Where have the NBA Giants gone?

An experiment gone awry... & The Next Coming?

Now that we have this brief respite from meaningful Sonics games, at least until the Spurs handle their business, here’s some filler material, until the folks here at The Soul tackle the task that is the 2nd round analysis:

Some of you young’uns may not believe this, but there was a time not too long ago when the NBA actually had centers with skill.

I went back to the early 1990’s, particularly years 91- 93 and came up with this list.

The Elite:
Patrick Ewing- HOF
Hakeem Olajuwon- HOF
David Robinson- HOF
Shaquille O’neal- HOF
Pretty Darn Good:
Alonzo Mourning
Dikembe Mutombo
Brad Daugherty
Not so much, but still offensively talented/serviceable*:
Kevin Duckworth
Vlade Divac
Moses Malone (still had a few miles left in years 90-92)
Rik Smits
Derrick Coleman
Robert Parish (HOFer but not in the late 90’s, still serviceable from 90-92)
Rony Seikaly
Sam Perkins
*(Please go to basketball-reference.com to refresh your memories on some of these guys before you start ROFLMAO, and understand I’m merely saying they did have some skill.)

There were 27 teams in the League: Of those, 4 had HOF’ers, 7 had All Stars, and 15 had decent centers with marginal offensive capabilities/game affecting ability.

Here’s my point: during that age, there were a bunch of teams who had centers with capable offensive game or game influencing capabilities. You couldn’t deny the face staring straight at you from the 7’ body tossing 8ft jumpers over your team: they were beings that had to be deliberated on and accounted for. If you went into a playoff series facing one of those 4 teams with the HOF’ers or one of the 7 teams with the All-Stars without someone/something to combat them, they would make you pay, probably with your playoff life. I believe the reaction to this was two-fold:

1) Where/how can I get me one of those?
2) Where/how can I get me someone to stop one of those (particular the select studs at the top.)
For those teams on the outside looking in on this phenomenon there was one particular reaction: we can build one of these guys for our team.

And so the novel idea was formed: Size was the premium and talent & skill the by-product of work/experience that could be nurtured into the player given time. Like a Chia-pet, a team could simply purchase a starter kit from K-mart, add water, sit their ass on a lawn chair, and watch their investment grow into a gifted center of equal offensive/game changing ability. (One example: Purchase (1) gangly 7’-0” rookie, sit on bench, watch games from bench, hire once great center to teach aggressiveness, teach skill, work out X amt of hours to change body to desired product, add 20-30lbs, wait 2-4 years – become All Star.)

GM’s whom fans and owners entrusted with their teams fate thus began the their ill-fated experiments. What came out of their laboratories was a Frankenstein monster for the NBA: a mutated being bearing only a passing resemblance to the giants they were meant to imitate. They walked around with awkward gaits, had barely acceptable control of their appendages, were zombie-like in their reactions/ hand eye coordination and they mercilessly terrorized their cities for years on end with their terrifying long-term multi-million dollar contracts.

All of you people entering this Supersonic team site know very well of these creatures I speak of. Jim McIlvaine… Calvin Booth… Chris Dudley… Michael Olowakandi… Rasho… Adonal Foyle…Brian Grant… Non-Bizarro Jerome... Potapenko… The monsters were unleashed on the League and nothing was ever the same again.

But, just like Mary Shelley’s story, the fan realized (or should have, at least) that the true monster was not the misshapen being now forced to wander the world in shame in their tricked out Cadillac Escalades, but rather the mad, God-playing, GM’s that created them… (Translation: F**k you Wally Walker.)

Fast-Forward to the present time:

Check out the list of centers in the league today:

The Elite:
Shaq- HOF
Pretty Darn Good/O.K.:
Yao Ming (some may throw him in with Shaq)
Not so much, but still offensively talented/servicable:
Z. Ilgauskas (maybe he should be with Yao)
Brad Miller
PF’s 6’-10” or less in height/playing stature, playing the 5 spot with offensive game or impact power:
Amare Stoudemire
Ben Wallace
Emeka Okafor
Rasheed Wallace
Marcus Camby
Frankenstein’s still roaming around in the league:
Mark Blount
Shawn Bradley
Brian Grant
Booth
Raaaasho
Olowakandi
And on and on….
(The omission in this list is the cause of this post; please bear with me.)

Take a look at that list:
There is just one guy who can truly dominate the game from the 5 spot. There are only 2 others who you could justify as having a decent enough offensive game. The rest of them? Either A) they’re 6’something” PF’s disguised as “centers” in the 5-spot who you could/should better defend with 6’something” players of your own, or 2) 7’ stiffs without sufficient offensive skill to need to truly concern yourself over/ require some crazy acquisition on your teams part to counteract.

I don’t know exactly what happened, but much like the woolly mammoth, the great centers of the NBA have disappeared, with only a few still in existence. Maybe it’s a cyclical thing and in its next manifestation the League will once again be the land of talented giants. Regardless, I think it would be wise to 1) learn from the past mistakes of our ancestor GM’s and B) not feel the need to risk unleashing further abominations in a league which no longer requires a solution to great centers.

