NBA: 4 Old school style centers who are still relevant today

The skill requirements to play the center position in the NBA has changed. It used to be perhaps the dominant scoring position in the game. It used to be about strictly post play and rebounding. Shot blocking was also a requirement defensively. Skills like speed and defending the perimeter were not. Neither was the ability to shoot the three.

According to the greatest scorer in NBA history, a center, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar stated:

"An effective center should have the ability to deny the opposition any easy points in the paint," Abdul-Jabbar—a six-time champion and most valuable player, the league's all-time leading scorer, and arguably the best to ever play the position—said in an email interview. "Offensively a great center will have an arsenal of shots that make him impossible for one man to guard."

In today’s game, a center needs to defend the perimeter and needs to be able to get up and down the floor. The game is played at a quicker pace and less reliance on isolating a particular player on offense. The game today is almost position-less with an emphasis on passing, dribbling, speed and athleticism.

"Who do kids emulate?" asks all-time great Jerry West, the inspiration for the NBA's logo. "They don't emulate big players. They emulate smaller people who can dribble the ball through a damn Coke bottle. Those are the things that excite kids."

"Everybody wants to be like Michael Jordan," adds Hall of Fame center Patrick Ewing.

Jerry West is an NBA legend and was a point guard/shooting guard. Patrick Ewing was the prototypical center of years past. Both former greats are right. Everyone wants to be Michael Jordan or Allen Iverson. Kyrie Irving and James Harden excite fans with their ball handles and crossover ankle breaking moves.

A 250-270 pound center is not pretty. He is like a bull in the china shop. The size and the power is impressive but blasé. Its expected. At the moment, there are only a few old school centers caught up in the transition from the old style of play to the position-less skilled and fast-paced game of today. Let's have a look at them.

#1 JaVale McGee

JaVale McGee has been an enigma in the NBA. He has many of the tools an NBA center needs to stay relevant in today’s game. He is a 7 foot 270-pound center. He is quick, athletic and had hops. However, JaVale McGee over the years has been called out many times over the by Shaquille O’Neal in a segment he does on NBA TV called “Shaqtin The Fool”.

"Nuggets broadcaster Scott Hastings once summarized McGee perfectly: "He does things that make you go, 'Wow.' Then he does things that make you go, 'wow.'"

McGee was traded from Washington to Denver on March 15th, 2012. He proceeded to sign a 4 year $44 million dollar contract. It didn’t work out. Injuries and then a lack of playing time hurt McGee’s progress in Denver. Not much of a shooter or a post player, McGee was ineffective in the 2012-13 season.

In 2013-14 he played 5 games before suffering a broken tibia. That injury persisted through the next season causing him soreness in the recuperating leg leading to him playing in only 23 games. By middle point of the 2014-15 season, McGee was in Philadelphia.

After Philadelphia waived him McGee signed a 2 year deal with Dallas. McGee played in 34 games with Dallas and averaged just 10.9 minutes a game in 2015-16. The Golden State Warriors obtained his services after Dallas waived McGee on July 8th, 2016.

It was also discovered he had anemia a lack of iron in the blood. This limited his ability to heal. Since then, McGee has reclaimed his career. His two seasons with Golden state were championship seasons and he played big roles helping the Warriors win.

“The atmosphere here is great, it’s so positive, positivity definitely helps when you play basketball. It’s no negative vibes, nothing negative about it so it’s definitely a great environment.”

He has credited Golden State head coach Steve Kerr and assistant coach Jason Collins for his renaissance.

“That’s like my designated coach, and he really helps with the plays and really knowing where I need to be on the court,” McGee said. “The rest is just me knowing my role and excelling in that.”

It would seem McGee has been misunderstood. He would not still be a contributing member of the NBA if his work ethic and talent were in question. This year, before getting injured. McGee who signed a one year deal with Los Angeles is averaging 11.8 points per game, 6.7 rebounds and 2.6 blocks in 31 games.

#2 Brook Lopez

Brook Lopez was drafted 10th overall in 2008 by the then, New Jersey Nets. Lopez is a big center at 7 foot 268 pounds. He is known mostly for his low post game and offense around the basket. He was essentially the old school center teams are moving away from.

He was included in a deal that sent Kyle Kuzma to the Los Angeles Lakers for D'Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov on June 22, 2017. He spent one year in Los Angeles and then signed this summer in Milwaukee.

What is rather remarkable is how Brook Lopez had never hit a three-point shot in his first 6 seasons in the NBA. Lopez then made three 3 pointers over the next two seasons. Suddenly, his last three seasons have been a revelation from behind the arc.

Including this season, he has made 322/942 for a 34% average. It’s a skill that will keep him in the NBA for a while. Lopez is currently 30 years old. The change in Lopez started before the 2016-17 when Kenny Atkinson became the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets.

"At the time, it was kind of the system that we ran in Brooklyn," Lopez recounted in explaining why he took up the 3. "It was something he wanted to implement, and he had great confidence that I could do it."Lopez said.

Lopez is shooting lights out from behind the arc. Lopez had a career-high eight 3-pointers and 28 points in a 121–114 in a Bucks victory over the Nuggets, on November 11th, 2018. He also scorched the Raptors, over a week ago, in Milwaukee’s victory with a 19 point performance on 5-8 shooting from the arc.

#3 Dwight Howard

Portland Trail Blazers v Washington Wizards

Howard is a 6'11 center who was once a franchise player. He was drafted 1st overall in the 2004 NBA draft by the Orlando Magic. In his 14th season, Howard has piled up a number of distinguishing career moments.

He was an 8-time All-Star, a 5-time rebounding leader in the NBA, a 3-time Defensive Player of the year, NBA Slam Dunk Contest winner in 2008 and a 2-time blocks leader. Howard was extremely athletic. He used that athleticism to terrorize offensive attackers averaging 2 blocks per game for his career.

