Who you take at center?

[Birdman]

Hearing that Joker May be the best all around center had my co-workers & I talking who would you take at Center if you had to make a team?? Very difficult for sure!! And in any era, who u pick to be your starting center today??

[Roy H.]

Are we talking modern era, where it's 3PT based and there aren't many great big men in the league?

Jokic may very well be the gold standard, but I think I'd take Hakeem.  He had an excellent jumper and I think he could have added range.

[Donoghus]

Yeah, it really depends on era here.

[Birdman]

Starting now, no era

[Birdman]

I also pick Olajuwon, with Joker & Jabbar behind him

[Moranis]

I voted for Wilt as he is still the most physically impressive man to ever play in the sport. He was the strongest man ever in the league and had the stamina to play 48.5 mpg in every game on the year. He also was able to adapt his game from the best scorer ever to leading the league in assists when his teammates improved and his team needed him to score less.  He was the best shot blocker in league history as well (at least by unofficial counts), along with the best rebounder and scorer.

I do have Kareem ahead of him on my all time list because of the longevity, but give me any center in their 8-10 year prime and I'd take Wilt every single time.

[gift]

i think Sabonis deserves a mention and Jokic is a worthy answer. Hakeem is a pretty good starting point, especially for the way today's game is. if we could spend 15 years training a player for this era i might pick David Robinson, though. or maybe even KG, who could handle center better today than for most of his career and could maybe guard the perimeter better than any of the others, Olajuwon and Robinson included.

[Vermont Green]

Barkley and Shaq were getting into this a little in the pregame last night.  Kenny Smith (I think) asked Shaq if he could cover Jokic.  Shaq said no but still seemed to think that the older guys were better.

I don't have a good answer for this.  The differences in the eras affect all players/positions but none more than the Center position.  Low post guys like Wilt and Kareem would still have to be low post players.  The 3 point line would make it harder to double team them, but no way they step out and hit shots.

That is the thing with Jokic.  I think he could cover most of these guys as well as anyone (obviously no one could really cover Wilt or Kareem), but could these guys cover Jokic all the way out the the 3-point line?  Centers today need to switch-cover on the pick and roll or you get killed with 3s.  Shaq admitted he would not be able to do that, he would just drop cover.

Jokic is only 29.  He is going to have a very good 8-10 year stretch before he is done.  MVPs, at least 1 title.  I am not sure there is a better Center for today's game.