The center position in basketball just ain’t what it used to be. It used to be you started with a center and then you found a point guard to lead the way. You had to have that big guy in the middle or you were toast. That was then and this is now. Now a day, there are some up tempo teams that would rather not play a true center. They would rather have a fast mobile power forward. Phoenix with Amare Stoudemire comes to mind.

Still for your intrepid author it is great to see the big guys play whether it is the Shaq, Ewing, Wilt, Russell, Kareem, or even big bad Dwight Superman Howard. They just bring a different element to the game.

The Ball Don’t Lie has his version of the top 10 centers of the last decade, so let us take a look.

10. Alonzo Mourning – Alonzo once beat my Pistons all by himself. He was just so much bigger and stronger than anyone on the court or in the stands that he could not be stopped and prevented anybody from entering the lane.

9. David Robinson – The Admiral came to Michigan State University when he played for Navy in college. You could see then that he was just too tall and too smooth to be stopped.

8. Yao Ming – the man that reminds us there are tall Chinese people in the world may soon exit from the basketball stage if his ankles and feet don’t hold up. When he is healthy there are few better than him in today’s game.

7. Amare Stoudemire – there is that power forward again. Amare just oozes with talent and you wonder what would happen if he played next to a dominant center.

6. Zydrunas Ilgauskas – Not really an Ilgauskas fan myself, but when he is in the game it is always a tough matchup.

5. Jermaine O’Neal – Another one of those power forward types playing center. My lasting memory of Jermaine is the fact that Rasheed Wallace played with him in Portland before he went to Indiana. Jermaine was just a kid back then. When Indiana played against the Pistons in the playoffs, Rasheed was able to shut Jermaine down game after game. For that matter why isn’t Rasheed Wallace on this list? Geez, “The ball don’t lie” was one of his favorite sayings. You can argue he was a power forward, but he played center after Ben left all the time.

LeBron wonders why Rasheed Wallace is not on the list?

4. Ben Wallace – The other Wallace combined with Rasheed to shut down every player on the planet and get a NBA title for the Pistons. How did Ben do it? He was only 6′ 8″ tall, but when he went up for a board with all those muscles and the wild Fro, it just looked like he was 7 foot tall. Fear the Fro!

3. Dwight Howard – Truly Superman, Dwight Howard just grows better as a player each year. He was scoring in his first two season without really even having any moves!

2. Shaquille O’Neal – Shaq is truly bigger than life whether he is rapping, acting, or playing center. Shazam! Shaq has won titles in L.A. with Kobe and in Miami with Wade. He is often doing more talking than playing, but for years the NBA rules allowed Shaq to use his rather large rear end to back into the paint and jam the ball down. Unstoppable!

1. Tim Duncan – Mr. Fundamental.

Duncan won’t blow you away. Shaq seems scarier, and the “power forward” designation might throw you, but don’t get shook.

Tim guards the low post (guards everything, really), and works from the low post while his “center” teammate (David Robinson, Nazr Mohammad, Fabricio Oberto(notes), Matt Bonner(notes)) works anywhere from the high post (D-Rob, Nazr), the baseline (Fab), or the 3-point line (Red Rocket).

In the meantime, Duncan has destroyed teams defensively, drawn trillions of double teams, scored efficiently and generally acted as what we’d hoped Bill Walton would have turned into.

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That is why San Antonio is in the thick of things every year.

Now here is my question. Where is Kevin Garnett?
Photo source Newscom

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Ok, we need to set the stage for my surprise. No, it is not a surprise from me to you; it is where your intrepid author gets surprised by who is picked to be the top rebounder of the last 10 years.

The list is based on rebounding rate, which takes into account the number of available rebounds while the player is on the court. Dennis Rodman would be the all time leader at .23 rebounds. In other words he pulled down 23 out of every 100 rebounds available while he was on the court.

It kind of went like this:
Uhh, number 10 is Zach Randolph. Huh? Well, yeah, guess that does make sense. Zach was a bench player at Michigan State University that was drafted after his freshman year. Pretty incredible.

