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. 

Hardware Section: The 2012 NBA Awards

Quite the season it's been.

Considering us fans were 99.8% into the ditch of having no season at all, we should've been grateful for anything, but as we near the end of the most frenetic pre-playoff stretch in NBA history, we can at the very least say we've been thoroughly entertained. The quality of play may have been fleeting, as unpracticed, jet-lagged squads struggled through a workload that even their elite conditioning hadn't prepared them for, but we still had plenty to be happy about:

We got to watch two of the game's greats humbly dominate and lead their teams to the conference penthouse; Derrick Rose and Kevin Durant are still coming of age and have also become legends in the making. Meanwhile, we got to laugh at Dwight's INDecision, and saw the League's former favorite punching bag finally seem to have turned the corner with his unreal play and a sudden air of maturity. The NBA's most tantalizing highlight-reel-wet-dream of a combo was paired up and brought a playoff rivalry to the city of LA for the first time ever, while Kobe turned back the clock and reminded us that '06 wasn't THAT long ago. Kevin Love managed to blow up even bigger somehow, teaming with an almost-forgotten Spanish prodigy and an out-of-nowhere Montenegrin monster to lead the unlikeliest of revivals in Minnesota. We had plenty more to celebrate: Kyrie Irving, Serge Ibaka's Block Parties, Gerald Green (for one night), Javale Mcgee, and the awkwardly ironic sense of competitive parity that this season's hectic nature wrought upon professional basketball....And then there was Jeremy Lin.

So now, let us celebrate the best of the best, the truly elite; those who've beasted 66 games in 120 nights and laid claim to the most prestigious hardware in hoops, the 2012 Basketball Banter Awards:

Rookie of the Year: Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers

Just as they were drying their tears from the Lebron era, Cleveland fans were blessed with another first overall pick; a parting gift after a season of misery. They invested it in Irving, who although having missed 9/10ths of his year at Duke, was a can't miss scorer/playmaker.

Few shrugged at the pick, and those who did developed season-ending shoulder stiffness very quickly. Irving was an instant offensive boost who performed in the clutch with veteran sagacity and made this a one horse race even before Rubio's wheels fell off. He may not be Queen James, but really, who is?

Regards to: Ricky Rubio, Kemba Walker, Kawhi Leonard

Defensive Player of the Year: Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic

I have a really, really tough time doing this. It's tough because Dwight spent the entire year coasting, his thoughts more directed at the offseason than the postseason; he generally played with the relative intensity of a hormone-injected flamingo. It's tougher because he also undermined his entire team all year, distracting the players with his ongoing foolishness, while handicapping the front office, who lost a year to rebuild while their star flopped about until he got exactly his way. It's even tougher because many worthy competitors made compelling cases, especially Lebron James and Josh Smith, who have re-defined defensive versatility. But nonetheless, even at his worst, Howard's still the best defender in the league. He's just that good. If only he didn't know it.

Regards to: Lebron James, Josh Smith, Serge Ibaka

Coach of the Year: Gregg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs

Some might call this a reputation pick. If you do, I really don't care because it's a total joke that Pop only has one of these trophies, and what happened in San Antonio this season was nothing short of miraculous. The Spurs were write-offs after their first-round dismissal last April; the Death of a Dynasty was proclaimed and people were realistically floating around the once inane concept of breaking up their Big 3. Obviously immune to that nonsense, Pop did as he's always done; made subtle lineup adjustments that kept the Spurs above water, instilling confidence that they'd play through and persevere, while making possibly the fewest XnO errors along the way. After a season that both pundits and fans agreed would be brutal on their aging stars, Pop has steered the Spurs to within two games of the best record in the West, and he's again managed to keep Tim Duncan as fresh as possible for their playoff run. It's a reputation that deserves padding.

Regards to: Tom Thibodeau, Lionel Hollins, Doug Collins

Sixth Man of the Year: James Harden, Oklahoma City Thunder

Very rarely does a player come into the race for an award like this with "it's his to lose" status. Watching him then not only meet those expectations, but laugh at them as Harden did this season, happens about as often as a Dr. Dre album release party. Harden made the entire league Fear the Beard with his adept combination of scoring and playmaking - the kind of seamless balance that's eluded a certain other OKC guard - while playing with a very high IQ that belies his bench status and suggests his ceiling's still a ways off. The numbers are huge, but even they don't tell the whole story. This was romp.