And now here comes 2005 playoff Jerome James, lumbering around right in front of our very eyes. How appropriate is it that we have a genuine Sasquatch sighting here in Key Arena, in the Pacific Northwest. We’re awestruck at the sight. Could it be? Is this real or am I dreaming? WTF is going on here!?!

I’ve called him Bizarro Jerome on occasion because of the infrequency of his appearances on our planet. But now, these 5 straight playoff game sightings… Is he a creature genetically brought back from the DNA of the extinct NBA Center of the past? I’m stumped. But you know what? If I’m a GM and this offseason I’m faced with the decision, I take a look at recent history and I make certain I don’t become the Frankenstein of my team.

Jerome James: Free Agent? You can take him, I’ll pass.

Who will Jerome James most closely resemble in the 2005-2006 season?
	Jerome James season 2004-2005
	Jerome James 2005 playoffs round 1
	Zydrunas Ilgauskas
	Yao Ming
	Jim McIlvaine
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Round One Report Card

J.J. would've received an A+ if he hadn't worn a garbage bag like a crazy person.

With the first round in the books, I thought it’d be interesting to revisit how each Sonic did. Here’s a quick and dirty on the contributors to OUR FIRST SERIES WIN ON THE WAY TO A CHAMPIONSHIP, BABY! YOU SUCK, SAC-O-TOMATOES! KINGS? HUH, YOU GUYS AREN’T EVEN JESTERS!

Okay, I’m calm again, so here goes:

Ray Allen – A+. I think even the biggest Ray-hater (yours truly), has to admit he stepped it up to historic proportions. An average of 32 points, 2 steals, 5 boards, and 5 assists is positively Jordan-esque, and add in a tremendous 2nd-half in game 4 when the Sonics really needed him, and, well, he just could not have done any more.

Luke Ridnour – B-. I’m sorry, but shooting 31% from the field won’t cut it. His lack of D on Bibby didn’t help, either. Saying that, you’ve got to wonder why he rates even a B-, and that’s where his tremendous ballhandling and lack of turnovers raised his grade. 1.5 turnovers in 30 minutes is fantastic, and Cool Hand Luke deserves all the credit for that. His game improved as the series wore on, and I expect him to do reasonably well in round 2.

Rashard Lewis – B+. Lewis’ D on Peja was the unsung story of this series. The Kings’ SF was dynamite in games 4 and 5, but in games 1 to 3 he was a nonentity, and Lewis deserves credit for that. Yeah, Peja was injured and he always stinks in the playoffs, but Lewis still managed to hold him in check. Shard’s offense showed up in games 4 and 5 (not coincidentally, when Peja began to score as well). Count on big things from him if the Sonics meet the Spurs, as SA is going to have matchup hell guarding him (he shot 51% against the Spurs this season).

Reggie Evans – C+. After a 15-rebound performance in game 1, Mr. Glass sort of disappeared in the rest of the series. His frenetic energy was always appreciated, but he was never the best PF on the Sonics: that role belonged to Nick Collison.

Jerome James – A-. Unbelievable. I was trying to explain to my wife how incredible his transformation was, and the only way I could was to tell her to imagine if next week she decided to run the Vancouver Marathon, and not only finished, but beat out all those Kenyan chicks. Again, unbelievable.

Nick Collison – B+. You’ve got to love this guy. I didn’t appreciate his game early in the season, but his knack for finding the ball is wonderful, and he handles the rock in the paint better than any Sonic big man – JJ included. His 15-point, 9-board performance in game 5 has me looking forward to a full season of him as a starter.

AD – B-. The only reason he doesn’t grab a C is his fantastic job in the 2nd half of game 5. Anybody else notice that Luke rode the pine for the entire 4th quarter while my man AD ran the show? Like Ridnour, he handled the rock well, and, like Ridnour, he shot like crap most of the series. AD’s tendency to dribble around the court can drive you nuts, but his tenacious D and passion is always appreciated.

Radman – C-. 6 points per game is lousy for a guy whose defense is subpar to begin with. A decent game 2, but other than that, a non-entity.

Fortson – C-. Like Radman, a non-entity. Like Radman, his only decent game was in game 2, but his proclivity for fouls and T’s earned him too much bench time to be of any use. The Sonics need his tenacity and ability to draw fouls, they don’t need his constant complaining and ridiculous fouls.

Sonics stuff Sac, Win Series!

Brad Miller: "My new fighting technique is unstoppable"!

Led by seven (!) players in double figures, the Supersonics beat the Kings 122-118 to win the first round series 4-1.

Ray Allen, who became the first player in Sonics history to score 30 or more points in three consecutive playoff games, led the team with 30 points. Rashard Lewis, who had struggled early in the series, had 24.

After the game, Jerome James got a big ol' garbage bag out and started waving it around. Nobody knows why.

The Supes will play the winner of the Spurs/Nuggets series. Get your second round tickets here (when they go on sale).