To that extent, CP3 scares me given his height. All the comparisons to Isiah could be a *bad* thing...

This is a good point, but I'm not sure it applies to Centers as much. Who was the last center to be great early and not continue that throughout their career? I guess you could say Mourning and Mutombo, but their careers were pretty solid. I'm sure that I'm missing someone..

yea, disagree.

Also you're not factoring in that until recently players have gone to college for 3 or 4 years, so their first few years at at ages 22-25. When your first few years are at ages 18-21 I think you still have room for growth.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess #6.

yao ming. brad daugherty. big men are very susceptible to injury. lotta stress on those bodies being huge.

Heres how I'd rank the players taken so far and how I would've drafted them:

1. MJ
2. Lebron
3. Shaq
4. Duncan
5. Bird
6. Hakeem
7. Magic
8. Robinson
9. KG
10. Kobe
11. Stockton
12. CP3
13. Malone
14. Dirk
15. Howard
16. Barkley
17. Zeke

Isn't Yao's problem more injury related? Isn't he a stud when he's actually on the court?

Sorry maybe I should have been more clear. I was actually referring to centers who've declined naturally after being considered hot s**t at a young age. Injuries are a concern for any center, but given the criteria for this draft, Dwight should be the guy with the least concerns.

Interesting Chris Paul Article

I'm not discounting the idea that Dwight could get a little better. Like I said, I guess he could take a few more shots per game and up the scoring to 25 or so points per game, but do you expect him to grab 16 boards/game next season?

I think you terribly underrate Barkley. Robinson's underrated (I'm biased). Kobe is overrated.

I take Barkley over Malone and Dirk personally...and Shaq is def 2nd overall

Barkley over Malone is nuts, IMO.

Just looked at RPG stats post 1980.

Man, Rodman was such a sick rebounder. 18.66 per game in 91-92!

Trivia time! Rodman owns the top 5 rebounds per game seasons post 1980. Who is #6?

D

PS Of players eligible for this draft, Howard has the 4th best rebounding season of non-Rodman players.

My primary concerns are injuries. I don't know why you don't think injuries shouldn't be too concerned. Shaq didn't miss much time in his first few seasons, either. Nor did Yao Ming or Brad Daugherty.

true, but this also includes the ones who were (relatively) injury free during the actual careers. in the context of the simulation they are certainly at less risk of sustaining injury than guys like yao, but there is the concern that duncan ends up like big Z as well as the potential that someone like yao stays healthy and explodes. a lot of us could be being fooled by randomness in that regard

edit: exactly. did yao get unlucky in '05 and sustain an injury that could hamper him for the next 10 years, or was he lucky to have been healthy his first 3 years?

I think the actual order is way better than th is list. I know you have a man crush on Duncan but there is no way he should be higher than Magic or Hakeem,. Seriously Magic at 7?? LBJ over Shaq is prety questionable too, Shaq is a one-of-a kind player, we will probably see the next Jordan well before we see the next Shaq. Barkley at 16 is a crime, I know he was my pick but putting Dirk over him is laughable, Barkley was a clutch player with about 1000x more intensity than Dirk and if you put him on that 2006 Mavs team it's a sweep and Barkley has his ring. And Howard over him is pretty dubious too, we're talking about someone who has had one star-caliber season, and is still largely unknown, whereas Barkley at age 24 was coming off a 23/14 season and the next six years he averaged 26/12/4 despite never playing with another star in their prime to draw any attention away from him or dish him the ball like Stockton with Malone, and you can't discount the intangibles - remember he was always matched up against guys taller than him and was still probably the best rebounding forward in the league during his prime. The other picks have a lot more what-ifs attached to them and are thus "riskier".

yeah thats ******ed.

only way he does not get better is if he does not work on his game in the off season. he does not seem to be that kind of fella. he has the potential to be mentioned along with russell, jabbarr, chamberlian, oneal and hakeem.


imo.. you all underrate hakeem.

I largely agree.. but Ewing is the only big man left in that category (Parish ineligible WTF Assani grandfather him in!) I just think Dwight's current body of work + his upside + keeping himself in insane shape leads me to slightly favor Dwight.

agree, I would only take Jordan, Shaq, and Lebron over Hakeem.

Why should we be concerned about Howard's injurys over any other center? He hasn't missed a game in his entire life according to his HS coach. I think that alone puts him above every other big man in the "injury concern" department. Well perhaps excluding German Jesus but that guy is basically a robot.

I don't see how we can ding someone for injury concerns when their record to this date has been perfect.

Ben Wallace

I cheated.

it's really, really close b/t duncan and hakeem

Not sure Robinson could be any higher, agreed on Barkley. Kobe, if anything, is underrated.

My Top 10

1. MJ
2. Shaq
3. Magic
4. Hakeem
5-6 Bird/Duncan
7-8 LBJ/DRob
9-10 Kobe/KG