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After going through a period of deep deficiency in elite big men, the NBA has finally gone back to the days of yore, when tall, strong and big men dominated the game.
Even though the game today is much more skill-based than it was earlier on, big men have become more and more polished over the years, and have learned to take the perimeter-trending offenses becoming popular across the NBA in their stride.
That is why the best big men in the business today are the biggest matchup nightmares out there for teams which don't have a quality center on their payroll.
Try as you might, basketball is a game which gives an inherent advantage to taller people, and as long as the tallest players in the world are able to stay apace with the trends of the game, there will be no dearth of great big men to savour.
The following is a list of the top 10 centers in the league next season, by expected impact on the fortunes of their team and in terms of their statistical brilliance:
#10 DeAndre Ayton
DeAndre Ayton is a 7'1", 250-pound monster who also happens to be able to run the floor at guard-like speeds.
He has a 40-inch vertical, and the No.1 overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft should be able to be a rim-runner in the mold of a couple of players we'll talk later about right from the start of his NBA career.
The reason why he's been selected at No.1 overall, though, is that Ayton has an offensive package that, combined with his measurables, force people to bring up the legends like David Robinson or Patrick Ewing as players to whom his game is similar.
Ayton's sweet jump shot, his ability to face up big men and beat them off the dribble, a well-developed post game and overall offensive basketball IQ make him a ready-made, fail-safe Rookie of the Year candidate given how the Suns' offense looks likely to be built around him and Devin Booker.
Summer league and preseason action have served to only increase belief in the notion that Ayton was the best player available in this draft.
Jumping out particularly are his surprisingly well-developed NBA-level defensive instincts and his ability to switch.
Even if he's somewhat a defensive liability right now, players with his height and skill set are all but certainties to excel in the NBA.
This is easily the most debatable selection I've made through the article, but I feel Ayton has the potential to outplay his ranking right this year.
#9 Steven Adams
The Oklahoma City Thunder have committed near-max money to their only long-term benefit from the James Harden trade for an eminently good reason.
The ponytailed 7', 260-pound center is the best offensive rebounder in the game today, and one of the most devastating roll men to go with it.
Never the type of player to play beyond his limits, Adams is a stellar player at his usage rate, never wasting a single dribble and doing all of the little things that help OKC win but don't show up on the final box score.
A hard screen-setter, one of the best boxing-out big men as well as one of the most adept centers at switching onto swingmen at the perimeter, Adams plays his role to a T, to the point where a lot of NBA fans would consider him to be a borderline All-Star at this point.
Adams may have reached his ceiling as a player already, but that ceiling is pretty damn neat as is.
#8 Clint Capela
What makes Clint Capela - a slightly shorter and significantly lankier version of Steven Adams in terms of value to his team - a better player is his objectively superior on-ball defending.
Capela is one of the most fleet-footed big men in the NBA today - possibly the most graceful right now - and he uses this expertly on both ends of the floor.
Offensively, Capela is able to provide vertical spacing with his 7'5" wingspan, 30-inch vertical and uncanny knack for rolling at the perfect time for Harden, Paul or Gordon to hit him with a pocket pass for the finish.
He was a terrible free throw shooter at the start of his career, but is making progress on that end and is now no longer a Hack-a-Shaq candidate.
Capela is overall a more impactful defender in the Houston system than Steven Adams and led the league in field goal percentage through the 2017-18 season. That puts him above the Kiwi in our rankings, but the Swissman is followed by another conventional center.
#7 Andre Drummond
Andre Drummond had a career year in 2017-18, making an All-Star team for the second time and leading the league in rebounding once again.
Drummond hit an even higher level last year than in his first All-Star campaign, averaging 15.0 points, 16.0 boards, 1.5 steals, 1.6 blocks and a career-high 3.0 assists per contest. What is arguably even more impressive is him being able to bump his free throw percentage up from 35% to 64% year-on-year.
Drummond's increased playmaking allowed his advanced statistics to see an uptick in BPM and VORP, as he finally made the move towards being a more well-rounded player.
Blake Griffin's ability as a point forward should mean a regression in the assists column for Drummond, but it is unlikely to change his overall impact on the team given his always-improving defense - even though the Pistons are a below-average team defensively with him on the floor.
#6 Al Horford
There's only really one list that does true justice to Horford, and it's one that I haven't written yet - the top 10 most complete players in the game today.
It is difficult, borderline impossible to look over footage of Horford and pinpoint to one single aspect of basketball at which he isn't elite.
Shaquille O'Neal may be unimpressed by his averages and poke fun at being able to average better stats than him today, but he had nothing on Horford in terms of pure offensive skill.
Horford is a point center who has the range of some of the most elite spot-up shooters in the league - averaging 43.4% on his triples during the regular season in 2017-18.
