No center position on the NBA Ballot....

The All-Star Center Is Officially Extinct
By HOWARD BECK

Tom Pennington/Getty Images

All-Star voters no longer have to puzzle over whether Tim Duncan is a center or forward.The notion of an All-Star center is officially defunct — at least on the ballot that determined N.B.A. All-Stars.

The N.B.A., bowing to new realities in a multi-positional era, has eliminated “center” from its All-Star ballots for the 2012-13 season. Instead, fans will vote for three frontcourt players and two guards.

The change was announced Wednesday by Stu Jackson, the league’s executive vice president, who said that listing center as a separate category is “outdated and not representative of today’s game or players.”

The true center -– the hulking, plodding, back-to-the-basket force who once ruled the paint -– has all but vanished from the modern game. Today’s N.B.A. is filled with centers who play like forwards and forwards masquerading as centers. Many teams are deploying “small” lineups without a single 7-footer, or at least none that play in the paint.

Boston used the mobile, athletic Kevin Garnett — who has always played at power forward -– as their default center last season. Miami plans to do the same this season with Chris Bosh, another forward who has never considered himself a center. The Phoenix Suns became a Western Conference powerhouse in the mid-2000s with the hyper-athletic, jump-shooting Amar’e Stoudemire as their center.

Until now, center was the only specific position listed on N.B.A. All-Star ballots, which otherwise listed simply “guards” and “forwards,” without dividing them into subcategories.

“Our players have become more versatile each season,” Jackson said, “and this ballot will more accurately reflect that versatility.”

Unspoken, but just as important: The change means that fans no longer have to vote for mediocre big men just to conform with an artificial positional designation. That means fewer votes for the Marcin Gortats, DeAndre Jordans and Joel Anthonys of the league, and potentially more for Bosh, Kevin Love and Serge Ibaka. It means the N.B.A. can avoid a repeat of 2004, when Jamaal Magloire earned an All-Star slot, simply because the East lacked any worthy centers.

It also removes some confusion from the process. San Antonio’s Tim Duncan has for years been listed as a forward on All-Star ballots, although he plays more like a traditional center. It caused annual consternation in the balloting, because the Western Conference often had a logjam at forward and, in some years, a dearth of outstanding centers.

The ballot change will be a blow, however, to the handful of true centers who, under the right circumstances, might have broken through for an All-Star nod. That includes the Knicks’ Tyson Chandler, an outstanding defender who does not score much; and the Nets’ Brook Lopez, a great low-post scorer who does not defend much. Now that they are lumped in with small forwards and power forwards, neither one stands much of a chance in the balloting.

“That’s different,” said Mike Woodson, the Knicks’ coach. “We’ve always had centers in the league. We still have them and we have a pretty good one in Tyson.”

Chandler, for his part, took the development in stride. “Maybe those are the positions they want to see,” he said. “Those are the skilled positions that are exciting and it’s almost like a pickup game.”

He also noted, “There are only a few true centers in the league.”

Makes sense to me.

swish

Hi,
I think it's a wrong decision. Sure, there are just a few real centers, so it'll be, most probably again, Howard vs Bynum (if he can walk). But if there're more flashy PFs a la Griffin then they'll be selected.
Of course, the bench is selected by coaches who know the value of a good center.
OTOH, All-Star is a beauty contest/show, so who cares what positions are selected.

AK

"The true center - the hulking, plodding back-to-the-basket force who once ruled the paint . . ." ???

Who's he talking about? George Mikan? In the modern era, there was Moses Malone, Patrick Ewing and Shaquille - if we're talking about ruling the paint - and Shaq was hulking but not plodding until he got older.

Watching the Olympics was enough to convince me that the era of the center isn't over and never will be. There's a whole middle class of hulking centers out there in places like Russia and Turkey and elsewhare. Maybe they aren't NBA ready yet, but they're there and it only takes one or two superlative players, like it did during the 1950s with the NBA, when Russell and Chamberlain showed everyone what the most decisive position on the floor has to be.

The league offices under Stupid Stern have turned themselves into a travesty. They've introduced the spectacle of corrupt, incompetent officiating, they've glorified hero ball over team play, and Stern's actions have even caused questions about the results of the draft lottery.

