RealGM

I think he's definitely in the Top 10, I don't know about Top 5 though.....

Here is my list for the best centers in basketball excluding health, basically meaning WHEN HEALTHY. For the record, I don't count Duncan and Pau Gasol as Centers.

1. Yao Ming
2. Dwight Howard
3. Andrew Bynum
4. Andrew Bogut
5. Marc Gasol
6. Nene
7. Shaq
8. Joakim Noah
9. Brook Lopez
10. Kendrick Perkins

I'm not sure if Noah is necessarily better than Lopez, but I know for a fact that I'd much rather have him on my team rather than Lopez, since Lopez is a weak rebounder and defender while those are Noah's strengths. What do you think of my Top 10 list?

1. Dwight
2. Bogut
3. Yao
4. Noah
5. Bynum
6. Gasol
7. Kaman
8. Lopez
9. Haywood
10. Perkins

i say 5th ....
yao m.
pau g.
dwight h.
andrew bogut
joak
brook l.
andrew bynum
mark g.
chris k.

Oskar wrote:1. Dwight
2. Bogut
3. Yao
4. Noah
5. Bynum
6. Gasol
7. Kaman
8. Lopez
9. Haywood
10. Perkins

Bogut above Yao? Haywood above Perkins?

No way is Shaq better than Joakim. Joakim can actually run the floor and play D.

1. Howard
2. Yao
3. Bogut
4. Noah
5. Bynum

1. Dwight
2. Gasol
3. Yao
4. Noah
5. Bynum
6. Bogut
7. Kaman
8. Lopez
9. Haywood
10. Perkins

1. Howard
2. Yao
3. Bogut
4. Bynum (when healthy! Ha)
5. Noah

DelonteLuvYoMom wrote:No way is Shaq better than Joakim. Joakim can actually run the floor and play D.

1. Howard
2. Yao
3. Bogut
4. Noah
5. Bynum

Shaq can't play D? He was specifically brought in by Cleveland to play D. He can't run the floor though, but I think you can still somewhat run your offense through Shaq, sadly you can't through Noah. Still, Yao is being underrated in this thread.

Howard
Yao
Bogut
Lopez
Noah
Bynum (when healthy, above Noah)

WorthyBlitz42 wrote:

DelonteLuvYoMom wrote:No way is Shaq better than Joakim. Joakim can actually run the floor and play D.

1. Howard
2. Yao
3. Bogut
4. Noah
5. Bynum

Shaq can't play D? He was specifically brought in by Cleveland to play D. He can't run the floor though, but I think you can still somewhat run your offense through Shaq, sadly you can't through Noah. Still, Yao is being underrated in this thread.

No he can't play D. He may have been brought to Cleveland for that but so was Ben Wallace to Chicago.

pau is a center playing the 4 people.

I'm trying very hard to not be a homer, so I will be conservative and say top 10.

1. Howard
2. Yao (when healthy)
3. Bogut
4. Lopez (breaking out this season)
5. Bynum
6. Kaman
7. Noah

I see a lot of people overrating Lopez and underrating Bynum, Shaq and Yao.

Noah ranked 13th in PER among centers last season per Hollinger's stats. All of the players ahead of him are starters/high minute guys, with the exception of the injured Oden and Nazr Mohammed.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/hollinge ... sition%3dc

That doesn't tell the true story or the whole story, but perhaps it's worth reviewing before compiling one's list.

mrlancers wrote:I'm trying very hard to not be a homer, so I will be conservative and say top 10.

1. Howard
2. Yao (when healthy)
3. Bogut
4. Lopez (breaking out this season)
5. Bynum
6. Kaman
7. Noah

I agree with your list

Let's keep it in perspective people, Noah was a 10/11 guy this year but before it was 6/7. So he has to prove he can duplicate and even improve this coming season

In comparison Kaman is 18/9 guy last season and basically double digits for half a decade now

mrlancers wrote:I'm trying very hard to not be a homer, so I will be conservative and say top 10.

1. Howard
2. Yao (when healthy)
3. Bogut
4. Lopez (breaking out this season)
5. Bynum
6. Kaman
7. Noah

So, talking about when completely healthy huh? So, are we ignoring how Noah was fighting injury all year? If he was healthy all season, Cliff Levingston doesn't think it's unreasonable to say he would've put up similar numbers to his per 36 numbers this past year, which were:

13 points
13 boards
2.5 assists
0.6 steals
2 blocks

That would easily make him top 5 with Dwight, Yao, Bogut and Bynum.

Scott May wrote:Noah ranked 13th in PER among centers last season per Hollinger's stats. All of the players ahead of him are starters/high minute guys, with the exception of the injured Oden and Nazr Mohammed.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/hollinge ... sition%3dc

That doesn't tell the true story or the whole story, but perhaps it's worth reviewing before compiling one's list.

What good is PER, if as you said, it's tilted toward players who play more minutes. How is a useful metric (besides helping Hollinger keep his job)

trying hard not to be a homer .. here is my rank

1. Howard - Id trade anybody in our team to have him
2. Noah - There are nobody out there other than Howard Id like more than Noah
3. Yao Ming - Normaly id preffer him over Noah but i think his foot issues will put an end on his career.
4. Bogut, Kaman, Bynum and Lopez - Id not trade Noah for none of those.

Hard to say when health factors in.

I'd rather have Noah than guys like Bogut or Yao, but they are both definitely better if/when healthy. My "when healthy" rankings:

Yao *
Howard
Bogut *
Amare *(if C)
Bynum *
Lopez
Kaman
Noah
Perkins
Oden *

Noah's offensive game is definitely limited. He won't likely ever average 15ppg, but he is the ultimate intangible guy. The factor that makes him more valuable than many centers is that he has turned into a pretty good ft shooter, and can stay in games in the 4th quarter w/o being detrimental. Also his passing and vision are excellent which is going to really benefit Boozer.

bulls4ever wrote:trying hard not to be a homer .. here is my rank

1. Howard - Id trade anybody in our team to have him
2. Noah - There are nobody out there other than Howard Id like more than Noah
3. Yao Ming - Normaly id preffer him over Noah but i think his foot issues will put an end on his career.
4. Bogut, Kaman, Bynum and Lopez - Id not trade Noah for none of those.

don't look at it as who's a better fit on the Bulls team (as currently constructed)

if you had to start a team from scratch, where center is your best player

I'd go Howard, Yao, Bogut, Bynum and Noah/Lopez (not sure in which order)