There haven’t been too many center classes this deep or with as many intriguing prospects. The 2010 class offers three compelling freshmen in Cousins, Orton and Whiteside, and a solid junior in Aldrich at the top. Then there are the intriguing and multi-talented Ekpe Udoh and Greg Monroe, along with talented projects Larry Sanders, Tiny Gallon and Solomon Alabi. If things break right, this could become a pretty darn good group. There is also a deeper than normal group of seniors that would be sort of a 3rd tier of centers. One of more of these players is capable of putting together a career similar to that of Eric Riley, Jerome James or Jake Voskuhl. This makes the 2010 center class by far the most intriguing group in this draft. What’s most interesting is this could go down as one of the all-time great center classes or one of the most disappointing. There are so many players who could go either way. I already covered Whiteside, Orton, Udoh and Monroe. I decided not to cover the foreign players. I mention that here, because most, if not all, the good ones are centers. Time is getting tight and that just isn’t an area of expertise for me. I perused the stats of the main ones and there isn’t much there that is wildly impressive. Here are the remaining NCAA centers listed in order of preference:
DeMarcus Cousins, Kentucky: Cousins scored and rebounded at a very high rate. With pace adjustments, he was at 24.5 P40 and 15.9 R40, which placed him among the best freshmen centers ever. These freshmen centers topped 30 combined points and rebounds per 40 minutes while playing at least 500 minutes:
| Player |
2 pt pct |
P40 |
R40 |
B40 |
A/TO |
| Shaquille O’Neal |
.573 |
19.8 |
17.1 |
5.1 |
0.7 |
| Hakeem Olajuwon |
.607 |
18.2 |
13.5 |
5.4 |
0.3 |
| Marcus Camby |
.502 |
18.7 |
12.2 |
6.6 |
0.7 |
| Benoit Benjamin |
.555 |
18.4 |
11.9 |
4.2 |
0.4 |
| Erick Dampier |
.588 |
20.3 |
14.8 |
3.8 |
0.3 |
| Shawn Bradley |
.517 |
20.5 |
10.7 |
7.2 |
0.5 |
| Sam Bowie |
.531 |
19.9 |
12.5 |
3.3 |
1.1 |
| Sharone Wright |
.502 |
18.1 |
12.2 |
3.4 |
0.2 |
| Chris Mihm |
.527 |
20.0 |
12.9 |
4.7 |
0.2 |
| Stanley Roberts |
.578 |
21.0 |
14.7 |
2.8 |
0.7 |
| Yinka Dare |
.551 |
17.6 |
14.8 |
4.0 |
0.1 |
| Mike Peplowski |
.639 |
20.2 |
13.1 |
0.9 |
0.5 |
| Tim Young |
.500 |
19.5 |
13.6 |
2.4 |
0.3 |
| DeMarcus Cousins |
.565 |
24.5 |
15.9 |
2.9 |
0.5 |
I’m a little suspicious of the numbers for O’Neal and Roberts. They played on the same team, the 1989-90 LSU Tigers. O’Neal was a 17 year-old freshman, Roberts was actually a sophomore playing his first season, possibly a prop 48 casualty. The team also featured Chris Jackson, who became Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf after entering the NBA. Jackson scored 27.8 PPG, so this was likely an extremely fast-paced offense. For that reason the numbers of O’Neal and Roberts might be a little bloated. Perhaps this was balanced out by the fact that the two young beefy Bengals were sharing the middle and the numbers available there. I don’t really know, but these are the raw numbers. I just thought that was worth a mention. More Tiger trivia from ’90: Redshirting for the team that year was another 7-footer with an NBA future, Geert Hammink!
