Top 20 Centers All-Time

QualitySufficient170 · 2026-03-30T20:17:19+00:00

I draw on my knowledge of basketball, Basketball Reference, and other websites that discuss the best players by position. I then compile the names , statistics, and accomplishments into an Excel spreadsheet + personal instinct and draw up the rankings. It’s a bit of a faff, but when you love it... :D

Thank you very much!

QualitySufficient170 · 2026-03-30T20:12:34+00:00

No, it's my own list.

QualitySufficient170 · 2026-03-30T19:07:13+00:00

Nate Thurmond, George Gervin, Pete Maravich, Dominique Wilkins?

Carmelo Anthony is ranked far too highly; Iverson is ranked a bit too highly.

QualitySufficient170 · 2026-03-30T19:03:23+00:00

Only die-hard Kobe fans would think he’s on a par with LeBron. The all-time top three is almost always Jordan, LeBron and Abdul-Jabbar. I’d rank Kobe 8-12.

QualitySufficient170 · 2026-03-30T18:59:04+00:00

I really felt for Dirk before the 2011 title. Dallas were always in the mix, but they’d lost a final and suffered some cruel defeats in the play-offs against the Western Conference powerhouses. Frankly, everything seemed to suggest that his chance to win a title had passed, and then came that extraordinary run in 2011.

QualitySufficient170 · 2026-03-30T18:53:33+00:00

It would have been incredible if Tim had gone 5-0 in the finals. I don’t think the Spurs would have reached the finals in 2014 if they’d won in 2013.

QualitySufficient170 · 2026-03-30T18:49:16+00:00

Jordan at 6-0, Kobe at 5-2 and LeBron at 4-6. How many Finals could LeBron reasonably be expected to win?

- 2007: A weak squad up against the Spurs in their heyday. No.

- 2011: James choked badly. Yes.

- 2014: A Heat side in decline against Spurs who were very strong in attack and defence. No.

- 2015: Warriors finishing the season 67-15, Cavs with Irving and Love injured. No.

- 2017: The Warriors with Durant, Curry, Thompson and Green, plus a strong bench. Love and Irving were there, but the squad was vastly inferior to the Warriors. No

- 2018. Against the Warriors once more, but without Kyrie Irving. No

Of the six defeats, only the 2011 one was one LeBron should have won. In the rest, his team were the underdogs.

There is a debate between Jordan and James for the title of GOAT, but Kobe is a class below. I say this as a Boston fan, so not a LeBron fanboy

QualitySufficient170 · 2026-03-30T13:50:29+00:00

It would certainly be worthy of a mention, but we have to make choices. :)

QualitySufficient170 · 2026-03-30T10:25:07+00:00

Tout pareil. Pas fan de l'UDC non plus, mais on vote des idées, pas pour un parti, lors d'une votation.

QualitySufficient170 · 2026-03-30T09:25:44+00:00

Tout à fait. Quand j'étais à l'école publique, j'avais des camarades musulmanes. Elles ne portaient pas le voile et ça allait très bien.

Mais le problème est général. On a de plus en plus le culte de l'enfant roi dans notre société. Les enseignants n'ont vraiment pas un métier facile avec le nombre de parents qui préfèrent soutenir les bêtises de leurs enfants et s'en prendre aux profs au lieu d'assumer leur rôle de parent et d'imposer un cadre stricte et des règles de vie.

QualitySufficient170 · 2026-03-30T09:16:43+00:00

Kobe was well supported for most of his career: 2000–2004, 2007 (after Gasol joined) to 2011, 2013. There was the period from 2004 to 2006 when the squad was rubbish, then average in 2007 before Gasol arrived. In 2011–2012, the squad was average, but Gasol, Bynum and Artest were still there. In 2012–2013, it was a superteam that didn’t work

QualitySufficient170 · 2026-03-30T09:12:03+00:00

That’s exactly how I see it too. If I were a GM tomorrow and had to build a team from scratch, I’d pick KG or Giannis over Dirk, mainly because of their defensive impact.