If Howard is on the floor, the backboards belonged to him. He averages 12.7 rebounds for his career and had his best rebounding season in 2012 averaging 14.5 rebounds a game.

He was never really a shooter at the offensive end and still is not. However, Howard used his powerful 265 pound 6'11 frame to dominate around the basket. Often the roller in the pick and roll, Dwight Howard would finish lob passes above the rim.

When isolated on the low post block, he would overpower his defender. His high 58.3% field goal percentage is largely a result of his work under the basket in the offensive zone. Howard has also played in 95 career playoff games for Orlando, the Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets and Atlanta.

During the 2011-2012 season, Howard averaged 20.4 points and 14.5 rebounds per game developed back problems with a herniated disc. Howard required surgery to fix the problem and would only play in 54 games for Orlando.

He was traded in the summer of 2012 to the Los Angeles Lakers and would proceed to have a strange season. He did dominate on the glass recording an average of 12.4 rebounds per game, which was the best in the NBA. However, his offense always limited to post dominance was slightly off In Los Angeles.

Playing with Kobe Bryant, Howard felt he was not getting the ball enough. His scoring average dipped to 17.1 points per game his lowest scoring average since his third season. Howard's field goal percentage of 57.8% was second in the league.

Kobe Bryant and Howard just didn't understand how to play with each other and Kobe stated the following about the situation:

"I've tried to go out of my way to get him the ball," Bryant told Y! Sports. "Sometimes I end up looking like an idiot, because I get up in the air, I've got a shot, but I try to find him. But he thinks I'm going to shoot, so his back is turned. I'm trying to think about getting him the ball a lot – take care of him as much as I possibly can. It takes me out of rhythm a little bit, but I'm fine with that. If that's going to help our team, I'm more than willing to do that."

Just several months removed from his back surgery Howard was struggling in Los Angeles. He was not effective offensively and his defensive prowess came and went. He was simply inconsistent.

Since that one season in Los Angeles, Howard has kind of bounced around the league. He has always been able to run the floor and defend but teams just do not isolate and set up post players anymore. Howard acknowledged this about his time in Houston.

“I haven’t had a system where I can be who I am since I was in Orlando. The fact that I played with a Kobe [Bryant], a James [Harden], and they were ball-dominant, affected me. But I’ve been in this system before, and I know how dominant I can be. I think I’m smarter now, and that is going to allow me to use my quickness and explosiveness in a better way.”.

After Los Angeles, Howard signed, as a free agent, in Houston. He spent three years there missing 59 games over three years due to injuries. Howard's scoring average dropped to 13.7 points per game in 2015-16 his last season in Houston.

Howard then signed a three year $70 million contract to play in Atlanta where he played one season averaging just 13.5 points per game. He remained a rebounding machine at 12.7 per game. Howard was then traded by the Hawks, in 2017, to the Charlotte Hornets where his scoring average took an upswing to 16.6 points a game.

The 2017-18 season in Charlotte was great for Howard. He was able to play in 81 regular season games. Seemingly healthy, this was the highest number of games he had played since 2009-10 when he played all 82 games.

This past summer for the third straight year, at age 33, Howard was traded to the Brooklyn Nets for Timofey Mozgov, Hamidou Diallo, a 2021 second-round draft pick and cash considerations. The Nets waived Howard and he signed on July 12th, 2018 with the Washington Wizards.

Dwight Howard's career is currently in question. After missing all of training camp, preseason and the Wizards first 7 games, Howard has played in 9 games this season. However, a sore back which kept him out of the start of the season now requires spinal surgery and he will be re-evaluated in 2-3 months. An player who has been an NBA Finalist and an All Star it has been a long strange 15 years for Dwight Howard. One thing is clear, when healthy, he finds ways to produce.

#4 Andre Drummond

The Big man in the middle, for the Detroit Pistons, for seven years running is Andre Drummond. Another old-school type center at 6'11 279 pounds, he is a load to handle like Dwight Howard. Drummond is similar to Howard in many ways good or bad.

They both are horrible free throw shooters with Drummond actually being worse averaging 42.9% from the charity stripe. Drummond can rebind. His career average is 13.5 per game and this season he averaging 15.5 per game. Drummond also averages 1.5 blocks per game protecting the rim at the defensive end for Detroit.

Drummond leaves you with a belief he could do more. He has been a two time NBA All-Star, but he has not maxed out his talent. However, Drummond isn't necessarily getting much better.

He stays on the floor because of the rebounding, passing and blocked shots. His scoring average is up to 17.9 per game this season. However, in this era of forwards and centers shooting from the arc, dribbling and leading the fast break Drummond offers none of this.

He is athletic and uses his size well around the basket and while he averages a double its still not outstanding. Drummond's post play is average at best. His post game does seem to improve slightly year over year but not by much.

He is almost unplayable in key situations since he cannot hit free throws. The clock stops in these scenarios giving the opponent extra time and opportunities to get back into close games against Detroit.

Defensively, Drummond is a rim protector, but still not an elite defender. According to the site stats.NBA.com, Drummond's opponents' field goal percentage is high at 53.9% this season. For a shot blocker, his opponents' field goal percentage is 62.2% from 6 feet or closer to the basket.

Detroit did give Drummond a 5 year $130 million dollar contract two seasons ago so they are either committed to him or stuck with him. Detroit did have a good start to this season but are now 15-14 in the win-loss column and 3-7 in their last ten matches.

JaVale McGee, Brook Lopez, Dwight Howard and Andre Drummond continue to toil in the NBA. Their position and styles of play are disappearing. However, all four of these centers have found a way to remain significant contributors to NBA franchises in the face of changing times and personal adversity.

Edited by Abhinav Munshi