Vlade Divac.

There aren't many 7 footers left that can play basketball and chew gum at the same time, but I'm getting one of 'em. Vlade has a bunch of things going for him individually, and even more going for him in the scheme of my team.

Let's start at the beginning. He was on the all-rookie team, and was relatively effective right away. In fact, starting his first year in the league, he posted 12 out of 13 years of 17+ PER. He was an efficient offensive player and a solid FT shooter for a big (career 70% shooter). Most importantly, he developed into a great passer-- average ~4 assists per 36 minutes. From what I remember of those Kings teams, they were able to run the offense through his high post passing and he was able to stretch the defense with a respectable jumper.

Defensively, he appears to be a definite positive-- if you look at his individual D rating numbers and D winshares (I have no idea how much these #s actually matter) in the table below. Truthfully, I'm not going to slob on his knob for his defense-- all I know is that he's 7'1" 250, and he banged with Shaq back in the day. I think he did an okay job. I don't know if he'll be a positive in this league, but he should at least help me contain the #1 option big men in this league, with the help of some Shawn Kemp weakside shotblocking of course. [along with 1.7 blocks per 36, he averaged 1.4 steals per 36 minutes-- I did not look up comparisons to other centers, but that seems very high... he's a crafty Euro!]

Speaking of crafty, **** it, some of those first round centers are really good:
Numbers:


Vlade played in 93.5% of possible NBA games in his first 15 seasons (In fact, he missed 2/3 of the season in year 3, but came back and played in the playoffs). He played in at least 79 games 12 times, remarkable for a man of his stature (looking through big men, I've found that an astonishing number were marred by injury). Over 15 seasons, we're looking at 34k minutes at 30 mpg.

So, why does he fit so perfectly? Well, he's good right away (O, Durant, Kemp-- all good in their first few years). He stays good for a long time (O plays 14 remarkably consistent seasons, Durant has been durable) so he'll be there through thick in thin, when Kemp is dynamic and when Kemp is old, fat and coked out and just wants to shoot 15 footers. But, most importantly, spacing. Spacing is perhaps the most important concept of offense in basketball. We'll be able to space the floor like those turn of the century Kings teams-- Vlade can play in the high post and move the great weakside shotblockers of this league out of the paint. He can create space in the low block for O, Durant, and Kemp to exploit their individual matchups. He'll be able to pass to slashers or shooters, pick-n-roll or pick-n-pop with O, or go inside outside from the low block. We also know that he can play in an uptempo system, so he's probably a great outlet passer!

PG - Oscar Robertson
SF - Kevin Durant
PF - Shawn Kemp
C - Vlade Divac

Now that's a fast break!