List your top 10 best defensive centers.

[syfy9]

Knowing that the Celtics are in need of a strong center, who would you rank in your top 10 active today in terms of D? If you want, you can create an order in your list. What realistic centers could we possibly get from your list this off season?



1.Dwight Howard (Obviously)
2.Tyson Chandler
3.Andrew Bogut
4.Ben Wallace
5.Tim Duncan
6.Joakim Noah
7.Kendrick Perkins
8.Marcus Camby
9.JaVale McGee
10.Samuel Dalembert


Notable are Brook Lopez, Darko Milicic, and Roy Hibbert.

[letsgoblue86]

1. Dwight Howard
2. Ben Wallace (in his prime)
3  Tyson Chandler
4. Javale McGee
5. Perk
6. DeAndre Jordan
7. Dalembert
8. Noah
9. Bogut
10. Hibbert

[PosImpos]

Your list is okay, although I think McGee and Dalembert don't belong on it.  Both guys get a decent number of blocks, but everything I've read about them suggest that they are clueless as far as a team defensive system is concerned.  This applies particularly to Javale McGee, who apparently would be considered mentally handicapped if his general IQ matched his basketball IQ.  Neither is a great 1 on 1 post defender, either, due to lack of bulk.

Brook Lopez is absolutely not a plus defender and shouldn't be included on any such list. I don't think Roy Hibbert deserves mention, either.  I'd take Marc Gasol over any of the aforementioned fellows.

Perk deserves an asterisk as well in that he's a very good 1 on 1 post defender, but I don't think he's actually a great all-around or team defender.  As the Thunder discovered in the playoffs this year, Perk struggles against centers with finesse who can play away from the basket.  He also struggled without having KG around to be the mobile guy.

I think Bynum should be on there, as well as Emeka Okafor.  I'm not sure whether Gortat gave up on playing defense when he got to Phoenix or not, but when he was on the Magic he was pretty solid as well.

[GreenFaith1819]

1. Dwight
2. Bynum
3. Tyson
4. Bogut
5. Perk (If healthy)
6. Okafor
7. Marc Gasol
8. Joakim
9. DeAndre
10. Dalembert

EDIT: I think JO can break into this list near the bottom half if he can come back healthy.

[mgent]

Your list is okay, although I think McGee and Dalembert don't belong on it.  Both guys get a decent number of blocks, but everything I've read about them suggest that they are clueless as far as a team defensive system is concerned.  This applies particularly to Javale McGee, who apparently would be considered mentally handicapped if his general IQ matched his basketball IQ.  Neither is a great 1 on 1 post defender, either, due to lack of bulk.

Brook Lopez is absolutely not a plus defender and shouldn't be included on any such list. I don't think Roy Hibbert deserves mention, either.  I'd take Marc Gasol over any of the aforementioned fellows.

Perk deserves an asterisk as well in that he's a very good 1 on 1 post defender, but I don't think he's actually a great all-around or team defender.  As the Thunder discovered in the playoffs this year, Perk struggles against centers with finesse who can play away from the basket.  He also struggled without having KG around to be the mobile guy.

I think Bynum should be on there, as well as Emeka Okafor.  I'm not sure whether Gortat gave up on playing defense when he got to Phoenix or not, but when he was on the Magic he was pretty solid as well.

Why does Perk get an asterisk for specializing in strength?  Most centers are either strong or quick.  Few are both.  If Perk gets an asterisk for speed/agility then so should Bynum, Bogut, Duncan, Dalembert, Gasol, and JO, and guys like Noah, Horford, and McGee should get asterisks for strength.

[mgent]

I'd say

1. Dwight
2. Chandler
3. Wallace
4. Bogut
5. Duncan
6. Perk
7. Okafor
8. Noah
9. JO
10. Bynum

If healthy:  Yao slides in around 6/7th and Oden 10th.

[GreenFaith1819]

Wow...I know he's a Laker and a former cheapshot artist, but Drew gets no love here, lol...

As for who we could acquire from this list? I wouldn't mind Dalembert or Tyson, but Samuel has a huge contract and I'd be shocked if Tyson leaves DAL.

Sam's knock is that he doesn't play team defense, as Pos mentioned. I can agree with that. However I think Sam could learn how to do so in our system if we could afford him.

