Blame the Injury prone centers on the pathetic medical staff that most teams have.

it does seem the pf as a centre has been very popular for awhile now.

I think that the offensive focus has shifted to the PG's (and probably forwards)

Look at PG's back in the 90s..they were scoring well.

But not like we are seeing in this era:

Westbrook (24ppg)
Rose (25 ppg)
Paul (20 ppg)
Parker (20 ppg)

Centers these days are primarily required to block/challenge shots and rebound.

The game has changed as such.
But I would put it down this..Perhaps PG's and secondary ball-handlers are more reluctant these days to pass the ball down low.

NBA has become a fast paced game where transition baskets are common.
Slower centers may struggle to keep up, whereas PGs and Forwards flourish because they can get up and down the court quick.

Mobile PF's are more of an offensive focus today.

The center position is not just made up by the player. Most centers score from the post. To get the ball here they need a good pass from a PG. A past first point guard is hard to come across these days. I can only think of three: Rondo, Paul and Nash and possibly Parker. From these 4 guards 3 of them have been around the league for a while. So many point guards are manly scores these days and arnt giving the others a chance to score. Eg inbound the ball to PG, PG dribbles up, PG creates to score for himself.

Bynum, duncan, howard, ? pretty good big men if you ask me!

Birdman

The 3 you mentioned above is good in the current era. However a prime Hakeem would dominate all of them. Ewing would jump shoot all over them.
Robinson would have his days.

Gasol & Bogut also good, just not freaks!

Shaq & Ming were dominant cause they are huger than the average massive centre.

Hakeem my favourite player. got the 94/95 nba finals on tape. i think it was Houston v Knicks, i think i got tapes of orlando being in the finals around then too.

Not sure if Hakeem would "dominate" those 3. Duncan is arguably the greatest PF of all time.

Some good Big men coming through in the next few years : Noel, Austin, Adams, Tarczewski, Ridlely, Coleman are all top 15 prospects in this years HS class (surely 1 or 2 of them will pan out). Also the number of PFs in this years draft is really high.

Kareem still leads all scorers but, yeah, I've got a soft spot for Hakeem too.

http://www.nba.com/statistics/default_all_time_leaders/AllTimeLeadersPTSQuery.html?topic=4&stat=1

There was a great article just in the last week (can't remember which site though sorry) talking about this. The guy runs through the rule changes that basically explains why you won't get dominant centres anymore. It really comes down to what the defence is allowed to do. Back in the 90's and before they could not run zones and they could not collapse on the centres as soon as he got the ball. With the rule changes they can these days, and with the no hand check rule it quickened the demise of the dominant big man while also speeding up the ascent of the scoring PG.

Hakeem was a freak mate. He was doing things a man of his height shouldn't do. Things a small forward would normally do.

If Hakeem, Ewing and Robinson were in the current era with all the latest in sports management, injuries, technology etc, I think they'd be even better now than when they did play.

All around the world the game has got quicker with more mobile frontcourt players and that has made it harder for the traditional big.

It's also a classic example of comparing the greatest from an overall era of the past with the best of the current year to year.

In 10 years time people will prob be mentioning Duncan, Howard, Gasol and Yao and asking why the big men arent as good anymore!

The game has been hijacked by garden gnomes. Starting right down at grass roots level, you don't often find big coaches coaching kids how to play big, and feeding the post is almost a lost art. Kids are rewarded way too much for hacking up low percentage three point attempts (in my opinion 3's should be taken out of the game till U16}. Big kids are told to post up only to watch the ball constantly fly over their heads, and posting up means that you have effectively boxed yourself out for the rebound. Either that or screen at the elbow to let the PG have a free path to the basket and take yourself out of rebound position again.

AD, I would say it would depend on the era. Despite the Athleticism of the modern day forward/center in Bynum/Howard, if you put any of them in that 80's/90's playstyle; most of them would cry because it's too physical.

I'm fairly sure Howard and Bynum would get torn to shreds if they went up against the 91/92 Knicks Front Court. McDaniels, Ewing and Oakley would beat the crap out of him.