Number 9 Eric Dampier, Number 8 Shaq, well of course, the big fella would make the list, Number 7 Kevin Garnett, Number 6 … Wait a minute Kevin Garnett? Don’t really think of him that way. He is such a big time scorer.

Number 6 Marcus Camby always an underrated player.
Number 5 Tim Duncan, hard to be that tall and not get a lot of boards and Mr. Fundamental would always get good position.

Hmm, Number 4 Jeff Foster. What? Is this because his man always left him to help out on someone else? Jeff Foster?

Number 3 Reggie Evans a pure rebounding machine. Can’t do much else, but man can he board.

Number 2 Superman Dwight Howard. This guy is for real and is simply stronger than you. A definite glass cleaner.

And Number 1 is … Ben Wallace! Ok, your author is a lifetime Piston fan living in Michigan and should have known this, but after having Dennis Rodman around it seemed normal to have Ben Wallace leading the league in rebounding.

Ben Wallace rules the boards

Ben was incredible and when he was on top of his game it was a treat to see him soar in the air and rip down a board.

Ben’s at 10.3 rebounds per game on his career, despite averaging just under 31 minutes per game, while looking to strike up some of the Piston-powered magic again in Detroit for 2009-10. It was the site of his finest turn, when he pulled in over 23 percent of available rebounds in 2003, while averaging 15.4 rebounds per game.
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Image: Zuma Press

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The Free Press has confirmed the Detroit Pistons have signed Ben Wallace, cornerstone of the 2004 NBA championship team, to a one-year, $1.3-million deal.
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The Detroit Pistons are building a team based on speed, offense, and youth and that has to make you wonder where Big Ben fits in? Ben is no longer fast, has few offensive moves beyond the slam dunk, and in basketball years he is Grandpa Jones.

What Ben Wallace does bring to the Pistons is an unwavering work ethic and an attempt to play low post defense. Once Ben had left the Pistons the low post defense was never the same. On top of that, Ben Wallace plays amazing off the ball defense.

Ben Wallace will provide more defense than Allen Iverson

In his glory years, Ben used to average over 1 and a half steals, more than 3 blocks, and more than 12 boards a game and even though he is listed at 6′ 9″ tall, many think he is a few inches shorter than that. The words “Fear the Fro” used to echo through the NBA.

Now hold on here, these are no longer the Big Ben Wallace glory days and do not expect any sort of a turnaround just because Ben is in Detroit. Ben will show the younger players how hard they have to work and he will provide a link to the past days when Piston defense ruled the NBA. Ben Wallace still has a few blocked shots left in him and will be taking a few more charges to help bring back that defensive spirit.

Oh, and did we mention the Pistons were hurting for big guys and Ben was cheap?

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Jason Maxiell taking it to the rack

Coach Michael Curry and the Detroit Pistons have their first victory on the books and Curry played a lot of the young guys. This is the new look Pistons.

Joe Dumars, the masterful GM, is mixing up a new brew for Halloween and many of the future Piston pieces are involved.

You will see Rodney Stuckey, Amir Johnson, and Arron Afflalo playing lots of minutes. It is a massive youth movement after failing to move any of the veteran players in the off season.

The Pistons will be the same, only different.

But Jason Maxiell remained a crucial piece of the pie and they were not sure he would be around.

Jason Maxiell will be a restricted free agent

Maxiell has a game that belongs down on the paint, but he is a couple of inches short, much like Ben Wallace was as a Piston. So how do you resign a guy that other teams want, but will probably never be a starter except under almost perfect team conditions?

In other words, Jason has the long arms, aggressiveness, and perfect shot blocking ability that you want, but the lack of pure size makes him more of a situational player. He can star, but not consistently star.

You don’t want to lose him, but you can’t over pay him. That is the key.

Well, unlike Ben Wallace, they did not lose Jason Maxiell.

Pistons power forward Jason Maxiell accepted a contract offer today and will not become a restricted free agent following the season. The deal is for $20 million over four years.

The deadline for him to reach an agreement was today.

Maxiell, 25, was a first-round pick out of Cincinnati in 2005 and has averaged six points and 3.7 rebounds per game in his career.

