olajuwon?? Still around???

Wednesday night BBall discussion.

Has the finesse centre died in todays NBA?

Ewing and Olajuwon were the masters of mid range jumpers and soft touch.

Has that type of centre disappeared in todays game?

Howard, Lopez, Shaq etc.

Finesse centres seem to be on the decline, can anyone add a Centre with soft touch and a shooting game rather than muscle, bang and crash or extreme althleticism?

Interested in your thoughts and opinions of current NBA Centre stars and up and comers that may fit the bill.

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Fizzle
Years ago

Sadly thing of the past. C's used to be able to create off their own dribble, and upa dn unders with a soft finish were poetry in motion. Now is just finish the play dunks etc

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Anonymous
Years ago

Yao was a finesse centre. Awesome mid--range shooter and great from the foul line.

Reply #307538 | Report this post

Anonymous
Years ago

agree with yao

Reply #307539 | Report this post

Isaac
Years ago

Nowitzki, Bargnani?

Reply #307540 | Report this post

Anonymous
Years ago

Brook Lopez is a finess centre, he.is so finess he struggles to get boards.

Reply #307541 | Report this post

illiterate
Years ago

Invention of 3 point line a major cause. It is now either the long shot or the bang inside. As a result midrange game and skills needed are on the decline and that goes for every position.

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Anonymous
Years ago

Gasol anyone....?

Reply #307544 | Report this post

Moses Guthrie
Years ago

Given he plays the position ..... Adam Ballinger?

Reply #307546 | Report this post

Big Marty
Years ago

Thing of the past; since NBA rules were changed to prevent alot of retro post plays and "banging" in the paint, the style of play has changed.

Offensively, players are given much more room to shoot and play because the defensive style of play has to be less physical.

Defensively, players are getting called for mid air collisions and soft touches in the post and rebounding has become less "hustle" and more "positioning" based because any attempt to go after the ball can be labelled a foul (as opposed to just going over the back).

You'll still get big men who show the variety you would expect (Yao, Gasol, Stoudamire, Nowitski) but I wouldn't rate them to the same standard as the Ewings, Robinsons, Olajuwans, McHales etc.

That era of play is long gone; which is a shame, but just happens to be due to the nature of evolving a sport.

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Wayne
Years ago

Nicely summed up Big Marty!

Reply #307550 | Report this post

billo
Years ago

This video has been posted before but it's great comparison of today's dominant centre compared to the dominant centre of 15 years ago. The way Hakeem moves even now as a 48 year old is incredibly smooth and graceful compared to Dwight who's a lot more less fluent.

Agree with the Gasol comparison, he's certainly a big with finesse.

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curious
Years ago

sweet video, thanks!

Reply #307578 | Report this post

Ballinger Fan
Years ago

These days the foreign born centres seem to have more complete post games.

Reply #307589 | Report this post

johnny_sack
Years ago

Can even recognize his voice now - he used to have a really strong accent... That's what 15-16 years will do i guess.

Class. On and off the court.

Reply #307606 | Report this post

johnny_sack
Years ago

Sorry - can't

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Japorms
Years ago

how can we forget our own David Andersen??
its fun to watch him doing those shake and spin moves. and he's doing it many times in NBA!

i know he's not that physically strong enough in NBA but how can we ignore those moves

Reply #307619 | Report this post

Japorms
Years ago

Reply #307621 | Report this post

Ricey
Years ago

The dream can still shake and bake...

How many travels in that video though lol

Reply #307627 | Report this post

Hoops

Centrs like Ewing and Olajuwon?? Still around???

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