RealGM

Is this the greatest batch of centers ever? I'm not sure I'd go that far. For one thing, the group in their primes (ages 26 to 30) isn't much to look at -- other than Yao, Samuel Dalembert and Brendan Haywood are the best of the bunch. So at best, we probably need to wait a few years for the younger generation to hit their peaks.

Link To Article: http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/ ... ers-080110

No.

lol.................I guess but only because there is like 2-3 centers in the league.

1> Dwight
2> Yao?
3> ummm......Bynum? Amare? Shaq?

yeah......

I am copying this from a recent post I made on the other board. It refers to Sam's salary and where it slots amongst other centers.

Keep in mind I think he is overpaid- but he is paid like an average center, not a top one like some people think.

BTW- you will never guess who brought up the whole Sam is horrible" argument in starting this pose. His name rhymes with pricky...


Sam is overpaid- but keep things in perspective. He does not make top 5 center money. Depending on who you call a center- that would be about 16M.

There are 10 C (or F/C like Bosh,Duncan and Sheed) that make 13M+ (11 if you include Howard, who's extensions starts next year)

Sam makes 10.3M this year- about 14th for centers and 55th highest overall in the NBA. Here are the 12 centers who make in the ballpark of Sam (+/- 2M): I will )*the bargains

Lafrenz 12.3M
Ilgaskas 10.8M
Dampier 10.6M
*Camby 9M
Nene 8.8M
Troy Murphy 9.2M
*Kaman 8.6M
Kwame Brown 9.1M
Chandler 10.1M
Curry 9M
Brad Miller 10.5M
Okur 8.5M

I look at this list and feel that Sam is getting about market value for a second level center. He is overpaid- because the league overpays centers. There are centers making 6M+ who don't even play regularly (Jerome James and Blount come to mind.)

Obviously there are centers who are better or nearly as good as Sam and make less money- mostly players who don't start or are still on their rookie contracts.

No, he's a role player, that's it.

The man is our only frontcourt option (offensively) and scoring about 11 points, most on dunks, putbacks, and excellent set-ups by the 2 Andre's.

Defensively he's a good weakside shotblocker, but that's it.

Ok, he's playing a little better this season, but I'm afraid he will not be better anyhow.
If you look at a player like Bynum, we can only be jealous.

But, look on the bright side, within 2-3 years, we can start shopping the guy.

The center position is shrinking the shaqs, yao, sammy d and the likes of Amare, Sean Williams, its like having 2 PF on the floor.

Um...
The author is pretty much trashing Dalembert in that quote.

the group in their primes (ages 26 to 30) isn't much to look at -- other than Yao, Samuel Dalembert and Brendan Haywood are the best of the bunch. So at best, we probably need to wait a few years for the younger generation to hit their peaks.

He's not saying including Dalembert and Haywood in with but, but saying "other than Yao, the 2nd and 3rd best centers are Dalembert and Haywood, proof that the position's weak".

Easily misinterpreted, but if you say "other than yao, dalembert and haywood are the best" without separating Yao from Dalembert and Haywood, it doesn't make grammatical sense. There's nobody else to be "are the best". It's a statement showing the distance between Yao and Dalembert/Haywood, not including Dalembert/Haywood with Yao as reasoning for the position being strong.