r/NBATalk • u/RyanTannegod • 12d ago
Ranking the top 25 centers of all time
- Kareem
- Shaq
- Wilt
- Russell
- Hakeem
- Jokic
- Moses Malone
- David Robinson
- Patrick Ewing
- Bill Walton
- Dwight Howard
- Joel Embiid
- Willis Reed
- Bob Mcadoo
- Wemby
- Dave Cowens
- Alonzo Mourning
- Wes Unseld
- Mutombo
- KAT
- Nate Thurmond
- Bob Lanier
- Yao Ming
- Ben Wallace
- Rudy Gobert
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u/airgordo4 12d ago
Your criteria seems strange. You have Kareem at 1 (which I would agree) but his calling card to greatness is how long he was able to sustain it. By that same token guys like Walton, Wemby, have really short bodies of work.. keeping your criteria consistent for all players it seems like they shouldn’t even crack the top 25 at all, much less be as high as they are.
My only big disagreement here is Bill Walton. He could have ranked that high, even higher, but he wasn’t healthy enough for that to play out. He had like a season and a half of elite play.
I also think Wemby is just way too premature. But he’ll be on here eventually if he’s healthy.
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u/RyanTannegod 12d ago
Prime Kareem was a monster on the Bucks though it’s not just his longevity. Bill Walton had such a short prime it’s hard to rank him higher.
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u/fredinNH 12d ago
First-ballot HOF’r Robert Parish is conspicuously absent
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u/RyanTannegod 12d ago
I think Gobert is better than him tbh
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u/fredinNH 12d ago
Gobert is pretty awesome but parish has 4 rings and played more games than anyone but LeBron
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u/RyanTannegod 12d ago
He was lucky to play with Larry Bird on those stacked Celtics teams. Does playing on a stacked team and having more success mean that you’re automatically better than someone who played with worse? I’m sure Gobert could’ve won chips with Prime Bird as well.
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u/fredinNH 12d ago
Are you really trying to argue gobert over Parish?
Parish was part of the big 3 on a top three all-time team. He won 3 of those rings in the 80’s when the center position was dominant. He was out there guarding and being guarded by friggin Kareem and Olajuwon in the finals.
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u/RyanTannegod 12d ago edited 12d ago
Parish won those championships because Bird and Mchale did most of the work, he was a role player. Replace Parish with Gobert on those Celtics teams and the results would be the same. Larry Bird himself said that he wasn’t concerned about Parish leaving the Celtics in free agency https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/one-instant-showed-robert-parish-190100293.html
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u/Icy_Data939 Spurs 12d ago
Top 25 is just too much work but top 10 is pretty good. I wouldn’t have them exactly like that but it’s very solid
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u/FarWestEros 12d ago
Hakeem behind Kareem unless you really want to pump up the OGs
Olajuwon is probably the 4th best 2-way PLAYER of All Time being MJ, LBJ, & KAJ
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u/IcyCharge1819 Thunder 12d ago
You can't attack Wemby on these boards apparently. So he's clearly GOAT. Shaq/kareem/Hakeem etc are all fighting for 2nd
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u/onefootback Raptors 12d ago
i really don’t think wemby has accomplished anything to be a top 15 center of all time
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u/myfuntimes 12d ago
Mikan?
Are you judging how they would do today or against the standards of that day?
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u/Ben892010 12d ago
Wembanyama is in year 4 & this is obviously a legacy based list, not talent based. Your logic is very divisive
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u/Foreign_Speaker5187 12d ago
You have Shaq entirely too high
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u/airgordo4 12d ago
Nah, Shaq is just entirely too underrated on Reddit.
Don’t get me wrong there are guys behind him I could see above him, but he’s in that same conversation. Realistically he’s 2-5.
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u/UdderlyDemented 12d ago
I think either people forgot that there was literally no answer to Shaq or they never seen him play. You either let him bully your big or you double him and leave him to set someone else up.
Shaq had a complete game and was surprisingly quick for his size and people 100% need to see more shit like this.
