The Best Centers Of The 2007 Draft - 猶他爵士 Utah Jazz

The Best Centers Of The 2007 Draft
5th June, 2007 - 7:58 pm
By J.T. Magee

Man, it's been too long. Let's do it.

Once the Lottery was announced, the draft was known as one of the best crops
of talent in a long time. Possessing a numerous amount of players who have
the potential to become All-Stars, 2007's Stern's Face Time is considered
great because of the amount of big men. Although the losses of Roy Hibbert
and Ante Tomic, who will both benefit from their withdrawal, will be felt in
the first round, there are still a lot of complimentary centers, starting
from the top with Greg Oden.

Due to the outing of those two, some of the players on this list will become
the fruit on a mixed drink: they not are the main reason for the purchase, but
they'll be looked at. If they appeal to the consumer's liking, they may be
tried out. If they are liked enough, they'll be consumed. Bad metaphor? Maybe.
Well, yeah, but here's the point: each center on this list will be looked at
and that's all that matters. They'll have the chance to make the league.

Some people may feel that a couple of players on this list are more likely
to play power forward than center, but I will explain why these players will
benefit more by manning the 5 than they would defending players like Elton
Brand, Charlie Villanueva and Zach Randolph.

Without further ado, RealGM's Standing 10 Centers for this year's NBA Draft.

1. Greg Oden, Ohio State, 19-years-old.

Are there any other centers on this list that can hold Oden's jock strap?
Hell no. Oden is a once-in-a-lifetime player, like LeBron James. These guys
are few and far between. These players can help a team win immediately and
win often. James has been in the L for, what, 4 years? End result: his team
is in the NBA Finals. They may be outmatched, but the fact remains that if
a team has a chance to grab a player with that type of potential, grab him.
This year, that player is Greg Oden.

Many people feel he needs a nickname. It should be Oden, who is the Zeus of
Norse mythology. The spelling may be different (Odin), but the name still has
meaning. Here's why: while others may be close are far as different attributes
of controlling the (basketball) world (Balden=offense, Thor=rugged play inside,
etc.), Oden has the ability to control them all. Recently showing off his
ability to handle the ball like a wing player in certain workout drills,
these little things are just scratching the tip of Oden's iceberg.

No one saw Oden play at 100% until that Championship game against Florida. He
crushed Joakim Noah, considered to be one of the Top 3 prospects at this time
last year, and faired well against Al Horford. He used his length, athleticism,
timing and foot speed to get to where he wanted to go on the floor. He has
unlimited potential to control the game like Bill Russell did on the defensive
end of the floor. He keeps the ball in play on blocks but won't hesitate to
throw a shot out of bounds to let one know who runs that end of floor.

Offensively, we haven't even come close to seeing what Oden can do. His
shooting wrist was broken and may not be 100%. In fact, it is not because he
wouldn't even bench press in fear of hurting it at the physical-only portion
of the Orlando Pre-Draft camp. It may not be 100% for a while and until it is,
what have we seen of Oden? He has nimble feet but looked a little mechanical
during the season due to his hesitancy of going all out. He'll have a decent
outside shot in the NBA, but how long will it be until we see it? He has NBA
Champion potential written all over him, but until everyone can see him at
100% in a 5-on-5 setting, we haven't even seen the best of Oden. That's scary.

Once we see him at 100%, like Odin before, he will throw the spear over the
opposing army (the rest of the NBA) and claim his rightful throne atop the NBA.
As a Portland Trail Blazer. Man, it feels good to be an Oregonian right now.

2. Joakim Noah, Florida, 22-years-old.

Although Noah made a great personal decision by returning to school and
winning another NCAA Championship, he made a terrible business decision due
to who is now ahead of him on every mock draft. He may not be the best or
most talented individual player in the Top-10 area, but one thing is for
sure: he will sacrifice himself for the betterment of the team. Not many
players will do that. He loves to play and it shows on the court, from his
glistening hair flopping around in his opponent's face (use conditioner,
dude), to his screeches (sounds like a tweaked 15-year-old scream on Sound
Pro) after a big, or small, play.

He is a very good passer for his size, especially needling in a bounce pass
on a high-low pass. He sees the court well from the high-post, even if he's
around 5 years from being an all-around threat from there. His touch is
severely lacking touch, but he's improved from the beginning of his sophomore
year to now. It will continue to get better, but he has to get a feel for the
low-post. At his size, he's a couple of years away from fully contributing
down low offensively, but he has enough potential to get him by while the
rest of his team-first intangibles take over.

Although Noah could play power forward, he would be best filling out and
playing center. He won't have to guard many offensive-laden centers, but they
will be a lot bigger than him. Once he fills out, he could be around 260 and
still have enough athleticism to accomplish the little things that have made
him the second best center prospect in this draft.

3. Spencer Hawes, Washington, 19-years-old.

Offensively, Hawes is there. He has touch with both hands and on both sides
of the block. He has a very soft touch on his jump shot. He has drop steps,
up-and-unders and step-throughs (using pivot foot to change direction) for
days. But he's not there defensively. Any team drafting him knows he's a
decent rebounder, but he's not a bruiser. If he had the mentality to bang like
his college teammate Jon Brockman, he'd be a Top 5 pick easily. His defensive
slights keep him from being able to become an elite all-around center.

In his situation, he has two options: stay in the draft and hope the right
team takes him, or opt out, work on his defense next year and get into better
NBA shape against the likes of Kevin Love, CJ Giles (decent center prospect
who transferred from Kansas to Oregon State) and DeVon Hardin, pending his
withdrawal from the NBA Draft. If he stays, he will receive the best big man
coaching compared to college. He'd be able to watch tons of film and dissect
how he needs to position in the NBA. Unfortunately, he won't have 30+
minutes a game to put that knowledge to use like he would at Washington.

He'll likely stay in. His deceptive offensive strengths will overshadow his
abilities on defense until he gets more experience in the NBA. Once he finds
his niche on defense as a 5, Hawes has the potential to become an NBA
All-Star once or twice in his career.



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