Return of the Center

Over the past decade, the NBA has seen the gradual disappearance of the most dangerous weapon on the hardwood, the center. Despite every team's efforts to find a dominant big man (Greg Oden and Kwame Brown fetching first overall picks), the position has become more of a formality than a weapon. Since 2003, we have witnessed the retirement of almost every elite center in the league, including David Robinson, Shaquille O'Neal and Yao Ming. In fact, if you are listing the elite centers in the NBA since 2006, the list stops at Dwight Howard. Howard is a legitimate freak of nature and a one-man wrecking force when matched up against the overgrown forwards recruited to the center position across the league; this is why he was able to singlehandedly take his Magic to the finals in 2010. Ironically, while the NBA is ready to remove the center position from the all-star ballot, the league is beginning to see the revival of the big man. Dwight Howard may sit alone atop the center rankings, but this time he is not followed by Chuck Hayes and Zydrunas Ilgauskas (a shooting guard stuck in a center's body), but rather by a legitimate field of big men ready to challenge him at the top. Let's start with the player for whom he was traded to Los Angeles: Andrew Bynum. As much as he lacks the grace and elegance of Howard's game, Andrew Bynum is the only center in the league who has proven that he can match Superman's offensive output. A nightly 20-10 threat, Bynum uses his size advantage and post-skills to light up the stat sheet. Looking younger, Greg Monroe is looking to follow up a fantastic sophomore campaign with his first 20-10 season and hopefully remind people that the Pistons didn't evaporate in 2005. At only 22 years old, Monroe has the potential to challenge Bynum for the distinction of East's best center. Moving to Dwight Howard's neighbor to the north, Portland is fielding their own elite center in Lamarcus Aldridge. Aldridge may not be as complete a player as Howard, but he has scored over 20 points per game over the past three seasons and at the age of twenty-seven, he is just entering his prime. Looking to improve upon his rebounding clip of 8.0 per game last year, Aldridge will be an interesting player to watch this year. Finally, we come to a very familiar player but one who is entirely new to the center position. The newly crowned NBA champion Chris Bosh. Bosh made a name for himself as the star power forward on an horrific Raptors team and has now adjusted to life as the third wheel in Miami where he has made the move to the center position. A natural shooter, fierce defender and competent ball handler, Bosh is a nightmare for opposing coaches because defenders need to account for him in the post or at the three-point line, a task made exponentially harder when you consider that LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are on the floor as well. Finally, we come to my favorite player on this list: Demarcus Cousins. At 22 years old, Cousins has put up the type of numbers that make you fear for the league when he enters his prime. His sophomore line of 18.1 and 10.9 is in line with those from Dwight Howard and Chris Bosh. If Cousins is able to continue his progression, we could be seeing the league's next truly elite center. With the center position deeper than it has ever been and new arrivals like Anthony Davis and Andre Drummond, we could be witnessing the revival and resurgence of the classic center position.

-MA