Someone requested that I write more sports articles for The Odyssey because the friend zone and political articles from the other authors were getting old and played out, fair enough. I do love basketball, and it's one of the few sports besides golf I have extensive knowledge on, so I guess I can talk about that. It's time to take on a topic that needs to be talked about, the NBA center position.
Yes, the center. The big guy. Your Number 5 in the starting lineup. After going deeper and deeper into this decade, the amount of true centers are dwindling. Why is this happening? Easy. The identity of professional basketball is changing, and in my opinion, you can thank the Golden State Warriors and the Miami Heat for changing the entire aspect of basketball.
So let's start with the obvious, Golden State. The Splash Brothers and friends. High levels of offense, acceptable levels of defense, yet it is incredibly entertaining and efficient to watch. I consider Golden State the masters of "small ball" basketball. No centers, just straight up shooting with no one large in size. Is this bad? Of course not, because the win/loss record proves it works. The Miami Heat kind of started this small ball movement when Lebron James was there, Golden State perfected it, and now every team uses this small ball basketball in a form when it is appropriate.
I am writing this article while watching the Spurs vs Clippers go at it, and it's scary how everything with the center position has changed, even the Spurs, one of very few traditional basketball teams left in the league, have adopted this change with Pau Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge. Their big guys are shooting 3's whenever they get the chance. Could you imagine if Tim Duncan had a 3 point shot? He would have been borderline illegal to play against in his prime, unless your name happened to start with Dirk. And the amount of these new centers in the NBA have a three point shot now are incredible. Anthony Davis, Demarcus Cousins, and Marc Gasol just to name a few. Sure, there are still true centers out there, but it's rare to find now-a-days. So let's go back to the original question:
Is the Traditional Center In the NBA Obsolete?
My answer is that it's gonna get to the point where the center position will become a last art and that anyone that doesn't shoot 3's most likely won't fit in an NBA team. A lot of teams live and die by the 3 point shot, and the art of the points in the paint by a big man is a lost art. If only basketball went back to the good old times.
