Recently, some American media divided 5 gears for the 25 super centers in NBA history, of which our Chinese player Yao Ming is in the fifth gear, Howard is in the fourth gear, and the shark O'Neal is only the second gear, and the top center player is a single gear, let's take a look!
Fifth gear: Bob Lanier, Alonzo Mourning, Yao Ming, Neil Johnston, Nate Thurmond, Marc Gasol, Walter Bellamy
The first to be on this list is considered an All-Star player, and even if he is not inducted into the Hall of Fame, he may be on the verge of the Hall of Fame. However, the biggest thing they have in common is that they are considered unable to lead the team to the championship, at least not to the finals.
Among them, we are more familiar with of the Chinese player Yao Ming, who averaged 19 points and 9.2 rebounds per game in his career, and his best result was in the Western Conference Finals, and then lost to that year's championship Lakers.
In addition, the legendary center of the Heat, Mourning, is also a player in this gear, although he won the championship with the Heat in 2006, but the core at that time was Wade and O'Neal, this year Mourning averaged 8 points and 4 rebounds per game in the regular season, and only played 4 games in the playoffs, averaging 6 points and 2 rebounds per game. It may come as a surprise that Gasol Jr. entered this gear, although he is an all-star, he is unlikely to enter the Hall of Fame, and his historical status is certainly not as good as his older brother Gasol Sr.
Fourth gear: Willis Reed, Bob McAdoo, Dwight Howard, Dave Cowens, George McCann, Bill Walton, Dickenberg Mutombo, Artis Gilmore, Robert Parrish
The selection criteria for this level are those who have won the championship as the main player, or have won personal honors such as scoring champion, rebounding king, regular season MVP, and best defensive player.
For example, Willis Reed won 2 championships in the Knicks, plus 2 Finals MVPs, and averaged 18.7 points and 12.9 rebounds per game in his career. Bill Wharton, the father of former Lakers coach Wharton Jr., won the only championship trophy for the Blazers, personally won FMVP, MVP, rebounding king, block king, McCann 5 championships, and Cowans two championships.
Warcraft Howard once won a championship as a backup player in the Lakers, but his personal honor is quite luxurious! 5-time rebounding king, 2-time block king, 3 consecutive best defensive players, that is, one championship short of the main status, it is only a matter of time before he enters the Hall of Fame.
Third Rank: David Robinson, Moses Mallon, Patrick Ewing, Wes Unseld
Enter this gear and you will be a veritable superstar! Fans should have noticed that 2 of the 4 centers in this gear are the four super interior linemen of the 90s, Robinson of the Spurs and Ewing of the Knicks.
Robinson has 2 championships and averages 21.10.6 rebounds per game in his career, and he was the absolute core of the Spurs before Duncan joined! Ewing had 21 points, 9.8 rebounds, plus 11 All-Stars. To be honest, I think Ewing is a bit far-fetched to enter this gear, because first of all, he does not have a championship, nor does he have honors such as scoring king, rebounding king, block king, MVP, best defensive player, etc., he has only been selected to the best team 1 time, and he has not been selected for the best defensive team, in my opinion, he may not be as good as Howard of Warcraft!
Second Gear: Bill Russell, Hakim Olajuwon, Shaquille O'Neill, Wilt Chamberlain
There are also four centers in the second gear, and they are basically the old ones who are included in the discussion of the top five centers in history. Russell the Lord of the Rings, 11 championships. "Big Dream" Olajuwon, who led the Rockets to two consecutive championships, his dream steps have been learned by young people until now. O'Neill naturally doesn't need to say much, the strongest center across the century, and does not accept any doubts. Basketball emperor Chamberlain is even more honorable, 100 points in a single game is unbeatable!
In the all-time best squad selected by many players or media, you can often see the shadow of these four players, and four of them are selected in the second bracket, I think there is no controversy.
First gear: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Abdul-Jabbar is the only one in all-time centers, he played 20 seasons, averaging 24.6 points and 11.2 rebounds per game, before James, he dominated the NBA's all-time scoring list for many years, and until now, he is the double rebounding king in the history of the Bucks and Lakers!
In terms of honors, Abdul-Jabbar has 6 championships, 2 FMVPs, 6 regular season MVPs, and 19 All-Stars, which is longer than most players' careers! 2-time scoring champion, 4 block champions, and one of only 3 regular season 1,000 wins in history!
There is no doubt that Abdul-Jabbar is the number one center in NBA history, and even far ahead of the second gear player. Dear fans and friends, do you think the division of this center forward is reasonable?