We'd be better off praying that JO can come back healthy and letting Danny sign perhaps Kurt Thomas?

[tenn_smoothie]

Just the existence of this thread shows how foolish Danny is.

[PosImpos]

Your list is okay, although I think McGee and Dalembert don't belong on it.  Both guys get a decent number of blocks, but everything I've read about them suggest that they are clueless as far as a team defensive system is concerned.  This applies particularly to Javale McGee, who apparently would be considered mentally handicapped if his general IQ matched his basketball IQ.  Neither is a great 1 on 1 post defender, either, due to lack of bulk.

Brook Lopez is absolutely not a plus defender and shouldn't be included on any such list. I don't think Roy Hibbert deserves mention, either.  I'd take Marc Gasol over any of the aforementioned fellows.

Perk deserves an asterisk as well in that he's a very good 1 on 1 post defender, but I don't think he's actually a great all-around or team defender.  As the Thunder discovered in the playoffs this year, Perk struggles against centers with finesse who can play away from the basket.  He also struggled without having KG around to be the mobile guy.

I think Bynum should be on there, as well as Emeka Okafor.  I'm not sure whether Gortat gave up on playing defense when he got to Phoenix or not, but when he was on the Magic he was pretty solid as well.

Why does Perk get an asterisk for specializing in strength?  Most centers are either strong or quick.  Few are both.  If Perk gets an asterisk for speed/agility then so should Bynum, Bogut, Duncan, Dalembert, Gasol, and JO, and guys like Noah, Horford, and McGee should get asterisks for strength.

Some guys are like that, but I would say that of the guys you mentioned, Duncan, Gasol, JO, and Noah are all solid defensively in general, not just in one aspect.  Perk is much more one dimensional than any of those guys.  I agree that McGee is one dimensional defensively, and I think Horford suffers because he's not a true center.

[indeedproceed]

bogut should be 3 or 2 on every list.

[PosImpos]

bogut should be 3 or 2 on every list.

Agreed.

[KGs Knee]

I can't believe nobody's mentioned Nene. Maybe not the best, but can hold his own against anybody.  He is every bit as strong one on one as Perk.

Too bad he wasn't a FA next year instead of this year.  Would be a good alternative to Howard.

[mgent]

I can't believe nobody's mentioned Nene. Maybe not the best, but can hold his own against anybody.  He is every bit as strong one on one as Perk.

Too bad he wasn't a FA next year instead of this year.  Would be a good alternative to Howard.

He was the only guy I felt belonged in my top 10 but wasn't.  I guess it's kind of a toss up between him and Bynum for #10.

[GreenFaith1819]

Basketball-reference.com tells a very interesting story.

The way I interpret it, Dwight pretty much destroys everyone here...BUT:

He shoots roughly 50%. vs Perk and roughly 58% vs Bogut, Bynum and Tyson.

Last season alone a newly returned Perk, still with Boston,  still held Dwight near 50%, which I find amazing with his health being a question mark. That 2nd game was where Dwight seemed to get his rythym, though.

Here are some head-to-head battles with Dwight vs Bynum, Tyson, Bogut and Perk:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&p1=perkike01&p2=howardw01

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&p1=bynuman01&p2=howardw01

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&p1=chandty01&p2=howardw01

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&p1=bogutan01&p2=howardw01

What will be interesting is that Dwight will continue to get better next year with Hakeem mentoring him, but Perk will continue to get healthier as well.

I think Dwight will always have trouble vs Perk.

I'm including a link to the front page for anyone who wants to try different combos, since I only researched a few off the top ten list here.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi

[GreenFaith1819]

Overall, Marc may need to move up my list a bit. Defensively, he is perhaps the 2nd best vs Dwight, holding him to 55%, but he seems to score the easiest vs Dwight at 14.4 pts and almost 66% FG.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&p1=gasolma01&p2=howardw01

I'm using Dwight as my frame of reference for comparisons. I'm sure that Team Defense plays a role as well. I just thought the head-head matchups were interesting.

Edit: Our own JO appears to play Dwight 2nd best, behind Perk.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&p1=onealje01&p2=howardw01

Get well, JO.