But you haven’t read this far for an LSU hoops history lesson. This is about the future of DeMarcus Cousins. This list contains some good and some bad news for him. There are a couple of HOFers here, along with a few solid starters, some journeymen and some washouts. All played in the league for at least a short time. The two trends I notice are the better players posted a higher FG pct and blocked more shots. That’s pretty much it. The scoring and rebounding numbers didn’t vary much, other than Shaq’s rebounds. Cousins is OK on the FG pct and weak on the blocked shots. It doesn’t end there though the important thing I take from this list is that no freshman center who logged more than 500 minutes of court time scored as frequently as Cousins and only one, Shaq, was a better rebounder. Also probably important to note is Cousins’ 24.5 P40 is much higher than any other frosh on this list. I really can’t say what this means, because I believe you could have said something similar about Michael Beasley and freshmen PFs two years ago. I’m certain the rebounding prowess is a very good thing. As for the scoring, I’d be more impressed if the efficiency were the impressive part and the frequency was more ordinary. This might be nitpicking a little, as .565 is decent enough. It looks even better when looking at his splits for the year:
| DeMarcus Cousins |
2 pt pct |
P40 |
R40 |
B40 |
A/TO |
| Nov-Dec |
.549 |
30.9 |
18.3 |
3.6 |
0.4 |
| January |
.579 |
27.0 |
16.4 |
2.8 |
0.7 |
| February |
.518 |
21.8 |
16.1 |
1.7 |
0.6 |
| March |
.650 |
17.7 |
12.7 |
3.2 |
0.5 |
What I like is that he actually improved his FG pct as the year progressed. This is impressive, because usually it goes the other way, due to the level of competition improving dramatically. That Cousins improved his efficiency shows he was both working at his game and learning as a freshman. This is important.
The biggest concern is the relatively low numbers of blocks. One common trait of center prospects who go on to great NBA careers is they were great college shot blockers from the start. The best NBA centers who were below 4.0 as freshmen are Erick Dampier, Todd MacCulloch, Rony Seikaly, Brad Miller, Luc Longley and Ervin Johnson. Not a bad group, but hardly what any team would be anticipating with the 3rd or 4th pick in the draft. About all I can say in his defense here is he does block some shots, unlike a Mike Peplowski.
Cousins also has the label of being a bad apple and a guy with potential weight problems. I don’t have an opinion on Cousins specifically, other than to say he seems to be aware of the negative perceptions of him and wants to right things if you believe his comments are sincere. In general I feel these things are overstated. That should Cousins fail to live up to expectations it will be due more to an inability to get his defense to NBA level than being a bad guy. The attitude and weight issue are just a couple of things that are too difficult to project with young people. A lot of growing up can happen quickly, especially when there’s a lot of money at stake. Getting into shale can be taken care of simply by working with a personal trainer and dietician. I’ll just say that this stuff is a concern, but not as much as the one about his defense.
There’s a lot to digest here. We have a player with good center size who scores and rebounds at historically great rates. The only weakness in his numbers is a B40 number that is more the level of a good journeyman than an all-time great. My feeling is that we can go back to the ’90 LSU Tigers for a gauge of what the career of DeMarcus Cousins will be. As a big center, he’ll fall somewhere between Stanley Roberts at the low end and Shaquille O’Neal at the high end. He’s at a fork in the road now. At the end of one fork is Stanley Roberts, the other is Shaquille O’Neal. I’m generally optimistic, so my guess is he’s closer to Shaq, if not quite at that level. I see a player who will be a dominant rebounder, a good scorer and an adequate enough defender that he’ll be a very good NBA player who will be one of the better centers in the league for most of his career.
Cole Aldrich, Kansas: Aldrich is the good defense/no offense type. He’s also a very good rebounder. Here’s a list of NCAA centers who topped a combined 19.0 blocks and rebounds as Aldrich did:
| Player |
2 pt pct |
P40 |
RB40 |
A/TO |
| Shaquille O’Neal |
.628 |
35.1 |
25.0 |
0.5 |
| Hakeem Olajuwon |
.611 |
20.3 |
24.2 |
0.4 |
| Dikembe Mutombo |
.709 |
16.7 |
22.8 |
0.3 |
| Greg Ostertag |
.537 |
19.5 |
21.9 |
0.3 |
| Justin Williams |
.517 |
14.8 |
21.9 |
0.3 |
| Benoit Benjamin |
.582 |
23.1 |
20.6 |
0.8 |
| Tim Duncan |
.628 |
22.7 |
19.7 |
1.0 |
| Keon Clark |
.572 |
21.1 |
19.7 |
0.4 |
| Ervin Johnson |
.572 |
17.0 |
19.6 |
0.6 |
| Sharone Wright |
.571 |
19.7 |
19.2 |
0.3 |
| Alonzo Mourning |
.599 |
25.9 |
19.1 |
0.6 |
| Cole Aldrich |
.562 |
16.2 |
19.1 |
0.6 |
Shaq, Hakeem and Mutombo all made the list multiple times, the season shown is their top RB40 season. The great players on the list are all over .600 FG pct. The journeymen are well below. While this pegs Aldrich as a likely NBA journeyman, it is worth noting that Ostertag, Johnson and Benjamin all played long careers.
