When we first started with basketball, whether we were watching a professional game or playing wildball ourselves, we had a very clear concept of shooting closest to the basket. The center is the player closest to the basket, so we see O'Neal's dominance of the basket, and then the internal destructive power of the Monster Howard. Teams that want to win must have big centers because the efficiency of scoring under the basket was the highest at the time.
With the advent of the small-ball era, three-pointers and ultra-long-range three-pointers have become more efficient scoring methods, which has made the living space of these traditional centers who have not yet had time to adapt to it smaller and smaller, leaving them with less time and space. Let's take a look back at the centers who have been and are about to be abandoned!
1. Roy Hibbert
The first center to be abandoned in the small-ball era was Hibbert, who peaked at the Pacers in the 12-14 season, and as the team's interior gate, he was selected to the All-Star and All-Defensive Second Team, and also got a block version of the "triple-double" statistic. The Pacers' two years in the playoffs were teams that could challenge James-led Heat's "Big Three." Sadly, around the time of the two years, the small ball style prevailed, and Hibbert not only did not have the ability to do three points, but also did not have excellent movement speed, which made Larry Bird, who decided to change to small ball tactics at that time, unacceptable, which also directly announced the end of Hibbert's peak.
Hibbert's peak was cut off by the times, and the 28-year-old Hibbert was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in the golden age of his career, and in the absence of obvious injuries, in less than two years, he tossed and turned, and disappeared directly from the peak of the team's starting center directly into the history of the league. Hibbert also tried to make a comeback, but the basketball environment changed, the times changed, and the traditional pile-type center gradually began to disappear.
2. Jalil Okafor
Jalil Okafor entered Duke University in 2014 and won the NCAA Championship with the team. In 2015, he entered the NBA through the draft and was selected to the first team of the best rookie team. As a 15-year probing show, Okafor, who can contribute 17.5 points and 7 rebounds in his rookie season, has excellent interior scoring ability, solid basic skills and strong body, and is the youngest player in the league to get 22+17 statistics on the court since the 83-84 season.
Okafor entered the NBA with a huge aura, and the rookie season also received the most attention, but Okafor rarely got the opportunity to perform on the court except for the rookie season, and even was hidden by the team without injury.
This is not because Okafor does not have the strength to base himself in the league, his low-post offensive means are rich, his footsteps are flexible, and he is a complete status killer. But he was born in the wrong era, when he entered the league, it was the climax of the teams to start promoting small balls, and the team needed a center with the ability to shoot outside after blocking, or a frame-guarding interior with excellent athleticism. But Okafor did not have no outside range, his athleticism was not outstanding, and he obviously did not meet any of the above criteria, so he became a "debut is the peak" player, and gradually became the most marginalized player.
3. Greg Monroe
At its peak, Monroe was a double-double machine, and in the 14/15 season, Monroe averaged 16 points and 10 rebounds per game, and Monroe was definitely the target of the battle between the teams.
But in just 3 years, before his 3-year, 50 million contract was executed, Monroe lost playing time in the NBA, and no team was even willing to take him. The same Monroe is also an offensive interior player, his main points come from the box, there is no three-point ability; at the defensive end of the foot movement ability is not enough, there is no way to pull to the outside defense, the athletic ability is not explosive enough. These problems doomed him to be unable to gain a foothold in the small ball era.
In the 18/19 season, he was able to move between 5 teams in these two years and could not stabilize them, and finally disappeared into the league.
4. Timofey Mozgov
Mozgov is 2.16 meters tall, has the technology and skills of a small forward, is full of impact on the field, athleticism is not bad, and at the beginning of his career, he showed his dominance under the basket, and he can also have 20+20 at his peak. In the NBA for 8 years, the highlight of his NBA career should be the 14-15 season Finals, in the case of cavaliers Love injured can not play, Mozgov became the starting center, responsible for guarding the basket, caused a lot of trouble for the Warriors, because of the good performance in the Finals, Mozgov played some fame.
In the 15-16 season, Mozgov won the championship with the Cavaliers and got a championship ring, and in the summer of 16-17, Mozgov signed a 4-year and 64 million contract with the Lakers.
But with the advent of the small-ball era, Mozgov, who is the Lakers, has often sat on the cold bench, coupled with his own injury reasons, Mozgov, who has tossed around the Nets and Magic, has never been taken seriously by any team, and then left the NBA and returned to the Russian league.
5. Al-Jefferson
Al Jefferson, a former CBA Xinjiang celebrity, is definitely a good hand in the offensive end, and the one-handed small hook hand can be said to be "a trick to eat all over the sky". With this excellent offense, he has played well in the Timberwolves and Bobcats, and at his peak, he has a 20+10 performance in the season.
But unfortunately, Jefferson wanted to adapt to the small-ball era and it was too difficult. He does not have the speed advantage and cannot contribute to the offensive and defensive conversion. The second is that it does not have three-point firepower, and the tactical position is relatively monotonous. The third is too much emphasis on singles, lack of vision, and the ball to him is equivalent to falling into a black hole. Therefore, it is more and more difficult to have a position in the NBA, so after being forced to leave the league in 2018, he joined the Xinjiang men's basketball team.
After ending his career, he also joined the BIG3 League and won with the team in the 2019 season.
Stay tuned for the disappearing center (II) in the second phase of the league!