Do It Big

Quick, name the best era of NBA big men ever. Late eighties-early nineties? Gotta be, right? You had Kareem padding his scoring record while playing for championships. Patrick Ewing was trying to live up to the title of the Savior of Madison Square Garden. Hakeem and Ralph had earned the Twin Towers nickname before it brought up tragic memories. Bill Walton was getting his Smigel on in Boston way before Sam Cassell did and doing a helluva lot better job of it. You also had Texas's favorite Seaman David Robinson starting his hall of fame career. Not to mention Bill Laimbeer was trying to either block out or knock out every name on this list night in and night out. Then in 91 Mount Mutumbo entered the league and immediately had an impact avg. 16.6 pts 12.3 and almost 3 blocks a night. Yes you read that stat line right. The year after that the Orlando Magic would select Shaquille O'Neal with the first overall pick in the draft which would later prove to be the beginning of the end of an era.



After receiving several first hand lessons on how to be the most dominant big man in the L from Hakeem, Shaq became such an intimidating force that young big men around the country didn't even want to be centers. You see, around the same time of Shaq's emergence there was an almost seven foot tall kid coming straight out of high school named Kevin Garnett and he was a power forward. After his first couple of seasons in the L, Da Kid had made the such an impact and had became so popular that he had future bigs all over the world asking the same question. Why the hell would I want to play center when I could play the four and get to dribble and shoot jumpers instead of being stuck in the paint having to try and guard Shaq and get basketball goals pulled down on my head? KG revolutionized it and power forward became the sexy position. For a good ten years seven footers around the globe were practicing their 18 foot jumpers and crossovers instead of 5 foot hooks and dream shakes. This brought forth a whole generation of players from J.O. to Dirk to the Darkos of the world. Even Tim Duncan was more of a hybrid than a true four or five. It seemed that the only players who were even playing center in the L besides Shaq, were the Todd Maculloghs, Greg Ostertags, and Collins Twins of the world who just weren't quick enough or didn't have the skill set to play this new breed of the four spot.

Earlier this decade we thought we had a potential center savior in Eddy Curry, a big man who not only wanted to be a center but seemed to relish the idea of coming into the league straight from high school as the challenger to Shaq's colossal throne. Unfortunately Eddy didn't share the same appetite for low post destruction that the Big Aristotle had. Turns out that's the only thing Eddy didn't have an appetite for. Then finally in 2002, China finally blessed us with a potential competitor for the crown in Yao Ming. Yao struggled out the gate, but soon found his stride, becoming a global icon and establishing himself as the only other dominate center the league had had outside of the Big Diesel for at least the last seven years and in the process making Charles kiss The Jet's ass. Then in 2004, with the first pick in the draft, Orlando exorcised the ghost of Shaq Fu with the selection of Dwight Howard.

Yao was official, but Dwight brought sexy back to the five spot. With his charismatic personality and ridiculous athletic ability, Howard has become a centerpiece of a franchise for years to come. Think about this in 2001. Did anyone ever envision a legendary Dunk Contest victory by one of the NBA's best centers in this era? Crazy. Then came Young Drew who came immediately from high school to a seat next to Brain Shaw on the Laker bench. Then, on a Christmas day game that was supposed to be all about the Shaq vs. Kobe rivalry, Phil threw Drew into the lions den. Mountain Drew stole the show by getting up off the floor after being crushed by a diesel dunk and putting a spin move and flush of his own on the Big Aristotle and then elbowing Shaq in one of the most dangerous decisions in NBA history. Luckily he wasn't decapitated and after a few seasons of coming back from a knee injury, adding about 20 pounds of beef, and getting tutored by Kareem, Andrew looks ready to carry the title as the next great Laker center. Now this brings us to the NBA's most intriguing enigma, Greg Oden. Greg was an absolute monster in high school and during his year at Ohio State he brought back visions of Bill Russell while pretty much only having the use of his left hand. Now if he can ever stay healthy he has the potential to become the type of defensive presence that could turn his franchise into a contender.

For the first time in over a decade it seems that the big man is back, and for the NBA that's a good thing. Looking at the names listed above, not to mention the emergence of Al Jefferson in Minny, Joakim Noah's continued development, Marc Gasol's upside in Memphis, and maybe even Chris Kaman's Hulk Hogan looking ass, it looks like their will be plenty of healthy low post battles on a nightly basis for years to come. Even the man who was originally the poster boy for the new aged sevenfooter, KG, has seemed to have converted more to the true center position. Timbot, Cambyman, and even the Big Cactus are still banging too. It's not the golden age, but with this new generation of centers the torch is officially being passed.