Now they've decided the center position is outdated. Stu Jackson and Stu Stern. Couple of pips.

I don't mind the NBA making this change.
There are many players that play power forward and center.
Should Garnett be listed on the ballot as a pf or a c?
With the Lakers, Howard will often guard the quicker/more athletic big man and Gasol will guard the slower big man. That means Howard will often be guarding a pf.
With the injuries to the centers in recent years, do we really want to see a Marc Gasol or a Tyson Chandler in the all-star game because they were voted or named as a replacement by default due to injurues?
I agree to let the best big men play in the all-star game, regardless of position.
I couldn't disagree more with spike's comments about corrupt officials and questioning the draft lottery.
The NBA player has changed with the times as has the NFL player.
The NBA is extremely successful right now. They have double digit ratings increases each year and the NBA is talked about year round. Stern has done a fabulous job of marketing the NBA over the last 28 years.

tjmakz wrote:The NBA player has changed with the times as has the NFL player.
The NBA is extremely successful right now. They have double digit ratings increases each year and the NBA is talked about year round. Stern has done a fabulous job of marketing the NBA over the last 28 years.

Often overlooked and underappreciated facts; I agree 100%.

Was pretty easy back when there were 12-16 teams for each one to have a "real good" center.

Now ??? Not so much, certainly more teams don't have one (a dominate one) than have one. Heck if a "center" is "that good" he'll make the ALL STAR team. If he isn't that good, and does not make it, he doesn't have to bother to watch it..... like me! Sort of a boring game unless you like 150-147 scores!

Could mean somethig to a few (centers) that have financial incentives in their contracts I suppose.

As for the changing of other sports baseball has always listed outfielders on their all star ballots as well...... outfielders, but playing centerfield is far different than left or right field.

Look at hockey.... unless your a hockey nut (not me).... is there really much of a difference between a right wing, center, or left wing?? Perhaps there is but to me seems you have 5 players and a goalie (OK the defensemen don't venture much inside the blue line.....ok.....right... tell that to Brad Park or Bobby Orr.

The traditional center just does not exsist as once it did. Mobility seems to be much more important than sheer bulk. If you can have both fine but just not many of those around.

Not gonna effect too many people anyway.

beat

Before I read this article, I wasn't going to watch the all-star game. Now I'm not going to watch it twice.

Sam

Who really cares what that bunch of expensive suits does? They're part of the MBA Mafia and if you don't believe they're corrupt and incompetent, you're not paying attention. To think that these sleazy bozos have anything to do with the popularity of basketball is as wrongheaded as it gets.

Nobody seems to get this powerful truth about basketball: it's not that the NBA alone is so successful, it's the sport itself and it has literally taken the world by storm. Basketball is the American game and, because you don't need anyone else to play it with, it's slowly replacing soccer as the world game. We should feel a little patriotic about that, but it's completely overlooked because the media is too busy promoting petty buttlickers like Stern. Basketball became popular when he was Commissioner, so it must be his doing.

What's fun for this Celtic fan is to slap David Stern upside the head (figuratively speaking, of course) every chance I get. The reason is because he despises the Celtics. His first act as Commissioner was to change the name of the championship trophy from Walter Brown to Lawrence O'Brien. O'Brien was a lawyer, Stern's former boss, the guy who made sure the owners hired Stern to replace him. Walter Brown was one of the founders of the NBA, an entrepeneur who risked everything to keep his team and the league going, back when the league was still an iffy proposition. Red Auerbach started heaping scorn on Stern, as only Red could, when Stern was still a flunky in the league office; after he became commissioner and took the sainted Walter Brown's name off the trophy, Red took every opportunity to slap Stern upside the head, figuratively speaking.

There was an awesome moment during the preseason game in Milan. Stern was in the stands, nice perq, and one of the Boston reporters stuck a microphone in his face. Apparently, the reporter didn't know about Stern's issues with the Celtics organization, because he asked him, "Are you a Celtic fan?" The look on Stern's face was priceless: incredulous at first, then vastly amused. This is a guy who is a self-confessed Knicks fan, one who's done everythin ing his power to screw the Celtics for thirty or so years. He practically choked on his answer, saying, "Tonite I am."

Actually Spike, I think TJ got it right.

Stern gets picked on here, but I don't buy the criticism at all. Quite the opposite; I think he's done a great job.

