The NBA has announced that the center position will not be on the 2012-2013 all-star ballot. In years past, fans chose two guards, two forwards, and a center. This season, they will be able to choose three “frontcourt” players and two guards. In today’s press press release NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson said:
The NBA’s competition committee and the league office agreed that having the center position as the only specific position singled out on the ballot was outdated and not representative of today’s game or players. Our players have become more versatile each season, and this ballot will more accurately reflect that versatility.
Translation: The league’s centers pale in comparison to Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing and Shaquille O’Neal, and it would embarrass the NBA to have someone like Thiago Splitter in the All-Star Game.
I’m kind of split on this one. It’s true that there’s arguably one great center in the game right now and that selecting general frontcourt players would make for a better All-Star Game. But what happens when the league is full of great centers again? Will the NBA put the position back on the ballot? That would make this reactionary move look foolish.
How do you feel about the NBA eliminating the center position on the all-star ballot in favor of general frontcourt players? Smart move? Or a reactionary move that will be changed in the future?
I think it is the right thing to do. Guys don’t want to play center, they want to be a PF. I chuckled listening to this on PTI.
This decision brings up a question though: Why did the Center go out of style so to speak? Did Tim Duncan ruin it for everyone? Was the new way of playing developed by the have nots and seen as a more cost effective and percentage wise easier way to build a team? Are there no good coaches in the high school or NCAA for centers? I don’t know.
The center position and the american heavyweight boxer are gone.