With guards like Steph Curry, Damian Lillard, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Luka Doncic, and others dominating the NBA landscape, it’s clear that this era of basketball is all about the little man and how far they can shoot.
Still, Cavaliers star Andre Drummond is here to deny the narrative that big men are dying out, citing some of today’s best as evidence for why…
“The big man is coming back. You look at the perennial bigs, we’ve got Jokic, Joel Embiid, myself, Porzingis, Nurkic, go down the list of bigs that are playing really.”
Andre Drummond doesn’t think the center position is dying
"The big man is coming back. You look at the perennial bigs, we’ve got Jokic, Joel Embiid, myself, Porzingis, Nurkic, go down the list of bigs that are playing really."
(Via https://t.co/s7eEJ8Dtk5) pic.twitter.com/4YriiuK68K
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) October 21, 2020
Drummond is a traditional-style big man whose game is built on rebounding and shot-blocking. In the ’19-20 season, he averaged 17.7 points, 15.2 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game on 55% shooting.
Unfortunately, while there are still plenty of talented big men today, many of them live outside the paint. The rim-running, post-play style of big does seem to be a dying trend as the years dwindle by, as evidenced by the devaluation of the position altogether.
As the NBA only continues to get smaller and reach further, one has to wonder how much further things will go. Will there ever be a resurgence of the center, or is Drummond really the last of an endangered breed?
For the sake of basketball, let us hope it’s the former.