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Jason Maxiell will remain a Piston for 4 more years.
Photo source Newscom

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Ben Wallace staring down an opponent

Basketball in Cleveland is LeBron James. But did you know that the Cavaliers have the 3rd highest payroll in the NBA?

No, you didn’t. How could you, the team is loaded with no names.

One of those no names would just prefer to stay that way. His name is Ben Wallace and he makes more money in salary than LeBron James by 100 grand. Don’t worry about James, though. He makes mega millions through endorsements.

Big Ben or Clock Tower, as Rasheed Wallace used to call him, is just happy to be on a team that wants him, after suffering through a bad time playing for the Bulls.

After carving out an image of a quiet, yet fierce, defensive force in Detroit, Wallace’s perception and bank account changed when he signed a $60 million free-agent deal with the Bulls in 2006. Within days of showing up at training camp, Wallace was immersed in controversy for challenging the Bulls’ rules banning headbands and loud music in the locker room, among others. The sub-par season that followed only increased the heat.

Last year, as the Bulls got off to a rocky start, his relationship with Coach Scott Skiles went under the microscope. Neither ended up finishing the season with the team.

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Cleveland wanted Ben to be the savior to a team that seemed to need a defensive presence on the blocks. You know now that the Bulls were really a team disintegrating right before our eyes. It was plagued by youth, selfishness, and lack of talent. It was a team driven by Scott Skiles until his message just wore out and they could go no farther.

Oh yeah, Ben Wallace is much happier to let LeBron James and Mo Williams get all the attention, so he can just play as hard as he can.

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Check out this list of free agents.

Now you can see why the Pistons, Nets and other teams are clearing off salary cap room for next year:

PLAYER	TM	TYPE
LeBron James	CLE	player option
Dirk Nowitzki	DAL	player option
Josh Howard	DAL	player option
Dwyane Wade	MIA	player option
Michael Redd	MIL	player option
Amare Stoudemire	PHX	player option
Joe Johnson	ATL	unrestricted
Ben Wallace	CLE	unrestricted
Marcus Camby	DEN	unrestricted
Richard Hamilton	DET	unrestricted
Amir Johnson	DET	unrestricted
Antonio McDyess	DET	unrestricted
Tracy McGrady	HOU	unrestricted
Jermaine O’Neal	IND	unrestricted
Darko Milicic	MEM	unrestricted
Steve Nash	PHX	unrestricted
Shaquille O’Neal	PHX	unrestricted
Manu Ginobili	S.A.	unrestricted
Carlos Boozer	UTA	unrestricted
Mehmet Okur	UTA	unrestricted

Player option: Player has right to opt out of contract if he wants.

It is just amazing to even think about it.

It could become the most talented free agency class ever in professional sports in that there will be five players — LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire and Joe Johnson — with already one NBA championship, two NBA Finals, four U.S. Olympic team invitations and 16 All-Star appearances among them and not one of them will be older than 30 in 2010.

If that doesn’t whet the appetite, then there will be an available 32-year-old former league MVP (Dirk Nowitzki) and a just-turned-31 Michael Redd, one of the game’s deadliest perimeter sharp shooters.

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High flying Derrick Rose holds the keys to the draft mania, but where is the basketball?

Image details: UCLA v Memphis served by picapp.com

This is going to be one crazy draft.

First let’s set the table. The Western Conference finished as tight in the standings as a conference could. There were barely any games separating first place from 9th place. What does that mean? Wheeling and dealing will take place, because each team that finished behind the Lakers and Kobe Bryant thinks it will just take one solid deal to move them up to first.

In the Eastern Conference, Orlando, Miami, Chicago, and especially Detroit are also ready to deal.

Just to add to the mess, this draft is loaded with point guards and other than Rose and Beasley; it just seems to have a lot of equal appearing players.

How about we just pick out a few scenarios from the mock draft by Chad Ford at ESPN.com.

Miami Heat #2

Go no farther than the Miami Heat at the number 2 pick.

We continue to hear that the Heat will probably trade the No. 2 pick if Rose is off the board. The latest talk has the Sonics and Heat discussing a swap that would send the No. 2 pick and Mark Blount to Seattle for Chris Wilcox and the No. 4 pick. The move would give the Heat a huge amount of cap space in the summer of 2009. (Wilcox is in the last year of his contract, while Blount has two years and $16 million remaining.)

