NBA Centers: Who’s the best in the league?
By Eric Saar
This begins a series the next couple weeks where I evaluate who the top player at each of the five positions is going into the 2014-15 season.
Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Shaquille O’Neal were dominant centers of their time.
In today’s NBA, the center position has been de-emphasized mostly due to the introduction of the three-point line. The ability to score more points in any single possession with the deep ball, caused players to work on their shooting stroke instead of their post moves.
Yet, a post presence is needed to balance the offense and spread the floor. Additionally, those big men down low have to set the picks for their guards in the pick-and-roll game and crash the glass for rebounds. Defending the rim is also key.
So who has all those skills in today’s NBA?
The top centers in today’s game include: Al Jefferson (CHA), Marc Gasol (MEM), Dwight Howard (HOU), Joakim Noah (CHI), DeMarcus Cousins (SAC).
Obviously, scoring is an important facet to the game and a center should at least be decent.
Points per game
DeMarcus Cousins: 22.7
Al Jefferson: 21.8
Dwight Howard: 18.3
Marc Gasol: 14.6
Joakim Noah: 12.6
Cousins leads this list with Jefferson closely behind due to the fact they are both the best player on their respective teams. Due to role, Howard and Gasol are in the middle and due to lack of consistent offensive production and his role, Noah brings up the rear.
As the biggest guy out on the court for their teams, it is a general rule the center should be an above-average rebounder.
Rebounds per game
Dwight Howard: 12.2
DeMarcus Cousins: 11.7
Joakim Noah: 11.3
Al Jefferson: 10.8
Gasol: 7.2
Howard is an amazing athletic freak and is so big he can sky for any ball that comes off the rim, snatching it out of the air before anyone even has a chance. Cousins, Jefferson and Noah are all clumped in there together as very good rebounders, with Gasol at the bottom due to his power forward Zach Randolph stealing all the boards.
Blocks are one part of defense that are important for the immediacy of stopping the ball going in and influencing the opponent to not shoot near you again.
Blocks per game
Dwight Howard: 1.80
Joakim Noah: 1.51
Marc Gasol: 1.29
DeMarcus Cousins: 1.28
Al Jefferson: 1.08
Howard’s athleticism enables him to lead this group, but the rest are clustered together and are still blocking machines.
As a big man, you guard the paint a lot and have players coming at you from all directions. Also the centers are less nimble and able to avoid contact on the offensive side of the court. It is paramount for big men to stay out of foul trouble so they can protect the rim for their guards, get rebounds, etc.
Fouls per game
DeMarcus Cousins: 3.8
Dwight Howard: 3.4
Joakim Noah: 3.1
Marc Gasol: 2.5
Al Jefferson: 2.4
Jefferson “leads” this category as Howard and Cousins foul a bunch as does Noah to some extent. Gasol is much closer to Jefferson in terms of staying out of foul trouble and on the court.
Other than blocks, measuring a center’s defensive impact can be done with the metric opponent’s field goal percentage at the rim.
Opp FG% at rim
Joakim Noah: 47.2%
Dwight Howard: 48.1%
DeMarcus Cousins: 51.1%
Marc Gasol: 51.2%
Al Jefferson: 52.4%
Noah wins according to this metric. He and Howard are the only ones of the group to keep the opponents shooting below 50 percent near the rim, which is pretty impressive. None of them are pushovers by any means at the hoop.
Value added is the final category to see who the best center in the NBA is right now. It takes into consideration many factors and comparing that to a replacement (average) player to show how many points that player added over the course of the season.
Value Added
DeMarcus Cousins: 534.5
Al Jefferson: 462.9
Joakim Noah: 398.3
Dwight Howard: 384.8
Marc Gasol: 225.4
Cousins decidedly wins this category.
Overall, according to the statistics, it looks like DeMarcus Cousins is the best center in the league. Noah is the best defensive (and passing by the way) center in the league, but just can’t score enough. Gasol probably could have upped his stats had he not been injured for part of the year. Jefferson is the least impactful, but also less risky and more consistent. Howard just gets the rebounding and block stats, but doesn’t move the needle otherwise.
They are all elite, but if Cousins can get just a bit better, and get some help from his team, he could be the best center for a while and can bring his Kings to the playoffs.