Karl-Anthony Towns, Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic are guards in disguise

The center position in the NBA has evolved a great deal in a short period of time. Whereas 7-footers used to be relegated to post-ups and pick-and-rolls, players like Joel Embiid, Karl-Anthony Towns and Nikola Jokic are revolutionizing the position with their ability to handle the ball, stretch the floor out to the 3-point line and play the role of a facilitator when the entire offense runs through them.

They basically have the size to take on the role of a traditional center only with the skill set of a guard, which makes them perfect fits in today’s position-less NBA. While they still manufacture the majority of their points in the pick-and-roll and out of the post like you’d expect from a center, they are getting opportunities to spread their wings by filling a number of roles as they continue to develop.

Here are three ways particular teams are maximizing the versatility of their centers by treating them like point guards and shooting guards.

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Note: Kristaps Porzingis and Anthony Davis are closer to logging 50 percent of their minutes at center than 90 percent. Otherwise, they would be included in this list.

Embiid being used as Allen Iverson

Allen Iverson made this cut famous, so much so that NBA coaches have since named it after him. The basic idea is the guard cuts from one wing to another in front of the ball handler at the top of the perimeter and rubs their defender off a pair of screens at the elbows for an isolation. It’s sometimes run as a way to get big men a post-up, yet the Philadelphia 76ers have had Embiid fill Iverson’s role on at least one possession this season.

The 76ers have even experimented with Embiid as the ball handler in the pick-and-roll. The results haven’t been good — he’s 0-for-3 on the season — but it could eventually become a weapon for him once he’s more comfortable running pick-and-rolls.

It’s unlikely the 76ers actually want to turn Embiid into a 7-foot version of Iverson, but his ability to knock down jump shots, pull off advanced moves like euro-steps and finish at the rim gives him the tools to create something in those situations. Plus, most forwards and centers aren’t comfortable following shooters around screens. With the amount of options available to him on the Iverson Cut, it wouldn’t be crazy to see the 76ers run it again or something similar for Embiid in the future.

Towns being used as J.J. Redick

Towns is currently one of six big men scoring at least one point per game off of screens. Joining him: Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins, Kevin Love, Kristaps Porzingis and Ersan Ilyasova.

It isn’t much at 1.2 points per game — only 5.6 percent of his total offense — but his ability to score effortlessly off of screens gives the Minnesota Timberwolves the option of making it a bigger part of their offense moving forward. After all, having a 7-footer who can run off of a baseline screen, sprint out to the corner and fire up a 3-pointer before his defender can close out in time is a luxury few teams have. It’s basically what you’d expect to see from elite shooters like J.J. Redick and Klay Thompson.

Making him more unique in those situations: Town can attack closeouts by putting the ball on the floor. Just watch him fake out Vince Carter, blow by Zach Randolph with a change of direction and then step around Wade Baldwin for the dunk.

Other than Cousins, Towns is the only player on the list above who records greater than 70 percent of his minutes at center. In a smaller lineup with four shooters surrounding him, the margin for error for the defense would be minuscule if Towns can become a real threat moving off of screens. The threat alone would create cutting opportunities for his teammates.

Jokic being used as Russell Westbrook

On defense, centers are expected to anchor the paint, grab rebounds and give their team an opportunity to get out in transition by passing the ball to a guard. It’s one of many reasons Russell Westbrook is a nightmare in transition because he can cut out the middle man himself by pulling down the board and turning on the jets.

Jokic obviously isn’t anywhere near as explosive and dangerous in the open court as Westbrook, but he can create similar options for himself and his teammates by grabbing his own rebound and immediately putting the ball on the floor. For example, notice how Ricky Rubio is forced to pick Jokic up as soon as he crosses halfcourt in the video below. Zach LaVine and Gorgui Dieng don’t know how to respond and Jokic finds Gary Harris perfectly on the backdoor cut.

Here’s another example, this time with Jokic getting by Draymond Green with a behind-the-back dribble. It’s unfair — 7-footers shouldn’t be able to cross-up one of the best defensive players in the league in the open court.

Jokic isn’t the first center who has shown the ability to do this — think of Pau Gasol and Arvydas Sabonis — but it’s easy to see it becoming less of an anomaly in time with Towns and Embiid also having the chops to be creators in transition. Their size gives them the natural advantage of seeing over defenders and they can create mismatches all over the court by forcing a wing player to stop the ball. If they don’t stop the ball, they’ve proven they can finish with the best of them.

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That goes for the other plays as well. We could see Towns and Jokic use the Iverson Cut to get open and Embiid and Jokic have the shooting touch to create problems for the opposing team operating off of screens. Not only is it a sign of where the center position is heading, it proves it’s alive and well in an era being dominated by small ball.