With Cole Aldrich the analysis is pretty simple. He’ll be a good defender and rebounder on the inside and that’s a pretty valuable player to have. His offense has been weak for a prospect and his development there was disappointing this past year. About the only thing I might add in his defense is that it is possible his numbers were suppressed in the Kansas system and he’ll be a better offensive player in the pros. I doubt that’s the case, because the efficiency numbers are so low. I do feel Aldrich has a long NBA career in front of him and his defense will make him a valuable player.
Larry Sanders, Virginia Commonwealth: Sanders’ rep was first built in the final of the Colonial tournament when he had 20 rebounds and 7 blocks in a win over George Mason. He got the rep as a shot blocker in that game and his length only adds to that. But he doesn’t block shots anywhere near the level of the best of all time and also falls short of the best ones from this year, Whiteside, Aldrich, Udoh, Orton and N’Daiye. Sanders also plays at a small college, so it is very important that his numbers are more dominating than some of the other prospects. Here’s how he compares to past small college centers who played in the NBA:
| Player |
2 pt pct |
P40 |
R40 |
B40 |
A/TO |
| David Robinson |
.607 |
26.8 |
15.4 |
7.0 |
0.3 |
| Rik Smits |
.609 |
26.7 |
10.8 |
5.2 |
0.4 |
| Chris Kaman |
.622 |
26.4 |
14.1 |
3.7 |
0.3 |
| Kevin Duckworth |
.516 |
18.1 |
11.2 |
2.4 |
0.3 |
| Chris Dudley |
.539 |
22.3 |
13.5 |
2.0 |
0.4 |
| Adonal Foyle |
.571 |
25.9 |
14.0 |
6.8 |
0.5 |
| Jeff Foster |
.532 |
17.5 |
14.0 |
1.4 |
0.7 |
| Carlos Rogers |
.626 |
22.4 |
12.9 |
3.5 |
0.5 |
| Mark Acres |
.552 |
25.1 |
12.6 |
1.8 |
0.8 |
| Jerome James |
.501 |
26.8 |
14.1 |
6.3 |
0.3 |
| Larry Sanders |
.547 |
21.2 |
13.4 |
3.8 |
0.9 |
The 3 best players here, Robinson, Smits and Kaman, all topped .600 and 26.0. Sanders doesn’t come close on either count, so I doubt we’re looking at an all-star here. Duckworth was a late bloomer and Dudley and Foyle both lasted a long time because of defensive skills. The defensive specialist would seem like the best case scenario for Sanders.
Dexter Pittman, Texas: A nice story, at least so far. It could get better. Pittman dropped over 100 lbs since his HS days, transforming himself from someone who was too heavy into a potential NBA player. He didn’t play a lot of minutes and that has to be taken into account. But when he played he was a very productive all-around player. Only 3 other players have topped .650, 20.0 P40, 10.0 R40 and 3.0 B40 in the same season:
| Player |
2 pt pct |
P40 |
R40 |
B40 |
A/TO |
| Patrick Ewing |
.658 |
20.6 |
12.6 |
4.5 |
0.4 |
| Luc Longley |
.660 |
21.5 |
10.3 |
3.6 |
1.0 |
| Oliver Miller |
.707 |
25.6 |
12.6 |
4.8 |
0.9 |
| Dexter Pittman |
.654 |
20.4 |
11.4 |
3.6 |
0.3 |
Kind of a small group, but all were successful and Ewing is a HOFer. I guess what I want to show here is that Dexter Pittman can get the job done when he plays. He does have some issues. He’s still too heavy, doesn’t pass the ball very well and has never averaged over 20 minutes per game. But he’s pretty damn productive and having a guy like this on the bench for 10-15 minutes of inside banging a night has to be something most teams could use. Pittman could get lost in this group of long, leaping centers, but he provides enough that I feel he’s worth a pick in round two.