At 33, Horford is able to do whatever is asked of the Celtics, and despite slightly diminished stats from his Hawks days, it is clear that he is at the top of his game, and should continue to be at this level for a couple more seasons.
'Average Al' had best be a nickname people use only jocularly for the Dominican No.3 overall pick in 2007.
#5 Karl-Anthony Towns
For a player who signed a supermax extension this season and made his first All-NBA team in three tries after being selected with the No.1 overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft to be named only No.5 on this list requires people to see things in the light that I'm viewing the Timberwolves through right now.
Towns is an obscenely unique talent – one that almost any NBA team would kill to build around.
Still just 22 years old, it’ll be fascinating to see the heights the big man can reach, especially given that he became the first player in league history to shoot at least 42 percent from three (min: 75 attempts) and block over 100 shots in a single season.
The only thing that's holding Towns down on our ranking is his really poor sense of defensive timing.
There are too many plays in a game when Towns bites on pump fakes or arrives at a shot block a tad too late to affect the shot, and this needs to change for him to rise further higher up this list.
#4 Nikola Jokic
There are two reasons why Jokic has finally taken up the No. 4 spot on the center rankings and displaced KAT from this spot last year on my personal list of elite NBA players:
(a) Jokic's failings at defense are often worse than Towns', but they're usually a result of physique rather than lower IQ. Until Towns is able to sort that out, if he ever can, Jokic is, in my eye, a better defender;
(b) Jokic's ability to play as a point center opens things up for the Nuggets so much that they're up there with the Warriors and the Rockets as a really great offense. Towns' effect on his teammates isn't nearly as pronounced.
The Nuggets' ability to make the playoffs this year hinges on Jokic's availability and ability to orchestrate an efficient offense.
Given that he's surrounded by really good players in the mold of Gary Harris, Jamal Murray and Paul Millsap in addition to Will Barton, Isaiah Thomas and Mason Plumlee, expect Jokic to have borderline MVP caliber impact on the Nuggets' fortunes.
#3 Rudy Gobert
Currently, the best NBA player never to have made an All-Star game roster, Gobert's impact on the Jazz's fortunes is about as MVP-worthy as a primarily defensive player could have.
Consider this - the Jazz were staring down the barrel of lottery selection in the 2018 NBA draft at 19-28 before Gobert staged his comeback from an MCL injury.
The Jazz went on a mean 29-6 run to end the season with a fully healthy Gobert being the only major addition to their squad.
Not only is Gobert the best defensive center the NBA has seen in a while, but he is also a selfless offensive player who never demands more touches than he deserves given his skill set, and he scores pretty efficiently at the volume that he's asked to.
Gobert is the best traditional big man in the game today, and he's going to be here and hereabouts for a few seasons to come, injury absences notwithstanding.
#2 Joel Embiid
Making a case for Embiid as the best center in basketball would have been easier if it weren't for the positional change enjoyed by the No.1 player on this list.
He is the top post-up scorer in the league, but he's skilled enough that his shooting range stretches out till beyond the three-point arc.
The sight of Embiid leading a fast break or knocking down an open three-pointer in transition is not too uncommon.
The 7'2" Cameroonian made 30.8% of his 3.4 three-point shot attempts per game last season, lower than league average but enough to make opposition centers respect his shot and open up driving lanes for Saric and Simmons.
Nobody in the Eastern Conference has the size or length to guard him for extended periods - few people in the entirety of the league can stand a game-long onslaught by the 24-year-old from the low post.
Embiid's opponents shot just 42.0% with Embiid guarding them in 2017-18, including a staggeringly low 50.1% on field goals from less than six feet from the ring.
He ranked eighth in defensive win shares per game among all players, and his defensive rating of 99.7 ranked second among all starting centers.
Embiid is an elite two-way force and has every chance of becoming the face of the league in the years to come.
#1 Anthony Davis
If you really thought this list would end in a big man other than Anthony Davis, I'm not sure you're an NBA fan.
The best big man in the game for four seasons now, Davis will finally play a full season at the center spot for the Pelicans in 2018-19 after the departure of DeMarcus Cousins as a free agent.
There are few things that Anthony Davis can't do on a basketball court. You want him to face up his opponent and score?
He'll do it all day long. Want him to play out of the low post? That's his bread and butter. Need him to be a pick-and-pop scorer? You got that too, with his sweet midrange stroke. Want him to roll hard to the rim every time?
Yeah, I'm sure you'd rather have this 6'11" center with a 7'5" wingspan over just about any other player in the league.
Things don't change when we talk about defense either. Davis is an incredible rim protector, a great post-up defender, an exemplary switching defender and has all the motor in the world to be a dominant weakside defender erasing shots near the rim, as he proved in his game against the Utah Jazz last season when he had a triple-double with blocks.
In my view, Anthony Davis is the third best player in all of basketball after LeBron and Kevin Durant.
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