A few years ago, the conversation began picking up that the position of the center was disappearing from basketball. Because of the three-point revolution and then teams going small more often, teams had less need for big men who did not add much with spacing or when being incapable of matching out on the perimeter. At least, that was the argument.
However, when taking a look at the NBA right now, all of the contending teams do have solid centers that may not bring spacing, but do bring other versatility. Additionally, those teams also have flexibility to go big or go small with their lineups. Centers are not dying. They are being rejuvenated and redefined to still aid championship contenders.
Starting with the 2022 NBA champions Golden State Warriors, they have the ability to go big with Kevon Looney at the five or go small with Draymond Green. When teams go small, the Warriors have the option to choose to emphasize the glass (which we saw when Looney had his monster rebounding games in last year’s playoffs) or to match small for small. Neither one was a weakness. The Warriors are the best team at going small, they have been for the duration of their dynasty. This added flexibility with a relatively traditional center who could hold his own in the paint, be a lob threat, and rebound effectively made their team that much more dangerous.
This year’s Celtics, when fully healthy, have a very similar threat as well. With the combination of Al Horford and Robert Williams, they have the option to go big with both of these big men on the floor. Conversely, they can go small by taking one of them off the floor and moving Jayson Tatum to the four (not that Tatum is a small player by any means). This versatility, again, is what can make this team dangerous. Having that flexibility at the center position, to weigh the trade-offs of more rim protection and less spacing or vice versa, allows teams to attack other teams in a variety of ways, especially in a seven game playoff series. There are multiple other examples that can be seen across the NBA. Typically, the best teams have this type of flexibility. The Bucks can run Giannis Antetokounmpo at the five or have him play next to Brook Lopez or Bobby Portis (or both). The Cavaliers have Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. Having these big men, who are spacers or not, makes NBA teams more versatile than teams that only go big or teams that only go small. The lynchpin in this is that the center typically needs to be a rim protector. We see teams like the Bulls struggle because their center, while good, is not a rim protector. The biggest exception to this rule is, of course, Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets, but his offense is so out of this world, it makes him a very exceptional exception.
The Mavericks main centers of Dwight Powell and Christian Wood are not known for their rim protecting skills. Javale McGee was a great pickup to give them that rim protection, but he does not play enough minutes to help balance out some of those weaknesses. The combination of putting the spacing of Wood next to the paint presence of Mcgee would be incredibly interesting to see more often. The duo has only played 17 minutes together across 6 games at the time of this writing (November 29, 2022), which is an incredibly small sample size. In those 17 minutes though, they have put up an offensive rating of 116.2 and a defensive rating of 108.1. Those are decent indicators and it would be something intriguing to look at going forward.
There is also the alternative that teams like the Raptors have, where they average out their small-ball and big-ball lineups and just run mid-wing lineups. Pascal Siakim acts as their center, despite being 6’9”. The difference is that the rest of the line-up is also typically bigger (sorry Fred VanVleet), which makes them more switchable and a different defensive system. The Heat are similar with Bam Adebayo, also a 6’9” center being their starter. Just like Siakim, this is simply because Adebayo is a special player who is strong enough to be a big-ball center and bang with the traditional centers still in the league and he is quick enough to hang with guards and wings when facing a small-ball lineup. Most teams lack this versatility in an individual player, so they need to have a traditional center as well as someone who can play the small-ball position.
NBA teams have become more complex in terms of offensive and defensive schemes. Teams looking for championship/playoff contender status need to have centers in their lineups that can match the versatility of the rest of the league, either one player or the job split across two players for different lineups. Overall, the conclusion is that the center is not dying. The position is simply being redefined because of the complexity of the position in relation to the evolution of the league.
Delivered by KC Yang
Photo Source: 6abc.com, found on google images (https://cdn.abcotvs.com/dip/images/11841004_mvp.jpg?w=1600)
