Since the birth of basketball, tall men have occupied absolute dominance, from Oxlade-Chamberlain and Bill Russell in ancient times, to The "Sky Hook" Jabbar, who scored the first point in the regular season, to the four centers in 90 years, and then to Yao Ming and Howard after 2000, these are excellent big players in NBA history, but with the acceleration of basketball offense, the position of centers in the team has gradually weakened.
Today's performances of Jokic and Embiid may once again redefine the importance of big players in the league.
Embiid led the 76ers to victory over the Magic today, and in the 27 minutes of playing, he slashed 50 points and 12 rebounds, shooting a whopping 70%, such a statistic, in the four centers, only David Robingson has done, and Embiid is the least time-consuming.
Similarly, in the Nuggets' victory over the Clippers, Jokic played 41 minutes, shooting 16-of-25, including 3-of-5 from three-point range and 14-of-16 from the free throw line, with 49 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists, if it had been 20 years ago, except for Oxlade-Chamberlain in ancient times, who would have thought that a big player could play such a statistic.
With the advent of the small-ball era, the league's teams look more at center players and defender players with projection ability, as for the team's center players, not only is the speed too slow, but also easy to be misplaced by the small players of the opposing team "military training", coupled with the expansion of the offensive area, the survival of large players is becoming more and more difficult.
In the years of the riding war, the NBA even had few center players who could get their hands on it, and many old fans began to sigh, in the future basketball, the center players can only be the supporting roles of the team.
This is not the case in the performance of Embiid and Jokic today, and some people say that Embiid and Jokic began to save the center forward players, which is not entirely true.
Compared with the four major centers in the 90s, Jokic and Embiid are not in the absolute sense of the center players, the four major centers, more are strong inside, relying on body and strength to score points under the basket, but Embiid and Jokic are not like the centers of the 90s, they not only have a good back singles ability, but also have very good projection ability, more importantly, Embiid and Jokic's range is much more than the four centers, you know, in the 90s, even to the Yao Ming and Howard period, Most of the NBA's center players don't have any three-point shots on the outside, and if they shoot three-pointers on the court like Bynum, they will be replaced by the coach in an instant, even if they are scolded bloody.
Finally, there is the ability to organize, which may not be shown much in Embiid, but Jokic has the organizational ability of a defender.
So far this season, Jokic has won 10 triple-doubles, 67 triple-doubles in his career, and averaged 7.4 assists per game, ranking ninth in the league, while the 8 in front of Jokic are all defenders, and even in the top 20 of the assist list, there is only one center player, Jokic.
So from these two perspectives, Jokic and Embiid did not save the traditional center players, just like the Jazz's Gobert and the Eagles' Capela, lack of long-range projection ability, it is doomed that the attack of these two teams is still based on the attack of the front and the guard.
Jokic and Embiid's excellent performances have only made the players in the center position more comprehensive.
In today's small-ball era, the center forward player can only play strongly on the inside, it is difficult to assume the tactical core of the team, and when a center player can not only hold the ball in the inside line, but also have the projection ability on the outside line, and can also have good organizational ability, it is fully equipped to become the tactical core of the team.
It can't be said that Embiid and Jokic saved the center era, after all, the center of the 90s is the center player in the strict sense, and Jokic and Embiid are only the representatives of the center in the small ball era, that is to say, in the small ball era, basketball redefined the center players, and they need to take on more skills and skills of the team.