Scouting the Pool: The Centers

[majorrajor]

Scouting the Pool: The Centers

The announcement of the draft class excited me, but it also worried me. In order to decide what direction I wanted to take my team, I needed to know the players. I had heard of some of them, but others required further investigation.


The center position, though losing its importance in the current fast paced brand of basketball that is exhibited in the NBA, is historically a position of utmost importance. Choosing your starting center could be the most important draft choice that you make and will dictate your team's playing style. Let's take a look at the top choices.

Bill Spivey | 25 years old | 7'0'' | 255 lbs

Inside Scoring: C-
Offensive Rebounding:     A-        Defensive Rebounding:        A                    
Post Defense:                A         Shot Blocking:                   B
Jumping:                      B-        Strength:                         B             Stamina:         A-                              


Historical Notes: Bill Spivey, as the Most Outstanding Player of the event, led his Kentucky Wildcats to the 1951 NCAA Tournament Championship. Often times, the MOP players fall off in the NBA (see Corey Brewer, Sean May, etc), but Spivey wasn't even given a chance to play in the NBA because of his involvement in the point shaving scandal. Instead, Spivey played professionally in the Eastern Basketball League, where he led his teams to three championships. 

Scouting Report: Spivey is the typical "don't score" big man. He will give you a lot of output on defense and rebounding, but his contributions won't always show up on the stat sheet. If you want help on offense, Spivey can give you offensive rebounding, and... offensive rebounding. He's only 25, so you don't have to worry about him falling off in a year or two, and in fact, you should expect him to improve even more.


Chuck Share | 26 years old | 7'0'' | 250 lbs

Inside Scoring: C 
Offensive Rebounding:     C+        Defensive Rebounding:        B                    
Post Defense:                B+        Shot Blocking:                   A-
Jumping:                      B          Strength:                         C+             Stamina:         D+                              


Historical Notes: Chuck Share's claim to fame? First draft pick in NBA history. That's a pretty big accomplishment to add to a resume. However, Share had a relatively quiet NBA career -- outside of his captaincy for the 1958 champion St. Louis Hawks team, you will find pedestrian statistics. 

Scouting Report: Will he start? Probably. But Share will likely be one of the weaker starting centers in the league. Like Spivey, he won't offer much scoring output. Share is a weaker defender than Spivey, but is better at blocking shots. Teams looking at Share should look closely at his intangibles: he is not very strong, and won't be able to stay in games long, either.


Walter Dukes | 25 years old | 7'0'' | 250 lbs

Inside Scoring:               C 
Offensive Rebounding:     A-        Defensive Rebounding:        A-                    
Post Defense:                C+       Shot Blocking:                   B
Jumping:                      B-        Strength:                         A-             Stamina:         A                              


Historical Notes: Walter Dukes is probably best known as a Detroit Piston. He played in Detroit for 6 years, and was named to 2 all-star teams during his tenure there. Dukes' biggest strength was his rebounding -- he averaged double digit rebounds for 6 of his 8 NBA seasons. Dukes was also adept at getting disqualified: he led the league in DQs for 4 consecutive seasons, and he also led the NBA in fouls for two seasons.

Scouting Report: Dukes will get it done on the boards, but he won't give you much else. He will probably pick up quite a few fouls and could be a bit of a liability on defense. On the bright side, he's young, he's strong, and he has tons of stamina.


Ray Felix | 26 years old | 6'11'' | 245 lbs

Inside Scoring:               B-         
Offensive Rebounding:     B         Defensive Rebounding:        B                    
Post Defense:                A-        Shot Blocking:                   B+
Jumping:                      C+        Strength:                        B-             Stamina:         A                              


Historical Notes: Ray Felix was the 1st overall pick of the 1953 NBA draft. That year, after averaging 17.6 PPG and 13.3 RPG, Felix was named Rookie of the Year. Felix spent 9 seasons in the NBA and was the 2nd African American to be named an all star.

Scouting Report: Felix is the type of center that can do it all: he will score, he will crash the boards, and he will get a couple blocks per game, too. Felix's most obvious strength is his defense. While efficient, his rebounding skills do leave a bit to be desired, and this is exacerbated by his lack of strength. 


Bill Russell | 25 years old | 6'10'' | 235 lbs

Inside Scoring                C 
Offensive Rebounding:     A        Defensive Rebounding:        B                    
Post Defense:                A-       Shot Blocking:                   A+
Jumping:                      A-       Strength:                         B+             Stamina:         A                              


Historical Notes: You may have already heard of him...