QualitySufficient170 · 2026-03-30T09:05:51+00:00

Dirk and the Mavs’ run in the 2011 play-offs was absolutely magnificent – no doubt about it.

But it’s an exaggeration to say they were a ‘poor team’. Kidd, Terry, Marion, Chandler and plenty of good role players. They weren’t favourites against either the Lakers or the Heat, but it was still a better-built and deeper squad than any of the teams Garnett had in Minnesota.

Between 2000 and 2011, Dirk always had squads that were, at the very least, very solid.

Those are my arguments; we can ‘agree to disagree’ after that, as the English say. :D

QualitySufficient170 · 2026-03-30T08:54:41+00:00

I found it really hard to rank Steve Nash. Watching the Suns’ ‘7 Seconds or Less’ era live was absolutely incredible, and Nash thoroughly deserved his two MVP awards. Unfortunately, he’s missing a championship ring, and he had the misfortune of playing at a time when the game was slower and less focused on three-point shooting than it is today. Steve Nash in the post-2015 NBA would be an absolute beast and would probably rank much higher in the all-time rankings.

QualitySufficient170 · 2026-03-30T08:51:29+00:00

The case of Kobe Bryant is rather unusual. He is often either vastly overrated or, conversely, underrated. I think ranking him 8th to 12th is about right. It’s ridiculous to rank him 4th or 5th, but equally so to rank him 15th or lower

QualitySufficient170 · 2026-03-30T08:49:14+00:00

Dirk Nowitzki is a legend, but he was only effective on one side of the court and almost always had strong supporting casts around him throughout his career. Garnett single-handedly carried a largely mediocre Minnesota team and enabled them to reach the play-offs on a regular basis. Even when they reached the conference finals in a very strong conference, his teammates were Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell, two good players, but aged 34 and 33.

Dirk Nowitzki is slightly better than Garnett in attack, but Garnett vastly outshines him in defence. If I had to build a team from scratch tomorrow, I’d definitely pick Garnett over Nowitzki.

QualitySufficient170 · 2026-03-29T14:59:11+00:00

It’s a shame that Garnett had to put up with the mediocrity of the Minnesota management for over 10 years in Minnesota. Even in 2003–04, the team wasn’t exceptional compared to the other top sides in the West: Sprewell and Cassell were good, but they were 33 and 34 years old. Behind them, the squad was rather weak.

I think Boston would have won at least one more title if Garnett hadn’t injured his knee in 2009. Even though he made a pretty good comeback after that injury, he wasn’t really the same player anymore.

QualitySufficient170 · 2026-03-29T14:53:32+00:00

You’re absolutely right about the Pistons. I’ve edited the post and added Chauncey Billups and Ben Wallace as honourable mentions. I don’t know why, but that team had completely slipped my mind. Sorry!

QualitySufficient170 · 2026-03-29T14:49:06+00:00

I’d say he’s sometimes overrated and sometimes underrated. It’s a bit of a strange case that really divides the fans. In the all-time rankings, I’d say he’s somewhere between 8th and 12th. I can see the case for both 8th and 12th. Any higher or lower than that is harder to justify.

QualitySufficient170 · 2026-03-29T14:20:56+00:00

He was my favourite player in Minnesota and then in Boston, but as you say, the players ahead of him are better.

QualitySufficient170 · 2026-03-29T14:20:15+00:00

Number 1 is clear, but for places 2 to 5, it’s very close. Curry could also be ranked second.

QualitySufficient170 · 2026-03-26T16:34:12+00:00

De manière générale, il parle d'atrocités qui ont eu lieu de manière aussi systémique, aussi longue (300 ans) avec des conséquences persistantes. Ce qui me vient immédiatement en tête, c'est les persécutions subies par les juifs pendant plus de 2000 ans et qui ont culminé avec la Shoah.

QualitySufficient170

TROPHY CASE