Regards to: James Harden's Beard, Lou Williams, Jamal Crawford

Most Improved Player: Nikola Pekovic, Minnesota Timberwolves

Thanks to a certain New York Knick, the MIP is sure to be more talked about this year than most; Jeremy Lin came out of absolutely nowhere at the perfect time for a reeling squad, and made an epic run that became the story of the season. The hype was incredible, somehow managing to distort reality to the point that something so sudden and historic seemed over-rated. That aside, I've thought about this one very hard, and can't give Lin the MIP for two reasons: first, obviously, he just didn't play enough; his emergence was late into an already-pint-sized season, and was unfortunately cut short. Second, I'm not so much convinced that Jeremy Lin improved as a basketball player, as that he exposed perhaps the greatest collective scouting fuck-up in NBA history.

Meanwhile, Pekovic spent last season as a 6-man, in that he came off the bench and was largely only useful for six fouls. Then this year, Darko Milicic went down (oh no!!), and by the second week of his baptism-by-fire as a replacement starter, Pekovic had evolved into a walking double-double who absolutely punished defenders on the low block and finished with the soft touch Darko couldn't develop after nine years. Nobody saw this coming. Nobody had Nikola Pekovic on their "breakout players" list going into this season; his evolution as a player was exactly what this award's about: a player who rose to the occasion when his team needed it, working his ass off to take his game beyond where anyone thought possible.

Regards to: Ryan Anderson, Jeremy Lin, Kyle Lowry

Most Valuable Player: Lebron James, Miami Heat

Hail the Queen! Two years ago, in my MVP writeup, I said it was going to be very difficult for Lebron James to impress us in the regular season anymore; that even at such a young age his dominance seemed redundant. Well, consider words eaten, as James hit a whole 'nother level this year: the ridiculous numbers were still there, only in fewer minutes. He notched even higher in the PER record books, upping his FG% by adding a once-absent low-post dimension to his game. He burned any faint memories of the once-nonchalant defender, becoming a guy who can now selectively take over games on D and makes a very convincing argument for being the most versatile defensive player in the history of the NBA. All he has to do now, is do it in the Finals.

Regards to: Kevin Durant, Kevin Love, Chris Paul

Congrats to the Official Winners! Part 2, the UnOfficial Awards, drop later this week.

PED Watch '12: The Early MIP Candidates

Last year was an exciting one for the Most Improved Player race; a bunch of young guys primed for blow-up seasons delivered on their immense promise and made for a wide-open contest before Kevin Love went all Vince in Oakland while hardly leaving the floor.

This season, PED Watch is back for another thrilling drive to the MIP in what might be the perfect year for widespread outbreaks. Everything about this 66-game clusterfuck lends itself to young guys with upside getting opportunity: veterans being out of shape from the long offseason (and expected no-season), fresher legs having more energy every night, more injuries, more lineup changes, and the added X-factor that only 3 of 30 NBA teams are definitely not in dice-rolling mode. Ya, things have been pretty hectic so far, but who's stood out among the rest? Here's some love for the guys who really spent the extra down time last year puttin' in work:

Kyle Lowry, Houston Rockets - The Rockets had a pretty awful year due to some bullshit out of their own control, from sources both indirect (the Chinese government) and very direct (David Stern), that collectively crippled this otherwise well-managed team. When the transaction they'd spent years saving for was corruptly denied, Houston had little to smile about. Then Lowry came out guns-a-blazin', doing his best Kevin Johnson impersonation and leading the Rockets attack with a poise that put an already-stacked class of NBA PG's on notice. Had he kept up his early pace, this column may not have been worth writing, but despite a recent shooting gaffe (a 9 game stretch where he went 30-99), he remains the strongest contender.

Ryan Anderson, Orlando Magic - As if Otis Smith didn't already look stupid enough for signing Rashard Lewis, but he's managed to cushion the insult to his own injury by unearthing a guy who does everything Lewis did for them (arguably better) at a zillionth of the cost. While even Anderson hasn't been immune to the recent plague of disconnect on an injured and obviously distracted Magic squad, he's having a career year, offering a unique combination of tough, versatile defense from the 4 with deadly 3-point shooting. Pat Garrity must be proud.

