The NBA's Best White Centers

A few weeks back, I had the rare honor of paying tribute to professional basketball's most often-humbled genus - the White Center - with a "Best Of" list for BallOverAll.com.

Unfortunately, the site underwent a management shift as the piece sat on the publishing desk, and it was lost in the shuffle and knocked to the floor like Shawn Bradley beneath a two-handed tomahawk.

So instead of letting this list grow moss, I'm tossing it up here as some Bonus Banter. Enjoy:

The NBA’s first true superstar was a dominant white center, but in the fifty-plus years since George Mikan crushed the Association’s opening era, the game has changed dramatically. It has not been kind to the pale-toned big man.

Nowadays stereotyped as plodding, clumsy poster shots waiting to happen, the white center’s reputation has fallen considerably. Speed, strength and skill have caught up to height, altering the game and reducing the edge of the (typically) least-athletic players on the floor.

So while the Jeff Witheys of the World become famous for being viciously dunked on (and then having Shaq accidentally call him “Jeff WHITEY!” several times on TV), here’s a nod to the guys holding down the pivot below the rim: the NBA’s Best White Centers

(Apologies to: Enes Kanter, Robin Lopez, Jason Smith, and Omer Asik, at least until he escapes Dwight Howard Island via trade)

8. Tiago Splitter
Like so many Spurs before him, Splitter came to the NBA a seasoned veteran of international play, and it took him little time to become a valuable cog in San Antonio’s rotation.

Splitter’s game is a versatile mix of slightly-above mediocrity. He’s a jack of all trades, who isn’t looked to regularly for big contributions by Gregg Popovich, but combines deft movement for his size with solid passing, finishing, and interior defense to complement Tim Duncan nicely.

Any player who’s been a part of the Spurs’ System for this long knows about giving what the team needs, and Splitter has rarely failed to deliver over several seasons of deep Playoff success.

7. Spencer Hawes
Hawes spent several seasons trying to find his footing for the up-and-coming Sixers; too inconsistent from outside and too soft in the paint, he was a man without a home on a team without much of an identity.

This season, the Sixers had a very clear identity: tanking in the most glorious way possible. As such, Hawes has seen the roster around him erode, expectations shrink, and Philly’s pace of play skyrocket.

Within the loose confines of this free-wheeling flow, he’s played himself onto this list, putting up career-average-crippling numbers of 17/10/3 with 1.5 blocks and a Top-30 PER of 20.87 (*has since fallen to 15/9 and 18.22). Only time will tell if Hawes can keep this up, but his play is more confident than ever, and it’s a big reason why the Sixers haven’t been nearly as bad as predicted.

6. Nikola Pekovic
Coming out of nowhere (well, Montenegro, but in NBA terms, nowhere) for the T-Wolves two years ago, Pekovic carried the intimidating look of a GTA henchman, and developed a reputation for his bruising, physical presence.

Carrying more mass than any current player, Pekovic isn’t a lumbering Oliver Miller-type obstruction. While he’s quite vertically challenged and offers little in the way of rim protection, Pek is a devastating finisher close to the hoop, who is skilled on the boards and makes up for his lack of athleticism by sheer size and smart positioning.

His stats are downsloping now that the best power forward in the NBA is back sharing his frontcourt, but Pekovic remains a vital part of the Wolves’ lineup. He’s one of a dying breed of physical NBA enforcers, but brings enough skill to make that role secondary.

5. Marcin Gortat
The Polish Hammer has been one of the NBA’s most consistently-underrated players, first buried beneath Dwight Howard’s minutes and drama in Orlando, and then relegated to the sudden abyss of the Phoenix Suns.

Claimed from the Suns’ liquidation sale by an ostensible “team on the rise”, Gortat helps form a dangerous-when-healthy starting core in Washington. With a nice scoring touch inside ten feet, and providing a strong backbone to a lineup short on good defenders with above-average shot disruption. He plays within himself and does it very well, bringing plenty to the court and taking little away.

Flirting with a double-double average, Gortat’s proving himself as more than a “good stats/awful team” guy, with one of the more likely squads to get it together in the laughably sad Eastern Conference.

4. Nikola Vucevic
At the time it seemed dubious: Orlando was giving up Dwight Howard – the undisputed best center in the NBA back then – and getting no All-Stars back. Well, 18 months later, “Things Done Changed”.

In a somewhat-unlikely turn, the Magic became the obvious winners of the trade after the Lakers and Sixers had total Hindenburg seasons and Vucevic – who flashed solid skills as a rookie – hit the Sophomore Speedway and instantly became a versatile scorer and one of the NBA’s best rebounders. Not to mention he’s the only center acquired in that deal who’s still with the team.

With upside to spare, the other Nik from Montenegro gave Orlando what Dwight couldn’t decide if he wanted to be: a center they could build a winning franchise around.

3. Pau Gasol
Long the NBA and Global standard for fair-skinned big men, Gasol the Elder is an all-around beast who’s adjusted to playing largely out-of-position for a Lakers team he vaulted to two rings with his arrival.

While his body’s begun to slow down after twelve years with the Grizzlies and Lakers – not to mention a Yao Ming-like level of international play – Pau remains a multi-faceted force who brings the skill and high intelligence that will continue to make him effective as he grows older.

With the Lakers going nowhere fast this season, and Gasol’s contract on its last legs, there’s no telling what the future holds for him. But count on him to age gracefully, hopefully chasing a few more rings to cement his Hall of Fame legacy.

2. Brook Lopez
When the Nets drafted Brook Lopez 10^th overall in 2008, few were thinking “this guy might be the NBA’s best low post scorer someday”. Sure enough, here we are five years later, and Lopez is – unless you count this guy,which some might see as unfair – one of the NBA’s best two or three best low post scorers.

His rebounding woes are well chronicled and confounding; Lopez is a reasonably athletic legit seven-footer, who for whatever reason doesn’t possess the same board-hungry gene as his own twin brother. Despite this, he can still disrupt shots near the rim (career 1.8 blocks) and moves better than most seven footers across and up the floor.

His IQ on offense belies his rebounding awareness; Lopez plays with purpose and scores at a high clip in an array of ways. He screens well, can pass out of double teams, and even grabs an impressive rate of his paltry board totals on his own team’s misses. This Cuban-Caucasian Sensation has been one of the many standouts of a sneaky-good ’08 Draft Class.

1. Marc Gasol

The Memphis Grizzlies’ salary-dump of Pau Gasol to the Lakers in 2008 was widely-bashed as one of the worst ever; L.A. gave up what seemed like painfully little to acquire an All-Star, and the final piece to the Title puzzle.

In one of sports’ ultimate ironies, Gasol’s own “little” brother would eventually turn those notions on their heads, evolving from unknown prospect into not only the best white center in the NBA, but in the eyes of many, the League’s best center, period.

Marcy Marc does it all for the Grizz; he scores pretty much at will from anywhere inside 18 feet with a crafty mix of face up/back down moves, is the best playmaking big man right now by a wide margin, and also happens to be the reigning DPOY as the backbone of Memphis’ suffocating #GNG defense.

George Mikan would be proud.