Stern is the one who put a global marketing strategy into the NBA's plans; it didn't exist under Larry O'Brien. The sport's popularity spread along with it. If you want to take a look at the past 28 years, the NBA has expanded into a multi-billion dollar business in both the U.S. and abroad under Stern. It's a big part of economies in many cities. What's more you can correlate the growth back to smart moves by Stern and his administration.

We can bury our head in the sand and cry at every perceived slight like renaming an award away from a Celtic figure, but then Stern goes out and names the finals MVP trophy after Russ. If he hates the celtics so much, why didn't he name it after Jabbar?

As far as his alleged hatred of the Celtics; every team's fans think they get picked on at some point. If he's a Knicks fan, that doesn't bother me. He grew up and resides in downstate NY so I would expect that would be his team. He's certainly done nothing to favor them unfairly.

I'm good with David Stern.

As for the All-Star Game itself, I like Sam's approach of "not watching it twice."

Regards

Edit: News just hit that David Stern will retire in 2014.

NYCelt and tjmax.

I think you both got it right.

swish

sam wrote:Before I read this article, I wasn't going to watch the all-star game. Now I'm not going to watch it twice.

Sam

Funniest post of the day!!

spike,

Are you familiar with the recognition that David Stern and the NBA gives to Bill Russell each year?
On February 14, 2009 David Stern announced that the the NBA Finals MVP Trophy will now be called the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award.

Every year when they give that award out they use that exact name when announcing the MVP Finals MVP and Mr. Russell is there every time at the ceremony.

Sorry NYCelt, I didn't read your post before I made my above post.

They waited until forty years after Russ retired to name the MVP award after him. Was it Stern's idea to ignore Russ for thirty years? Did Stern push for the award? Before he gets credit for something he probably resisted until the bitter end, give me some facts.

NYCelt gives him credit for "putting a global marketing startegy into the NBA's plans." That's an insult to the memory of Red. He was the one going overseas in the 1950s and '60s doing global marketing. Maybe he was plugging his book, but it was the U.S. State Department that sponsored all those trips. Please don't give Stupid Stern credit for something Red did. That's treason! Stern was in the right place at the right time. He's a pipsqueak standing on the shoulders of giants.

Incidentally, how many NBA teams are struggling? Is it really as successful as Stern would have us believe?

spike,

None of us will ever know whose decision it was to change the Final MVP Award name. Stern didn't ignore Russell for 30 years. Stern or the NBA didn't have to make that decision to change the awards name. You seem very ungrateful over this annual recognition of Russell.

The recession is a big reason why some teams are struggling.
People in smaller, less populated areas with lower paying jobs just can't financially support their team like they could 5 years ago. In all reality, there are too many teams in the NBA. The NBA would be completely fine if 6 teams were allowed to go out of business.

tj

No question many NBA teams are struggling. Yet the NBA public relations people are so good, and ratings are so high, that even intelligent fans call the league "extremely successful" when it ain't.

Those teams that are struggling might have less problems if there was any leadership coming from the Commissioner's office. Sorry but everybody's praising this glorified chump who's taking trips to Italy while Sacramento burns, - not to forget Indiana and about a dozen other cities. That's enough Stern bashing: he can't retire soon enough.

Basketball is a growing sport worldwide, as I said, and I'm not in favor of sacrificing teams. If a team can't make a go in Sacramento, maybe the league could open its coffers and pay for it to move Mexico City, or Puerto Rico, or Europe.

I'm not sure what the solution is, but I am sure that it will be the hardworking entrepeneurs and savvy business people behind these teams that are going to address and solve these problems, and not the league office.

One excellent idea I heard was to have the Lakers share their television contract money equally with all the other teams. I heard that idea came from David Stern himself. LOL

spike,

I am not sure why in every post you resort to name calling of David Stern, but that is your choice.

The NBA is successful. So is the NFL, but some franchises are struggling. Down here in Florida, the Jaquars can't give away their tickets and here in Tampa, for 3 years we haven't been able to watch a Tampa Bay Buccaneers home game because they are blacked out due to the non-sellout rules. The Buccaneers and many other NFL teams are struggling, but the league as a whole isn't.