Scouting Report: One sentence summary: he won't score, but he'll do everything else. Pick him and you'll win and stuff.


Walt Bellamy | 23 years old | 7'0'' | 235 lbs

Inside Scoring                C 
Offensive Rebounding:     B-       Defensive Rebounding:        A                    
Post Defense:                A-       Shot Blocking:                   B+
Jumping:                      C+       Strength:                         C+             Stamina:         A-                              


Historical Notes: Before being drafted 1st overall in the 1961 NBA draft, Walt Bellamy started at center for the (gold medal winning) 1960 Olympic team. Bellamy had one of the best seasons for any NBA rookie, averaging 31.6 PPG and 19 RPG. Bellamy never made an All-NBA team but was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993. 

Scouting Report: He's not Bill Russell, and he's not Wilt Chamberlain, but Bellamy is a nice consolation prize to a team that misses out on the two big dogs. He's really young, and he's already more talented than some of his counterparts. At this point, it doesn't look like Bellamy will be the lethal scoring weapon that he was in the NBA, but he will definitely be a helpful defensive and rebounding big man to his team.


George Mikan | 30 years old | 6'11'' | 260 lbs

Inside Scoring                A 
Offensive Rebounding:     A-       Defensive Rebounding:       A-                    
Post Defense:                A-       Shot Blocking:                  A-
Jumping:                      C        Strength:                        A-             Stamina:         A                              


Historical Notes: Uh, yeah, you've probably heard of him, too.

Scouting Report: He does everything right, he's just old. Will this affect his draft stock? Probably, but I still don't see him dropping out of the top 10. If you want to win now, Mikan will undoubtedly give you the most output right now.


Wilt Chamberlain | 23 years old | 7'1'' | 275 lbs

Inside Scoring                B 
Offensive Rebounding:     B+       Defensive Rebounding:        A-                   
Post Defense:                A-        Shot Blocking:                  B+
Jumping:                      A          Strength:                        A+             Stamina:         A                              


Historical Notes: 100 points, ring any bells?

Scouting Report: Maybe he should be drafted 1st overall? I mean, I don't know. He looks decent.

[majorrajor]

And a quick and dirty ranking of the centers from the article:

1. Wilt Chamberlain
2. George Mikan
3. Bill Russell
4. Dolph Schayes (weird -- I remember doing him too but I guess I accidentally deleted him)
5. Walt Bellamy
6. Bill Spivey
7. Walter Dukes
8. Ray Felix
9. Chuck Share

[London]

Good write-up.

Certainly some decent Centers available right away.

[Mexico City]

If the draft was a little further away id try and do a top 30 for each position since off thses lists u gotta find 30 starters rather than nine thay stuff great stuff here i kyself am curious how age plays a factor with teams drafting as i always feel like gms love youth rather than winning

[majorrajor]

Apr 16, 2013 11:57:46 GMT -6 Mexico City said:

If the draft was a little further away id try and do a top 30 for each position since off thses lists u gotta find 30 starters rather than nine thay stuff great stuff here i kyself am curious how age plays a factor with teams drafting as i always feel like gms love youth rather than winning

Yeah, a top 30 would have been cool, but even doing a top 9 took longer than expected. To simplify it, I listed all of the "green" and "blue" players. I might simplify it a little more (maybe just listing the ratings without the write-ups for each of the players) if I do another iteration for the other positions, just to save time. 

[London]

Apr 16, 2013 11:57:46 GMT -6 Mexico City said:

If the draft was a little further away id try and do a top 30 for each position since off thses lists u gotta find 30 starters rather than nine thay stuff great stuff here i kyself am curious how age plays a factor with teams drafting as i always feel like gms love youth rather than winning

Agreed on both counts.

The thing is on the youth (unless you are talking the high-enders - Wilt, Elgin, etc.) that some of them have a lot of growing to do and we're not completely sure what the success rate of potential is.

I think that the team that wants to build a winner right away will have some talent available to them through the draft.

[Detroit]

There's no doubt I'm going to go and try to win now. There's a lot of guys who'll want to pick up the youngsters, which is good if they're patient, but I'm going to try to sneak in a title or two in the early stages (London: I see you trying to sneak up to the #3 pick...going for one of Chamberlain/Russell/Cousey, eh?)

[London]

I'm exploring the cost of moving up at least.

[Royale]

Good read bro