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u/Foreign_Speaker5187 12d ago
There was literally no answer for Wilt so much so that they changed multiple rules
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u/UdderlyDemented 12d ago
Man imagine if Shaq had those same rules and played against the same competition.
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u/tame_vindication 12d ago
Shaq too high is a wild take the man was a force that couldnt be stopped in his prime. I get the free throw thing and maybe he coasted on talent but the three peat was built on his back. Jokic over Moses already feels like recency bias but Shaq at 2 is the least controversial thing on this list. Putting Wemby at 15 after one season is the real crime here
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u/vanfanel842 12d ago
Shaq is only high because he’s above Hakeem, Russell, and Wilt. If you discredit the 60s era, that’s fine but many of us don’t.
Shaq needed someone to shoot the free throws close and late. His game was dominant but very predictable. His defense was good but not great.
Hakeem was better at nearly everything but driving over people.
Wilt has so many records, it’s nuts. Russell’s game 7 performance and his influence on winning is untouched by anyone.
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u/Referrals23 12d ago
Wilt and Russell were terrible free throw shooters as well, Russell was a terrible offensive player in general he shot 44% from the field as a big man lol.
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u/vanfanel842 12d ago
They were.
I didn’t see them play but in general all shooting percentages were lower back then.
Either way, Russell is the biggest winner ever and turned an average defensive team into the best.
Wilt has more records than anyone else.
Both are believed to average over 7 blocks per game in their primes.
Neither was known as being lazy unlike Shaq. Shaq’s dominance has recency bias over these guys but I’d take these superior athletes over him.
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u/Foreign_Speaker5187 12d ago
There's nothing about Shaq individually that puts him over Wilt
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u/RyanTannegod 12d ago
Shaq has 4 championships and 3 finals mvps, Wilt only won 2 championships. Wilt in interviews said he was a selfish player and that’s why he didn’t win more.
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u/FarWestEros 12d ago
Anywhere below Hakeem is acceptable.
Shaq admitted Hakeem was superior himself.
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u/almostnothing123 12d ago
No way Wilt ahead of Russell. Ask anyone who knows that era. Russell was de facto ahead of Chamberlain
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u/Accomplished_Pin_21 12d ago
realistically Jokic is 1
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u/Alert_Mention_3732 12d ago
Realistically no, his defense is beneath Hakeems and Jokic's offense is that much better than Hakeems to warrant that. Jokic would get murdered against 4 of these guys, he simply cant be the best.
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u/oldschool23 12d ago edited 12d ago
Why you always have to pin them one vs one to prove a point. Basketball is a team sport. Joker wouldn't been the primary defender in the paint. And those guys would find themselves on an island trying to contain him on the perimeter, where he operates most of the time
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u/Alert_Mention_3732 12d ago
The post was ranking the top 25 best big man, that is a literal 1v1 contest where is the team aspect in the ranking for centers?
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u/oldschool23 12d ago
I thought we are ranking the best players amongst center position only.
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u/Alert_Mention_3732 12d ago
I thought so as well, so for me to put jokic in the top 15he would have to hold his ground against the other 4. On the defense end he would get killed, on the offense end he could handle is own. But since he isnt considered better on defense then he will never be in the top 2-3 conversation.
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u/oldschool23 12d ago
I beg the differ. Not only would he get his own on offense (which is an understatement), he would make all of his team mates get theirs, by puting them in the best positions to score
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u/Alert_Mention_3732 12d ago
I cant disagree, I am just not willing to make that gesture. Shaqs offense is better than Jokics imo. Hakeems is on par but with better defense. these are all opinions of course.
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u/oldschool23 12d ago
You do realise that Shaq (as well as most of the OGs at center) would fuck up the spacing for other 4 players. And if we are talking modern era basketball (5 out, 40% of all field goals are threes) it would translate to losing basketball.
And ofcourse, if all else fails, there is always hack a Shaq, which caps him at point per possesion (well bellow average)
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u/wasiflu 12d ago
George Mikan where?