Greatest Center since 1970

Who is the Greatest Center since 1970?

Not sure why only half the Poll came out

Kareem Abdul Jabbar

That Sky Hook was unstoppable; Alcindor all the way!I mean, even when he played college ball, the NCAA banned the dunk for 9 years because of him.

Walton, but it was short lived

Shaq

Ewing!!!!!!!!
 

Dave Cowens, Bob Lanier, Elvin Hayes.  Defining best can be tough.  Cownes was a tremendous defensive player and won two rings.  Kareem just one in the 70's. 

Kareem easily. Maybe you can debate Hakeem, but thats about it.

Cownes was a tremendous defensive player and won two rings.  Kareem just one in the 70's. 

When are people going to stop using rings as a guage for greatness and start understanding the concept of team sports?

WATCH THEM PLAY!!!!!

I understand the concept of team sports, it takes  a team to win a championship, what part don't you understand?  The only goal in a season is a championship.
So why would a player who puts up good numbers be more of a great player, than a player WHO CLEARLY UNDERSTANDS ITS ABOUT TEAM.  Kareem was a selfish player early in his career, no doubt about it.

Don't forget Hakeem Olajuwon.   He outplayed Shaq, P. Ewing and D. Robinson while all three was in their prime.

In my opinion, H. Olajuwon is a complete center, offense, defense, solid shooting %, FT%.   No hole in his game.

David Robinson??? LOL. Good guy. Great player. But not even in the top 10.

My top 10 since 1970:

Kareem
Moses
Hakeem
Shaq
Ewing
Parrish
Cowens
Walton
KG
Lanier

That Sky Hook was unstoppable; Alcindor all the way!

This video shows Wilt blocking Lew's skyhook 2 times within one possession. Only times I've ever seen it blocked.      

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwHP04TWOps]

Kareem
Shaq / Hakeem (too close)
Moses
David Robinson 

1) Kareem
2) Shaq
3a) Hakeem Olajuwon
3b) David Robinson
5) Moses Malone
6) Dwight Howard
7) Bob Lanier
8) Patrick Ewing
9) Robert Parish
10) Alonzo Mourning

hakeem the dream and its not even close

okay... its close Kareem... but i put the dream over kareem because hakeem won back to back titles with a squad that had half the talent kareem played with most of his career.

if you want to argue stats. Kareem wins out in totals but thats mainly because he played longer

hakeem nearly had a quadrouple double in points blocks rebounds assists and steals TWICE

plus ... if we compare the dream shake to the sky hook again its a tough comparison ... no one could stop the hook shot ... but just about anybody hakeem wanted to fake out of his shoes ... he did so... and with ease

hakeem was better deffensively IMO

I'm 60, so I've seen em all.  The 2 years when Walton was rebounding, playing D, and THROWING THE OUTLET PASS was the most dominant a player who has ever played.  After he got hurt, he never came back 100% so he went unappreciated.  They would have easily won the playoffs in 78-79 if he had not got hurt late in the year.  He DOMINATED Kareem in the playoffs in 77-78.

This is not easy because it spans too many decades. There aren't going to be many people on here who are old enough to have seen all the great centers since 1970. I, myself, was born in the late 70s and started watching in the very early 80s. It was around the '83 season when I was old enough to really understand the concept of the game and the playoff system and such. I will try to break it down by decade, and I'm leaving off the guys from the 60s who still played in the 70s, but were past their prime.(e.g. Wilt C, Nate T)

The 70s guys who were NOT relevant in the 80s-
Wes Unseld
Bob McAdoo
Bob Lanier
Dave Cowens 

I did not get to watch these guys play so all I know about them is hearsay, and stat sheets. Impossible to rate/rank them.





The 70s guys who WERE still relevant in the 80s-
Kareem A. Jabbar
Moses Malone 
Bill Walton
Artis Gilmore

I did get to watch these guys play although they were not really in their prime anymore.




The 80s guys-
Robert Parrish
Bill Laimbeer
Hakeem Olajuwon
Patrick Ewing  

I watched these guys' entire careers so I know them well. 




The 90s guys-
David Robinson
Shaq O'Neal 
Alonzo Mourning  

Same as the 80s guys.



Nobody really worth mentioning from the current crop of centers. Dwight Howard MAYBE.


So here's my rankings from what I know.

1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar- I missed his early career when he put up his best numbers, but I still caught several years of him being pretty damn good. It's hard to ignore everything he accomplished. 6 titles, 6 MVPs, the stats, the longevity, the way he changed his game to prolong his career while still staying relevent. He's an easy #1.

2. Hakeem Olajuwon- It's easy to put him ahead of Shaq, but very hard to put him ahead of Moses Malone. Anyway, Hakeem was great at every aspect of the game. He had no faults. Probably the best all around center of all time. 

3. Moses Malone- Possibly the most under-rated and overlooked center of all time. Is it because he played for 9 different teams and wore 8 different numbers in his career? Is it because he retired 4 years too late? The man was great, and he was great for a long time. If you didn't get to see him play, look up his stats and accolades. Almost put him at #2. Maybe if I saw him play his entire career I would have.

4. Shaquille O'Neal- A Dominant force. Slightly better than Hakeem in some areas, but considerably worse in others. Despite his greatness, he had too many faults to put him any higher even with everything he accomplished. 

5. David Robinson- He was so similar to Hakeem. I got to see them play each other so often. I just always felt that Hakeem was a little better. I put Shaq ahead of him on success alone. They are pretty equal to me. 

6. Patrick Ewing- Poor guy was unfortunate to play during the Jordan era. That doesn't mean he wasn't damn good though because he was. Stat wise he's right up their with his counterparts, but what seperates them is that he never won anything so he's the "worst" of the greatest 80s-90s guys. 

7. Robert Parish- He had the privilege of never having to be THE go-to guy, but he was still great. He played way too many years though. 

8. Bill Laimbeer- Same as Parish really, but better on defense, and worse on offense. A real glue guy that was above average in all aspects of the game but only great in a few. 

9. Bill Walton- Man this guy was hard to rank. I missed his prime, but hell... his prime was so short you could have blinked and missed it. One of the best examples of an injury killing a career before it even peaked. He would no doubt been WAY higher on this list. Don't believe me? Look at what he did in his last fully healthy year at only 24 years old.

Like I said before, I couldn't possibly rank the 70s guys without having seen them play. They all have better stats than the 80s-90s guys in their prime, but can you rate them on stats alone? I don't think so. Some of them won championships, MVPs, etc... I still didn't see it so I'll never truly know. 

hakeem nearly had a quadrouple double in points blocks rebounds assists and steals TWICE 

Actually, Hakeem is 1 of 4 players to have a confirmed quadruple double. He actually had 2.