If you went the other way and put the likes of Robinson, Ewing, Olajuwan etc. in the modern game; they would still win out because Centers used to be more rounded. Nowadays they are just roleplayers.

This may be of help as we hear great NBA players discuss this topic:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28dyxS6y7i0

Some really great points made on this board. I would say that the versatility has also changed the traditional big man play over the years especially players from Europe. 7 footers like Nowitzki, Gasol, Bargnani,and Okur have made a the traditional back to basket center seem as a thing of the past.

Also If you watch the NBA playoffs game 5 Phoenix Suns vs LA Clippers 2006 series on you tube the Suns don't have a traditional center. Amare Stoudamire was injured and Clippers centre Chris Kamen is forced to guard Shaun Marion on the wing. I think these "small ball" line ups have taken away some of the relevance of having a big man playing in the Centre.

Rule changes may be part of it, then there is the injuries and of course I agree that the role of the centre is not what it used to be either.

But what is the definition of the centre these days?

Back to the basket - strong - presence - dominate - be a target - set screens

Big men are developing more versatility I believe, not to be seen as only capable of playing the one position, so maybe there is no real issue here, maybe it is just a subtle evolution we are seeing...!

I'd bet that the next big guy who comes along and starts dominating the paint will suddenly have people talking about how the centre has returned to the NBA and once again we will circle our wagons...

Lets not overlook that there are some good young centres who are progressing nicely. Monroe, Hibbert, McGee & Cousins will all push Bynum as the 2nd best centre behind Howard in the coming years. None of these guys are the next Olajuwon/Ewing/Robinson, but there is some depth of higher end talent at the position.

I look at it from a different point of view.

Olajuwon/Ewing/Robinson all played against inferior opponents. Anyone that was 7 foot that could catch a basketball would be put into the NBA. These days it is totally different with all centers being quality basketballers. So those big 3 names stood out so much purely because of the talent they were playing against. In fact you could make a case that these 3 players weren't as good as past centers such as Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell because these guys averaged over 20 rebounds per game. The point is the game continues to change.

I think McDaniels and Oakley wouldn't even make the NBA these days. Also I think Ewing would struggle in the NBA if he was playing now. Robinson and Olajuwon would be alright but would not stand out.

Bear, what about being a good passer?

Yeah, for sure, something I see so much at all junior levels is the value of being tall enough to see the pass and not get blocked passing to a team mate...

Big guys often make some of the best passers going around!

Blocking shots is also a no brainer I guess!

Big James I don't agree with your statement. There were plenty of good to decent centers who played in the Olajuwon/Ewing/Robinson/Shaq era. Vlade Divac, Rik Smits, Brad Daughtey, Rony Seikaly, Mark Eaton, Alonoz Mourning.

I agree with your point about Chamberlain and Russel but to suggest that Olajuwon/Robinson/Ewing only dominated because of the era they played in is wrong. They would dominate in the current NBA and remember Smits and Divac made the All-star games at the end of there careers when Olajuwon/Robinson/Ewing retired or were at the twilight of their careers. Smits and Divac were better earlier in their careers and only made the All-star game at the end because of the lack of depth at the Centre positions.

Golden era for Centres was in the nineties period.

Interesting point made about injuries. Maybe there is a correlation between the increasing pace of the game placing more stress on the big bodies and subsequently causing more severe injuries.

How often do we see those big, athletic types going down with knee injuries moreso now than in the past.

Just a hypothetical.

Evolution guys, evolution!

Faster pace, more athleticism, better skill sets, stronger bodies, advanced training methods, defensively teams can choke the key and take away space, blocking and hand checking seems to be okay these days, increasing emphasis on outside and mid range shooting, guards inability to dish the ball (rather taking it to the rack on most occasions)...

No wonder the big man finds it tough, so are they actually better these days, to be able to cope with the changes evolving in the game?

Duncan is a legend (one of the best ever)...

Yao Ming injuries are likely more to the fact how excessively tall he was which was a constant problem with players like Ralph Sampson who never truly achieved his greatness because of injuries. Zyrunus Illgaukas, George Mursuean and Rik Smits also battled terrible injuries and were very tall. Although Smits case was probably a little different due to the fact he consistently played throughout his career despite his injuries.