Omar Samhan, St. Mary’s: If there was one guy to take out of the lesser known center prospects, he’d be at the top of the list. Samhan scored and rebounded well as a senior with 26.4 and 13.4 as his per minute numbers. Here are his numbers compared with other NCAA juniors and seniors who also scored and rebounded frequently. As a cutoff I used 35.0 combined points and rebounds per 40 minutes with a minimum of 21.5 points and 12.0 rebounds. Players from small conferences were omitted.
| Player |
2 pt pct |
P40 |
R40 |
B40 |
A/TO |
Career Min |
| Shaquille O’Neal |
.615 |
30.1 |
17.6 |
6.6 |
0.5 |
41,166 |
| Tim Duncan |
.628 |
22.7 |
16.1 |
3.6 |
1.0 |
35,577 |
| Alonzo Mourning |
.599 |
25.9 |
13.1 |
6.1 |
0.6 |
25,975 |
| Brad Miller |
.642 |
23.5 |
12.2 |
2.3 |
0.8 |
23,376 |
| Benoit Benjamin |
.582 |
23.1 |
15.1 |
5.4 |
0.8 |
21,911 |
| Ervin Johnson |
.619 |
22.1 |
14.3 |
3.2 |
0.2 |
16,988 |
| Nazr Mohammed |
.597 |
22.9 |
13.8 |
3.7 |
0.5 |
12,517 |
| Oliver Miller |
.707 |
25.6 |
12.6 |
4.8 |
0.9 |
11,338 |
| Chris Mihm |
.525 |
23.0 |
13.7 |
3.6 |
0.3 |
8,758 |
| Keon Clark |
.572 |
21.1 |
14.2 |
5.5 |
0.4 |
7,791 |
| Todd MacCulloch |
.662 |
24.0 |
15.3 |
2.1 |
0.6 |
3,439 |
| Evan Eschmeyer |
.584 |
24.2 |
12.5 |
2.1 |
0.8 |
2,138 |
| Sean May |
.571 |
26.1 |
16.0 |
1.5 |
0.7 |
1,868 |
| Rafael Araujo |
.601 |
24.7 |
13.5 |
1.1 |
0.4 |
1,585 |
| Curtis Borchardt |
.593 |
21.9 |
14.8 |
3.7 |
1.0 |
1,117 |
| Aleks Maric |
.583 |
21.9 |
14.1 |
2.4 |
0.8 |
0 |
| John Bryant |
.598 |
23.8 |
18.6 |
3.4 |
0.4 |
0 |
| Omar Samhan |
.554 |
26.4 |
13.4 |
3.6 |
0.5 |
? |
I put the players in order of career NBA minutes so the list has a best-to-worst feel to it. I’m not saying this is exactly best-to-worst, but it is close. The two things that stand out as the most common factor in the better careers were a FG pct. over .600 and a lot of blocks. The only players with less than 15K career minutes who were over .600 are MacCulloch whose career was on track for at least 15K, but was shortened due to illness; Oliver Miller, who was basically too short and heavy for an NBA center, but always posted strong per minute numbers; and Rafael Araujo, who couldn’t play defense, as evidenced by his low number of blocks in college. The 2 players over 15K who were under .600, Mourning and Benjamin were excellent shot blockers in college.
The good news for Samhan is such players almost always at least made the league, got some PT and made some money. This was the case until the last couple of drafts when Aleks Maric and John Bryant were undrafted. John Bryant finished top 10 in the D-league in both rebounds and blocks last year. Aleks Maric has averaged13 points and 7 boards in 23 minutes per game in Europe this year, while shooting over 60%. Either one is still worth a look for a team in search of inside depth and finds Solomon Alabi a little wanting.
