Why do so many top center prospects fail at the NBA level?

[D-Wade316]

"I wanna be like Mike" mentality.

[KingRaptor]

Big men take a longer time to develop they need more than 1 or 2 years of college ball.

[chips93]

i think its just a combination of new rule changes that make the game more perimter orientated, so having a defensive center is more valuable, a center who can block shots, play good defense against pck and rolls, and just make up for mistakes on the perimeter.

the new rules like hand checking, as well as far more leniency on moving picks allows perimter players into the lane a lot easier, making a big man who can defend the paint a lot more valuable. think about the average starting center in the league, his role is usually mostlyto play defense. think about the last few title teams, they all had defensive minded centers.

ontop of that, i think that there is justa coincidental lack of powerul low post scorers. there just isnt many guys who have the natural gifts to play that style of basketball. i dont think its just a shift in the rules, or the environment of the nba that has caused a lack of centers, itsjust a lack of a few guys. i still think the dominant 90s centers wouold still dominate today, regardless of rule changes, we just happen to be going through a coincidental 'dry patch' of quality offesive centers.

[abuC]

All the big kids want to play on the perimeter, I mean look at this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSVCss90BRM


Every shot he took was outside of 17 feet.

[MasterDurant24]

Because Dwight is underrated. Dwight would of gone in the 90s and shitted on Mourning. Shaq and Hakeem would of been the only better centers.

D-Rob was better in every way. Ewing in his prime too. Dwight might have been better than 'Zo, but wouldn't have dominated him.

[Kevin_Gamble]

because the centers who defend gets injured. Thats why most pfs right now dont care about defense. Coz if they do, they would end up like perkins, noah, bynum, etc who are all injury prones. Oden and Yao are the best example.

What a load of crap. For an example, you wanna know how Bynum gets injured? Once he landed on Lamar's foot, another time Kobe ran into his knee, another time he stepped on a guy's foot as he was running back, and another time he just hurt his achilles as he was running back. Guys don't get injured because they play defense.

[eliteballer]

Up until the late 90's to 2000s, the C spot was usually well stacked.

The C spot has never been "well stacked". Outside of the top 6 or 7 centers the league was littered with garbage in the 90's too.

[knicksman]

What a load of crap. For an example, you wanna know how Bynum gets injured? Once he landed on Lamar's foot, another time Kobe ran into his knee, another time he stepped on a guy's foot as he was running back, and another time he just hurt his achilles as he was running back. Guys don't get injured because they play defense.

I knew youre an idiot so you have no idea about this. Thats why the big men who can score are now designated as pf while those who defend as C.

[senelcoolidge]

I think the high schoolers and one and done big men are a big reason for the drop off in talent. These guys come in as projects and many just don't pan out. Players that stay in school 3 to 4 years have much more maturity and tend to be more fundamentally sound than guys straight out of high school or one year of college players. Getting paid millions at 18 or 19 also effects some of these guys that just don't work hard.