An Interactive Sports Experience

The Ideal Center

The Ideal Center

Oct 24, 2013

Alright guys its time to take a look at the man in the middle, the center position. Now I have to give a disclaimer here, I know we all love the old school traditional back to the basket type centers but that’s not what in talking about today. We know there are different types of elite centers now and that’s who I’ll be describing today.

Ideal Centers Skill Set: Rim Protector, Elite Rebounder, Finish on Offense

Rim Protector:

Alright now this is something that has never changed. In the NBA you need the biggest player on the team to be the one protecting the rim. Defense is played as a team (not the same can always be said about offense) so if somebody gets beat by their man there should be somebody behind him ready to protect the rim. That guy should be the center. The ideal center doesn’t have to lockdown anybody on the perimeter, all they need to do is shut things down in the paint.

They don’t have to swat every shot out of the arena, they just need to be there to contest shots that come from their domain and the paint is considered the ideal centers domain. The ideal center comes into the game ready to shut down the driving lanes, and swat some shots. Adding on to rim protector defense they also need to be strong enough to defend other big men on the low block.

Elite Rebounder:

The ideal center spends a lot of time around the paint so when they didn’t send the shot back they should be the first one going for the board. Since they’re right there at the basket they should be able to grab a high amount of rebounds, say about 10 to 12.

The ideal center needs to be active on the glass, well they need to be active in general when it comes to protecting their rim and snatching down the rebound before the opponent is a good way to stay active. On offense they should be there for put back rebounds or simply to give the offense another chance at a bucket. The ideal center needs to be as good of a rim protector as he is a rebounder.

Finisher on Offense:

On offense not much is asked of the ideal center. He needs to work for second chance opportunities but at the same time finish those opportunities as well. Pretty much the center needs to be a master at getting “garbage buckets”. You know the simple plays such as being wide open in the paint and finishing the layup, finishing on a tip slam, and scoring off the pick and roll.

The ideal center will do his damage at the rim on defense and it won’t change on offense either. A solid baby hook would be a great bonus and a mid range jumper would be damn near incredible. I’m not going to even touch free throws because centers are historically bad at them so I don’t understand why it’s constantly brought up. The ideal center should just be a guy who can finish a play.

After listing all the criteria there is one man that comes to mind.

The Ideal Center in the NBA : Joakim Noah, Chicago Bulls

Alright guys so what do you think about this starting five:

PG Deron Williams
SG OJ Mayo
SF Kawhi Leonard
PF Paul Millsap
C Joakim Noah

Check back soon for the ideal 6th man up next.

Was good though, it's me Everick Davis Jr. Born and raised in Portsmouth Virginia, I'm currently a senior at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. I watch every sport (not so much golf) but I am huge on the NBA. My favorite players right now are J.R. Smith, Russell Westbrook & Nick Young. Drinking beer and watching sports is my favorite past time and I do it year round! I used to play basketball on the regular until everyone else kept growing and I still stood at 5'6. So that's when I channeled my efforts into becoming the next Stephen A Smith or anything close to that. I currently write for "The Carolinian" newspaper in Greensboro, NC and intern for http://theurbantwist.com/ Random Fact about me, I love anime, my favorite one is One Piece! Second random fact, I got beatz! check me out http://www.reverbnation.com/ielabs

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