Which teams will be after free agent Centers this season and how much will they sign for?

[bwgood77]

There are a number of them, and last year some took low contracts and Noel turned down an offer he will likely not get again in my estimation (I'm guessing most people's estimation but I won't pretend to know exactly what the offer was or what people might offer).

But I've read some GMs say that after the NBA "bubble" there will be kind of a depression, particularly in this free agency, with limited teams with cap space and teams that do have it holding out for stars.

What will the market be and what centers do you think might get decent deals and by which teams?

[RaptorsLife]

1 player I really hope goes to the spurs. Is Lucas Nogueria. his advanced stats are fantastic. smart passer. great touch. 7'7 wingspan
he can shoot the 3. only 25 years old

He is just not confident. I think pop would make him a really nice player. 2 years 8 million something like that

[macNcheese3]

Pop would definitely make a lot of guys better as that’s just what he does.


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

[Capn'O]

I definitely see the depression coming. There's just not as much money to throw around now that the cap has settled.

To answer the unasked question - Your competition for Len will be Dallas, imo. I can't see them bringing Noel back. They'll have money to burn and want to throw it at someone young and promising.

[JamesConway]

I'd imagine that lots of guys will have to settle for cap exception deals.

[dukes_wild]

With how much teams are spending on their guards/wings, I just don't see Centers getting that much money unless they are all-star caliber talent or All-NBA defensive talent. It's a perimeter oriented league. It's just a smarter usage of money to pay for 3/D guys who play on the perimeter.

[IgorK]

Big men have always been overpaid in the NBA. The summer of 2018 will be no different. Just some of the names available as it stands now:

DeMarcus Cousins
DeAndre Jordan
Jusuf Nurkic
Greg Monroe

Those guys will all demand max or near-max.

Nerlens Noel
Clint Capela
Aron Baynes

These guys might not be superstars but they'll also get a good chunk of change. Can't teach size, even in today's NBA somebody's gotta be tall in the middle.

[Cavaliers2]

Big men have always been overpaid in the NBA. The summer of 2018 will be no different. Just some of the names available as it stands now:

DeMarcus Cousins
DeAndre Jordan
Jusuf Nurkic
Greg Monroe

Those guys will all demand max or near-max.

Nerlens Noel
Clint Capela
Aron Baynes

These guys might not be superstars but they'll also get a good chunk of change. Can't teach size, even in today's NBA somebody's gotta be tall in the middle.

Capela will/should definitely get more than Monroe

[clyde21]

Depends. If it's just got like Nerlens Noel who doesn't offer much other than rim protection, he won't get paid much in this NBA environment. Bigs nowadays need to have a more diversified skill set to be paid, otherwise you can get rim protection for a fraction of the price.

[asudevil]

Today's NBA center needs to be MUCH more well-rounded that before.

a.) Can defend the perimeter/pick and roll
b.) Can shoot outside of 15ft
c.) Can offensive rebound
d.) Can dribble/handle the ball
e.) Can low post/good hands
f.) Can defensive rebound/boxout/outlet pass
g.) Can RUN
h.) Can shoot FT
i.) Can defend the low post

NO, you do not have to have all of these. But if you cannot do probably 7/9 of these then you will not get your money. A decade ago you GOOD C could do 5/9 and get a near max contract. Today, 5/9 probably gets you less than MLE....but 7/9 gets you a near max.

For example Len: c/f/g/h/i. Today he's maybe a 4/36-40 guy. A decade ago with today's money he'd be a 4/70-80 guy or more. Same with someone like Jordan.

A guy like Len needs to be in the perfect situation to succeed. Give him a team with outside shooters everywhere, where he can focus on the inside game on both sides and he'd excel. Give him a team with no outside shooters (AKA the suns) where the D can double down low, and against a C who can shoot from outside 15ft and he looks like a below average C.

[AdagioPace]

Today's NBA center needs to be MUCH more well-rounded that before.

a.) Can defend the perimeter/pick and roll
b.) Can shoot outside of 15ft
c.) Can offensive rebound
d.) Can dribble/handle the ball
e.) Can low post/good hands
f.) Can defensive rebound/boxout/outlet pass
g.) Can RUN
h.) Can shoot FT
i.) Can defend the low post

NO, you do not have to have all of these. But if you cannot do probably 7/9 of these then you will not get your money. A decade ago you GOOD C could do 5/9 and get a near max contract. Today, 5/9 probably gets you less than MLE....but 7/9 gets you a near max.

yawn, all this talk about "modern centers"
all-aroundness for centers is overrated
Most of their value comes from defense.
In case they are only average defensively,ok, they need to be all-around skilled to offer a "starter value". But that's it.

It's not like a center good at passing the ball was not useful 20 years ago. They will always be useful. Shooting is the last thing I want my center to learn. We're not talking about power forwards here. It's not the end of the world if he can't shoot. It always depends on the roster

The immaculated profile you're picturing simply doesn't exist in reality (unless we're talking about top 20 players all-time). There's not a single center in the league that possesses all the requisites you're mentioning. Those who are below average or average at everything simply don't impact the game enough.