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Seattle seems to be in everyone’s plans. With the number 4 pick and so many needs, they could pull off all kinds of deals.

Memphis Grizzlies go cheap

The Memphis Grizzlies at the number 5 pick are also looking to wheel and deal, but for a different reason.

Even stronger are rumors that the Grizzlies are talking to a number of teams, including the Knicks, Blazers and Suns, about deals that would send the No. 5 pick to whomever is willing to take Brian Cardinal’s awful contract (two years, $13 million left). The latest buzz has the Knicks talking to Memphis about a deal that would send David Lee and the expiring contract of Malik Rose to Memphis for No. 5 and Cardinal.

In other words, it sounds like GM Chris Wallace is, once again, being pushed by ownership to cut payroll.

Milwaukee Bucks get tough

It is going to be real fun following the Bucks up in Milwaukee. Think about the combination of tough former Michigan State University All American point guard, current NBA assist record holding, and former Chicago tough guy coach Scott Skiles with former Detroit advisor to Joe Dumars, now turnaround expert John Hammond. These are two guys that believe in toughness and have shown that before.

Alexander is a high-energy forward who impressed GM John Hammond and new coach Scott Skiles with his toughness and grit. That’s exactly what the Bucks are going for right now. Hammond wants to change the culture in Milwaukee, and Alexander has that capability. He also fits a need. The Bucks will be shopping Bobby Simmons (along with just about everyone else) hard this summer.

If Joe Alexander is what they say he is then he is going to love being a Buck.

Cleveland LeBron’s seek age insurance

At number 19 the Cavaliers are talking about Georgetown 7′2″ Center Roy Hibbert. LeBron James desperately needs players around him and Coach Mike Brown would love the big guy for his defense and shot blocking. Cleveland has to be concerned with an aging Ilgauskas and an aging Ben Wallace. It would be a great pick, but LeBron still needs points from other players inside.

Detroit Pistons look to surprise

Finally, how about my Pistons. Chad has them taking 6′6″ Bill Walker and they might, but most of us expect some kind of deal from Joe Dumars. There are just too many teams looking to move up or down for Joe D to miss this opportunity. Even though Boston showed you can win with old guys, it is time for the pot to be stirred on the Pistons, they need to get younger. Bill Walker would not provide a whole lot to the team and most likely would be included in any trade.

Chauncey Billups and Tayshaun Prince are two likely candidates. Rip Hamilton could go if they replace him with a scorer.

This draft is all mixed up.

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LeBron James doing it alone as usual

Image details: Cleveland Cavaliers v Boston Celtics, Game 1 served by picapp.com

Don’t the Cavaliers know they are only renting LeBron James, that his destiny is bigger than Cleveland?

The Cav’s are in round two of the playoffs dueling with the Boston Celtics and Kevin Garnett. No, make that Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce. See, that is the problem with Cleveland. It is still just LeBron James, the King.

There are those that say James should stay in Cleveland. He went to high school in Ohio. He is an Ohio boy. Never mind the market is so small.

The Cavaliers deserve to keep James home for the core of his prime. They’ve already landed him in one NBA Finals. They’ve already honored their commitment to competing for a title by making the in-season deal for Ben Wallace, Joe Smith, Wally Szczerbiak, and Delonte West, taking payroll and luxury tax hits along the way.

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Cleveland has only one chance to survive and that is to find star number 2. Kevin Garnett has two star number twos. Tim Duncan has Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. Kobe Bryant has Pau Gasol. Dallas tried with Jason Kidd to Dirk Nowitzki. Phoenix tried with an aging Shaq to Steve Nash.

Wally, Joe, and Big Ben Wallace do not qualify as the number 2 that LeBron needs. There are no Scotty Pippens to LeBron’s Michael Jordan in that group.

Cleveland needs to find this number two star before 2010, the LeBron free agent date, the sooner the better or LeBron is out of here.

Where will he go? To a bigger market, most likely New York, most likely the Knicks.

