Artis Gilmore vs Alonzo Mourning

[penbeast0]

Don't see much separating 1975 from 1976 and I think 1977 (after some time to adjust) and 1978 are quite close to his peak level - just within clearly worse team situation.

Besides, if we strictly talk about offense, then I think that late 1970s Gilmore was a better on that end than 1975.

Yes, they moved him closer to the basket on both ends when he moved to Chicago. It was deliberate and something the coaches and press talked about at the time. This pushed his shooting efficiency up (and, unlike some bigs, he was actually a good FT shooter too). However, it made him less aggressive and he challenged less shots so his defensive impact probably slipped. His first year or two was better on that end, but he got less and less active until he ended up getting tagged with the Rigor Artis nickname for his stationary play which you don't see in his ABA games.

[migya]

I don't know about more skilled, but definitely better. Artis had a height and strength advantage on virtually every opponent and, like Shaq, he didn't have to have a dream shake to be effective. So, even though he may not have had as many moves and counters as Zo, his were more effective due to his physical advantages. Zo had the naturally hyper-aggressive personality that Artis didn't but that was pretty much his sole advantage (though admittedly it's a big one).

I don't think Mourning had more scoring moves than Gilmore though, that's my point. Mourning was quite limited scorer himself who relied on brute strength and physicality. Gilmore's post repertoire is actually quite decent, the only thing that limited him to some degree is his heavy reliance on right block scoring (usually with skyhook or jumphook to the middle). I don't think Mourning scoring bag is wealthier though.

Saying that Zo was completely reliant on strength and physicality as an offensive player is just simply not true in my mind. He had a very respectable mid-range jumper that he could put in the hoop all the way out to 20 feet on a fairly consistent basis. Overall, I definitely feel that Zo was the more well-rounded player on the offensive end. As others have already said, Gilmore was able to get by just off of his sheer size and brute strength, and on top of that, the overall talent pool of Centers during his era was nowhere near what it was during Zo's era. What Zo was able to accomplish with all the other elite Centers in the league having a serious height advantage on him I think makes him the better offensive player on a pound for pound basis. I'm probably in the minority with these thoughts, but at the end of the day this is just my layman's opinion.

Zo's driving and foul drawing ability was very valuable and was probably the strongest asset he had offensively. It's close by Mourning has a good peak among the best crop of Centers of any era. His prime was from his rookie season to his kidney issue and was a reasonable length of time also.

[70sFan]

I don't think Mourning had more scoring moves than Gilmore though, that's my point. Mourning was quite limited scorer himself who relied on brute strength and physicality. Gilmore's post repertoire is actually quite decent, the only thing that limited him to some degree is his heavy reliance on right block scoring (usually with skyhook or jumphook to the middle). I don't think Mourning scoring bag is wealthier though.

Saying that Zo was completely reliant on strength and physicality as an offensive player is just simply not true in my mind. He had a very respectable mid-range jumper that he could put in the hoop all the way out to 20 feet on a fairly consistent basis. Overall, I definitely feel that Zo was the more well-rounded player on the offensive end. As others have already said, Gilmore was able to get by just off of his sheer size and brute strength, and on top of that, the overall talent pool of Centers during his era was nowhere near what it was during Zo's era. What Zo was able to accomplish with all the other elite Centers in the league having a serious height advantage on him I think makes him the better offensive player on a pound for pound basis. I'm probably in the minority with these thoughts, but at the end of the day this is just my layman's opinion.

Zo's driving and foul drawing ability was very valuable and was probably the strongest asset he had offensively. It's close by Mourning has a good peak among the best crop of Centers of any era. His prime was from his rookie season to his kidney issue and was a reasonable length of time also.

This is why I mentioned physicality, Mourning based his scoring game on aggressiveness and that gave him a lot of FTs.

I still don't think the 1990s had clearly better centers than the 1970s. Kareem/Walton/Moses vs Hakeem/Shaq/Robinson are close, then Gilmore/Lanier/McAdoo vs Ewing/Mourning/Mutombo is also a fair discussion.

[tsherkin]

I still don't think the 1990s had clearly better centers than the 1970s. Kareem/Walton/Moses vs Hakeem/Shaq/Robinson are close, then Gilmore/Lanier/McAdoo vs Ewing/Mourning/Mutombo is also a fair discussion.

It's certainly the other peak era of dominant interior play to discuss. The 70s was pretty stacked, and you haven't even really mentioned Reed or Cowens, or even a dude like Alvan Adams in the latter half.