Greg Monroe, Detroit Pistons - Having NBA League Pass is awesome for any number of reasons, most of all the ability to see teams that never get any burn on TV. It's great being able to watch the young, exciting Wolves come of age, the under-repped Pacers prove their threat, or the clueless Wizards just try not to kill each other. There's one team that I can find no time for: Detroit. Because they're a fucking quagmire of everything that's wrong with the NBA these days: horrible contracts, maligned talent, no identity, untimely stagnation, awful coaching, and the lack of balls to fire the guy with deep franchise roots whose front office savvy expired quicker than a Radio Shack warranty. It's a shame because Greg Monroe's just an absolute beast who's going to be a perennial All-Star once Dwight changes conferences and/or he gets the hell out of Detroit.

Nikola Pekovic, Minnesota Timberwolves - Playing the game with an aggressiveness that matches his Russian gangster/kodiak bear stature, Pekovic has blossomed in his newfound starting role as Kevin Love's bash brother and Ricky Rubio's low-post muse. Apparently thriving under the tutelage of 80's great and Wolves assistant Jack Sikma, the fans in Minny have been treated to Peko's re-defined court awareness, and improved footwork and finishing (there's been a lot more Godfather music echoing through the Target Center lately), as well as a sense of primacy: he's playing like he knows he's a force, and making Love's responsibility to dominate that much easier. Looks like another blown shot for Darko.

Paul George, Indiana Pacers - While it's hard to really blow up on a team as well-balanced and mundane as the Pacers, George has done his best to make his name ring out. His surgical long-range trigger's given him the confidence to exploit less athletic defenders off the dribble, and while his finishing in traffic and mid-range decision making aren't always as smooth as his perimeter game (including on D), he's shown many flashes of greatness this year and will only get better with more, well, as the rappers call it, "swag".

DeAndre Jordan, Los Angeles Clippers - There's a valid but finite argument to made about a guy's candidacy for this award when his numbers are up across the board and he's second in the League in blocks and FG%. Jordan's improvement this season goes far beyond the numbers and delves into his role as the backbone of, let's call a spade a spade, an awful defensive unit. Sure, Chris Paul's as good an on-the-ball defender as you'll find in the backcourt, but behind him? Mo Williams plays defense like Lebron plays 4th quarters. Caron Butler's clearly lost the quickness that made him so effective on D and appears to have gone the way of Metta World Peace. Chauncey was already a step slow and now isn't stepping at all. And Blake? Serious case of Defense ADHD. Jordan's gotta force himself into the role of Tyson Chandler as a 3rd-year player, on a woeful defensive team facing the greatest expectations and hype, with Vinny Del Negro as his coach. And he's doing a pretty good job so far.

I'd also like to add an honorary nomination for the entire Philadelphia 76ers roster; although I can't find the gumption to nominate a single player (what, is Spencer Hawes finally growing a pair really that impressive?), they're vastly improved as a unit and playing above the sum of their parts by such a wide margin over anyone that it needs its own footnote. They made no significant roster changes, just gave a good coach another season to continue developing their young talent, worked hard on their games, and made the adjustments they needed to win together. They embody everything this award does, and that they've done it as an entire team makes it all the more impressive.

A few names you might've expected to see here that got the slash; Andrea Bargnani (because he was almost playing above Raptor status, God had to smite him), James Harden (as well as he's playing he kinda crashed his own MIP party too hard last spring), Jeff Teague (ditto), Jeremy Lin (because one week's not enough, even though I'm sure the Knicks' backcourt sucks enough for him to keep stylin' on 'em), and DeMarcus Cousins (when you spend an entire year hearing "oh, he's worth the headaches" you kinda just expect him to play well).

That's all for PED Watch '12. I'll be back in a few days to take some time off the poker grind and drop a live game blog (haven't figured out which one yet). I've been meaning to do one for awhile, just gets kinda overwhelming balancing several tournaments with the quad-game view on League Pass Broadband (#seizures). Anyways, til then, peace.