Do you think it's David Stern's fault that David Kahn of Minnesota has so mis-managed that organization? Is it Sterns fault that the Clippers have made a terrible decision on almost every top 5 draft pick that they have had over the last 20 years? Is it Stern's fault that Michael Jordan has grossly mis-managed the Bobcats and who have drafted terribly almost every year?

Stern has already said that there will be no expansion to Europe. The travel would be too burdensome.
Mexico City has unbelievable violence occuring every day, a team would never move there and I doubt Puerto Ricans would be able to afford to support an NBA team for 41 games.

The Lakers have worked hard to build what they have. The Bobcats and Raptors and many other teams should not receive any of their TV contract.
If you gave Charlotte or Toronto or Minnesota an extra $25m/year to spend, that doesn't mean that any top or mid-range free agents would have any desire to sign with them.

At least the all star game decides who has home field during the World Series

I dont see myself watching the all star game anyways. Since Yao Ming got voted in, its been a totaly meaningless game anyways.. being an all star used to reflect on you skills, now its a popularity contest. the last time i watched an all star game i had shikara's a$$ all over the screen.

now dont get me wrong, I dont mind a nice veiw of shikiara's a$$.. its a very nice a$$. everything about shikira looks nice, especaily that a$$.

however i'd specifically turned on a telivision to watch basketball. if id wanted to see some a$$ i would have went to a strip club. instead i was at home looking forward to seeing some Celtics play in the all star game.

Shikira's girating a$$ though wasn't what i had turned that channel on for. I wanted basketball..

so i did the only reasonable thing a man could do- i boycotted the rest of the allstar game and turned the channel to watch the adult movie awards..

ironically the adult movie awards maneged to keep true to the name they advertised, their show was 100% basketball free.

Matty wrote:I dont see myself watching the all star game anyways. Since Yao Ming got voted in, its been a totaly meaningless game anyways.. being an all star used to reflect on you skills, now its a popularity contest. the last time i watched an all star game i had shikara's a$$ all over the screen.

now dont get me wrong, I dont mind a nice veiw of shikiara's a$$.. its a very nice a$$. everything about shikira looks nice, especaily that a$$.

however i'd specifically turned on a telivision to watch basketball. if id wanted to see some a$$ i would have went to a strip club. instead i was at home looking forward to seeing some Celtics play in the all star game.

Shikira's girating a$$ though wasn't what i had turned that channel on for. I wanted basketball..

so i did the only reasonable thing a man could do- i boycotted the rest of the allstar game and turned the channel to watch the adult movie awards..

ironically the adult movie awards maneged to keep true to the name they advertised, their show was 100% basketball free.

One of that girl's parents mated with a snake. She's got that kind of lithesome body.


bob


.

Ran across this thread late, but I agree pretty much with Spike, David Stern is an asshole in my book, the refs suck and only stole a series from us, the referees have way too much power and should be fined/fired like anyone else in life that is incompetent at their job.

Just a quick question...

Did David Stern run over anyone here's grandmother, back up and do it again?

Or did he just call several board members moms a bad name that can't be forgiven?

Gotta be one of those things...

well NYCelt,

i think the guy is an egomaniac, and has shown more than a little bias against the C's over the yrs.

a lot of his decisions have hurt the league, including what i think is unfair favortism towards certian teams. issue's with how the front office handles issues with how people express themselves (just ask stu van gundy) and ultimetly the pi$$ poor ref's. the empesis on superstar players and not the teams... its all on him

on the other hand, the succsess the league has been a direct result of Stern as well.. he deserves a lot of the credit for what th eleague has done well over the years...

ultimetely what i think it boils down to is Stern has been a very succsessful dictater of the NBA since 1984...

but is as true with all dictaters, what that really means is your a dick with a lot of power...

Matty wrote:
but is as true with all dictaters, what that really means is your a dick with a lot of power...

Matty,

In my opinion David Stern is one of the finest and most successful commissioners pro sports has ever seen. We wouldn't be enjoying the NBA on the scale in which it now exists without Stern's moves over almost three decades. I'm of the opinion most who argue against him simply haven't taken a good serious look at what he's done, or haven't read in detail about the financial opportunity he's presented all clubs including the Celtics. League revenues have increased 24X since he took over; that's no coincidence.

Aside from that, however, I love your quote above!

Regards