[asudevil]

Today's NBA center needs to be MUCH more well-rounded that before.

a.) Can defend the perimeter/pick and roll
b.) Can shoot outside of 15ft
c.) Can offensive rebound
d.) Can dribble/handle the ball
e.) Can low post/good hands
f.) Can defensive rebound/boxout/outlet pass
g.) Can RUN
h.) Can shoot FT
i.) Can defend the low post

NO, you do not have to have all of these. But if you cannot do probably 7/9 of these then you will not get your money. A decade ago you GOOD C could do 5/9 and get a near max contract. Today, 5/9 probably gets you less than MLE....but 7/9 gets you a near max.

yawn, all this talk about "modern centers"
all-aroundness for centers is overrated
Most of their value comes from defense.
In case they are only average defensively,ok, they need to be all-around skilled to offer a "starter value". But that's it.

It's not like a center good at passing the ball was not useful 20 years ago. They will always be useful. Shooting is the last thing I want my center to learn. We're not talking about power forwards here. It's not the end of the world if he can't shoot. It always depends on the roster

The immaculated profile you're picturing simply doesn't exist in reality (unless we're talking about top 20 players all-time). There's not a single center in the league that possesses all the requisites you're mentioning. Those who are below average or average at everything simply don't impact the game enough.

I feel like you are arguing against me while supporting what i've just said. Yes, a C 20 years ago didnt have to do everything to be useful. Anyone who could rebound/D/post/with good hands would have excelled. Today it's just not enough....and TODAY if you want to earn big money you have to do more than be able to hang around the rim on both ends of the floor.

Your prototype C today has to do more than stand 5ft from the rim on BOTH ends of the floor. Why did both Len/Noel get nothing more than their QO? Why did Okafor get traded for almost nothing? Why does Robin Lopez have little value? Why has Nurkic fallen off? There are C's today that are way overpaid because they havent shown even the slightest when it comes to expanding their game. Guys like Cousins/Vuc/Jokic/Brook Lopez/Mar Gasol/Towns either tripled or added a 3pt shot to their game over the past two seasons. The game has changes for the C. And unless you EXCEL at a few of the "old game" mechanics a C today isnt going to get paid.

[The_Hater]

Big men have always been overpaid in the NBA. The summer of 2018 will be no different. Just some of the names available as it stands now:
.

While this is historically true, I think the tide has turned on this as every team has finally figured out that the league plays perimeter based basketball now. And there’s already a glut of overpaid Centers with no trade value dotting most NBA rosters.

I think the top guys will get paid, like Cousins, but a lot will be left looking for big contract offers that won’t be coming. Like Monroe and Noel.

[Xherdan 23]

Those guys will all demand max or near-max.

Nerlens Noel
Clint Capela
Aron Baynes

They can demand whatever they want, even Billions like Lavar and BBB. Non of them is getting anywhere near a max contract.

[JXL]

Athletic big men like a DeMarcus Cousins are going to get paid. Lumbering Roy Hibbert-type big men will be looking at veteran's minmums for a while.

[Johnny Bball]

The centres with flaws that can’t stay on the floor except against other big slow centres? That’s what I will assume you mean. 8 million. Maybe 10 at the top end, but seems more like eight and the MLE. Nobody is going to build their team around these guys anymore, instead they will supplement it with them.

[matt6715]

The centres with flaws that can’t stay on the floor except against other big slow centres? That’s what I will assume you mean. 8 million. Maybe 10 at the top end, but seems more like eight and the MLE. Nobody is going to build their team around these guys anymore, instead they will supplement it with them.

Exactly - You can't expect to build a winning team if you have a situational guy taking up 20% of your cap space.

I do think Capela is in for a big payday because of how great he pairs with CP3 and Harden - Houston has to pay him

[OGLife]

There are a number of them, and last year some took low contracts and Noel turned down an offer he will likely not get again in my estimation (I'm guessing most people's estimation but I won't pretend to know exactly what the offer was or what people might offer).

But I've read some GMs say that after the NBA "bubble" there will be kind of a depression, particularly in this free agency, with limited teams with cap space and teams that do have it holding out for stars.

What will the market be and what centers do you think might get decent deals and by which teams?

So long as there are elite guys at every position, guys will get paid accordingly

[Pointgod]

Big men have always been overpaid in the NBA. The summer of 2018 will be no different. Just some of the names available as it stands now:

DeMarcus Cousins
DeAndre Jordan
Jusuf Nurkic
Greg Monroe

Those guys will all demand max or near-max.

Nerlens Noel
Clint Capela
Aron Baynes

These guys might not be superstars but they'll also get a good chunk of change. Can't teach size, even in today's NBA somebody's gotta be tall in the middle.

The bubble is about to pop in the free agency market. The only guy that's getting a max from that group is Cousins and maybe Jordan. There just isn't enough cap space and the game is more perimeter oriented. Even guys like Brook Lopez will probably get 10-15 million dollar deals.

[OGLife]

Big men have always been overpaid in the NBA. The summer of 2018 will be no different. Just some of the names available as it stands now:

DeMarcus Cousins
DeAndre Jordan
Jusuf Nurkic
Greg Monroe

Those guys will all demand max or near-max.

Nerlens Noel
Clint Capela
Aron Baynes

These guys might not be superstars but they'll also get a good chunk of change. Can't teach size, even in today's NBA somebody's gotta be tall in the middle.

The bubble is about to pop in the free agency market. The only guy that's getting a max from that group is Cousins and maybe Jordan. There just isn't enough cap space and the game is more perimeter oriented. Even guys like Brook Lopez will probably get 10-15 million dollar deals.

Jordan is not touching more than 20 mill per. He’s not the young guy anymore.