Thunder's Center position

OlDirtMcBert · Post #1 » by **OlDirtMcBert** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 3:47 pm

Perkins, Aldrich, and Thabeet.

And Michael Jordan thought he had to play with 21 feet of ####.

Post #2 » by **sonictecture** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 4:59 pm

It's hard to argue with the lack of production at the center position, but what is the context?

Specifically, do you believe the team needs greater production from the center position to win a championship?

OlDirtMcBert · Post #3 » by **OlDirtMcBert** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 7:16 am

Yes. Perk is great at keeping pivots like Bynum and Howard off their "sweet spots", but otherwise isn't very good. An ideal player for the Thunder, IMO due to the lack of defense when it really matters, would be Al Jefferson. A guy like that can consistently score on the block on anyone in the league. Problem is he gets paid something like 15 mil per season, so he or Nene aren't possible options. I just think the Thunder ponying up 12 million per season for Perkins, Aldrich, and Thabeet is somewhat a death sentence. Is that position going to end up costing them Harden? Ibaka? The juice isn't worth the squeeze.

Devilanche · Post #4 » by **Devilanche** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 1:49 pm

8m of those are from Perkins. And when you're a C, seems the only good values are draft picks or 1st contract players that you developed yourself. Perkins is in the bottom half of C salaries iirc and i'm not too worried about the lack of offence from C. I'm more worried about the lack of flexibilty from brooks.

Old Man Game · Post #5 » by **Old Man Game** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 11:16 pm

sonictecture wrote:It's hard to argue with the lack of production at the center position, but what is the context?

Specifically, do you believe the team needs greater production from the center position to win a championship?

Tough question to answer but it would be nice to have someone you could count on to score on a small forward on the low block when the other team's going small.

JustAwesome · Post #6 » by **JustAwesome** » Sun Oct 7, 2012 5:23 am

OlDirtMcBert wrote:Perkins, Aldrich, and Thabeet.

And Michael Jordan thought he had to play with 21 feet of ####.

In fairness, there aren't a dozen all star caliber centers roaming around like they did during the 1990s.

blackjack · Post #7 » by **blackjack** » Sun Oct 7, 2012 7:37 pm

JustAwesome wrote:
OlDirtMcBert wrote:Perkins, Aldrich, and Thabeet.

And Michael Jordan thought he had to play with 21 feet of ####.

In fairness, there aren't a dozen all star caliber centers roaming around like they did during the 1990s.

This. In today's anybody those 3 aren't nearly that bad

pickIBL · Post #8 » by **pickIBL** » Tue Oct 9, 2012 4:18 pm

Yes the center position is obviously changing. With Anthony Davis this year and Noel coming out next summer you can see where the trend is going. On the defensive side of the ball these guys should be pretty awesome. Offensively (especially Noel right now) these guys are mostly relying on their physical gifts. Dwight Howard is the same way. He is a good player because he is a freak of nature that can catch the ball. The old school back to the basket posts with all the foot work are sadly not around... which is why a healthy Bynum as a first option will be exciting to watch this year. But the 76ers will need guys who can space the floor and shoot the ball now. Thad doesn't exactly fit that.

Especially with the new cap system Perkins is definitely overpaid. If I ran the team Ibaka would be my 5 man most of the time and Perkins would play as needed for match up purposes. I think Jones was a good pick up for you guys and was so pissed he didn't end up in Denver. But Perry Jones playing with Ibaka makes a lot more sense against teams like the Heat since you don't get any offensive advantage with Perkins against them. I wouldn't be shocked if OKC would move Perkins in a deal.

Post #9 » by **og15** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 6:54 pm

Seems like the Hornets are content with playing Davis at PF and Robin Lopez at C, at least for now, so maybe Davis isn't yet a guy to point at in terms of changing the position.

Post #10 » by **slick_watts** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 3:37 pm

Durant has stated he expects to play more PF this year. Ibaka's contract #'s, to me, imply that he's going to play some center. Makes no sense otherwise. The Heat just announced Battier will be the starting PF for the year. Put 2 and 2 together...

Devilanche · Post #11 » by **Devilanche** » Mon Oct 15, 2012 4:09 pm

Amnesty perk and go with a lineup of
Westbrook/Harden/Thabo/Durant/Ibaka or
Westbrook/Harden/PJ3/Durant/Ibaka in future?

Post #12 » by **wizkid27** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 2:11 am

Devilanche wrote:Amnesty perk and go with a lineup of
Westbrook/Harden/Thabo/Durant/Ibaka or
Westbrook/Harden/PJ3/Durant/Ibaka in future?

To me this is the way it will go in the long term. While they've got Perk around they will continue to start him, even if he's only going to play 20 min/game.

bbms · Post #13 » by **bbms** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 2:38 am

Not sold on Ibaka playing fulltime center. He is too light and is a poor man to man defender.

JustAwesome · Post #14 » by **JustAwesome** » Tue Oct 16, 2012 6:44 am

It wouldn't be a full time thing. Ibaka would split his time between forward and center.

PerkinsFor3 · Post #15 » by **PerkinsFor3** » Sun Oct 21, 2012 8:40 pm

If I remember correctly, Aldrich was a very decent college player to say the least. The guy is a great/smart rebounder, good positioning etc. He just needs to learn a trick or two from Perk and Collison about bodying up other big men. He could be a very very servicable center in the near future imo.