My opinion is that Big men are made in college, off the top of my head the average age their rookie years between Hakeem, Shaq, Zo, Mutumbo, Robinson, Kareem, Ewing, Wilt, Russell, Walton, McHale and Duncan was 22 years old. Shaq was the youngest of that group at 20, and even he stayed 2 years in College to mature. Even lesser centers like Daugherty, Smits, Seikaly all played 4 years, and it makes sense that the last truly great low post player drafted was Duncan. After that you have a flood of HS players and underclassmen hitting the league and most teams don't have the time to tutor players, either they have that foundation from the jump or it's basically "tough luck nikka, convert to a defensive 5".
I also blame the AAU culture as well, it's harder to stand out and wow people if you're down on the block, so more kids gravitate to playing on the perimeter, a dude like Perry Jones (6"11 in shoes) 20 years ago would have stayed 4 years and been a PF without question, right now he has no position in the league.


so robin constitute the bulk of big men in the 80's? lol despite the fact he was picked in 87? meaning his career span in the 90's which makes him a 90's ball player WHICH.. is when they started to look for Athletes more then talents. i.e. Shawn Kemp..Shaquile (use to have good handles tho)
come on man..
were in the age of super athletes and injury proned players... it is what it is
started after jordan. adn we are now at it's peak.
While there are guys ready out of HS and some as freshman, most guys need two to three years in college.
Word?Not for nothin but you posted a clip of a playoff game to back you're opinion. Playoff games are always slower and played in half court.
not necesarely can be much faster because it is played half court.. it depends on the offensive..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2cfMsmmtsg
looks at the pace difference 12 years later..
but yea it does depend; much in the same way that DRob is an example and not representative of all big men in the 80's. Mostly just sayin...not really disagreeing.
did this idiot watch any games in the 80's?lol @ today being "too fast" ... the dominant center era's were even faster than today - In the two strongest eras of dominant bigmen (late 60's/early 70's and late 80's-mid 90's) those bigs were taught how to outlet pass and start fast breaks. Their era was too fast for todays big men. Today's bigs don't even think that fast. Today's big men are taught to play slow half-court games and let the guards and forwards create every single play and most bigs today can't even hit a hook shot, big man skill is a lost art - we have guys like Bynum telling Kareem "I know enough" and Dwight is as fluid as frankenstein despite Hakeems best efforts. There is nothing holding big men back except themselves and how they've been taught to play since a young age. We are in the post-MJ era, everyone wants to be like Mike, and soon everyone will want to be like Kobe and Lebron. Nobody wants to be like Wilt or Kareem anymore.
Artis Gilmore posterizes Kareem and Theus puts on a show - YouTube
too fast a pacedid this idiot watch any games in the 80's?
Brook Lopez and Marc Gasol arent fukkin gazelles and they are effective centers.Duncans an all time great and he isnt exactly Deandre Jordan running up and down the court
Thyeres no great centers anymore becasue big guys want to float on the peremter shoot jumpers and handle the ball instead of learning post moves