In fact, Donnie Walsh wouldn’t have accepted the presidency of the Knicks if he didn’t think it was feasible that the team could get far enough under the salary cap to wine and sign James.

The Nets are also expected to join the bidding, as minority owner Jay-Z is a close friend of LeBron’s who has made no secret of his desire to see James someday pack the new arena the Nets are supposed to be putting up in Brooklyn.

New Jersey may struggle to get LeBron, because it is not the storied franchise that the Knicks have been.

And we know that LeBron loves Madison Square Garden.

James wants to go in as a Yankee, which is precisely why he wore the team’s cap — much to Cleveland’s dismay — during last year’s Division Series. He has big-city dreams, LeBron does. The lifelong Yankees fan is also a lifelong Madison Square Garden fan. Back in March, after managing 50 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds on the Knicks’ home floor, James beamed as he said the following:

“This ranks really high, just because of the point of where it happened, the mecca of basketball. I’ve dreamed about playing well in this building. To get a standing ovation in the greatest basketball arena in the world is a dream come true for me. It’s one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.”

Better get busy Cleveland. LeBron appears to just be a loaner right now.

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The Pistons did not trade for Pau Gasol, although that would have been nice.
The Pistons did not trade for Jason Kidd. No knock on Kidd, but Chauncey is here and much younger.
The Pistons did not trade for Shaq, although for 1 year that would have been fun.
The Pistons did not trade for Chris Weber. He did talk to Joe Dumars, but there was no roster spot for him.
The Pistons did not trade for Kyle Korver and Kyle fits better with Utah than Detroit.
The Pistons did not trade for … well you get the picture.

Later though, the Pistons signed Theo Ratliff.

The biggest weakness for the Pistons was low post defense. You did not want to waste Rasheed fouling out under the basket all alone. Amir Johnson is not quite ready for prime time minutes and Jason Maxiell does not match up with centers. This is where Theo comes in.

Theo Ratliff, early in his career, does a Vulcan Mind Meld with Doug Collins

But the beauty of that signing shined through the Pistons’ win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night.

The Pistons used Ratliff to guard Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who scored 20 points when the teams played earlier this month. Not this time — with Ratliff fronting him and pushing him out of his spots, Ilgauskas shot 5-for-16 from the floor and scored 11 points.

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It is not a perfect deal, because Theo is recovering from a knee injury, is getting up in years, and does not always contribute a lot of offense.

The Piston Way

The important thing for the Pistons is defense. The Pistons thrive on being tough and playing tough defense. They are modeled in many ways like general manger Joe Dumars.

Playing tough defense is hard to do when the opposing team’s center has free reign. Ben Wallace used to stop that sort of thing, but he left for the green, maybe not the pastures.

Theo will be even more important in the playoffs.

“We’re not trying to wear him out too much,” coach Flip Saunders said. “We’re trying to keep him for games where we think we need some big people. And of course, everyone knows how professional he is. He’s always ready when called upon.”

In the playoffs, he could be called upon to check guys like Boston’s Kevin Garnett, Orlando’s Dwight Howard or Ilgauskas, and that’s when the payoff for acquiring him will really come. He represents the Pistons’ most physical, veteran big-man option off the bench — an important cog on most championship-caliber teams.

Yeah, Theo will become the giant slayer, just making the Pistons that little bit better.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Did you even notice this deal?

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The Pistons finally had a chance to have Big Ben Wallace back in the Palace for the first time since the trade from the Chicago Bulls to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Unfortunately for Ben, he was suffering from back spasms and was just returning from two games off. Ben Wallace did not last long.

Meanwhile, the Pistons played their usual balanced game.

Chauncey Billups and reserve Jason Maxiell each scored 13 while Tayshaun Prince and Antonio McDyess had 12 points apiece for the Pistons, who have won three of four. Hamilton had missed three games with a sore hip.
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LeBron James was booed at the Wisconsin vs. Davidson game at Ford Field in Detroit

So where was LeBron?

LeBron James had a lackluster night with 13 points on 4-of-17 shooting with five assists and five turnovers. James, though, didn’t get much help from his teammates.
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NFL Basketball Fan Question Does it surprise you when LeBron has an off night?

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