As for Samhan, he looks like he can play. If Chris Mihm and Nazr Mohammed played the minutes they have, Omar Samhan certainly can do the same. Things could be stacked against him though. The cases of Bryant and Maric show the league might be moving away from such players, possibly preferring to give backup center minutes to quicker PF-types. He’s also up against a loaded center class this year and it is always more difficult for a marginal prospect to stand out in such a group.
Solomon Alabi, Florida State: Alabi is very much a project. He comes up short in most of the important statistical categories and players in a similar place haven’t done particularly well as pros. He’s listed as a sophomore, but has played 3 seasons at Florida State, one consisting of only 9 games. He’s 22, the age of an older junior or younger senior. His numbers that would be considered weak are a FG pct of .534 and a R40 of 9.6. Here are college sophs and juniors who had something of a career after falling below .550 and 10.0:
| Player |
2 pt pct |
P40 |
R40 |
B40 |
A/TO |
| Brad Miller |
.529 |
18.1 |
9.3 |
1.6 |
0.8 |
| Jamaal Magloire |
.531 |
14.2 |
9.0 |
4.0 |
0.4 |
| Theo Ratliff |
.541 |
12.5 |
8.4 |
6.0 |
0.1 |
| Ike Austin |
.548 |
20.1 |
9.1 |
2.2 |
0.5 |
| Jim McIlvaine |
.545 |
17.2 |
7.7 |
4.9 |
0.3 |
| Calvin Booth |
.428 |
13.4 |
7.6 |
5.2 |
0.2 |
| Jarron Collins |
.489 |
16.1 |
9.5 |
1.1 |
1.2 |
| Duane Causwell |
.486 |
12.9 |
9.5 |
4.6 |
0.8 |
| William Bedford |
.542 |
15.5 |
9.7 |
3.3 |
0.5 |
| Solomon Alabi |
.534 |
18.1 |
9.6 |
3.6 |
0.3 |
There are 3 types of players listed here. The shot blockers: Ratliff, McIlvaine, Booth and Causwell. The players who got better: Magloire, Miller, Austin and Collins. Finally there’s William Bedford, a high draft pick who never lived up to it. Alabi isn’t a shot blocker in the class of the others. He should improve, but he is also older than every player on this list was at the time, by over 2 years in some cases. I haven’t even mentioned that once we get past Miller, Magloire and Ratliff, the list isn’t an impressive group and not at all what any team would want in a first round pick.
Solomon Alabi is both a project and a gamble. The ability and length is here, but he isn’t close to putting it all together. As an old sophomore, I can’t give him much credit for being young and inexperienced. Because he is tall and athletic, I expect him to stick around the league for awhile, but that will be more due to the league being unable to give up on him. As deep as this class is in big men, it would be a huge mistake to draft this guy in round one. Better to wait until round 2 and take a chance on Pittman or Samhan.
Tiny Gallon, Oklahoma: He’s more a PF height, but he’s a center’s girth and brings a nice enough wingspan that I’ll consider him here. Unlike the other heavy guy on this list, Dexter Pittman, Gallon just isn’t all that productive. He’s a better rebounder than most. That’s good, but that isn’t going to get him into the league by itself. He also differs from Pittman in that he has yet to show the discipline to drop the weight.
Gallon showed some promise as a rebounder and a scorer, but is a poor shot blocker and is way too heavy. He’s a long way from where he needs to be in terms of both his game and his shape. I doubt his high end of potential is high enough to make it worth the trouble of spending a draft pick on him in this deep group of big men.
Hamady N’Daiye, Rutgers: Not too many players have blocked shots as frequently as Hamady did this year. Here’s a list of all college seniors and 4th-year juniors who topped 6.0 B40:
| Player |
2 pt pct |
P40 |
R40 |
B40 |
A/TO |
| Ken Johnson |
.553 |
10.6 |
8.2 |
7.3 |
0.3 |
| Justin Williams |
.517 |
14.8 |
14.6 |
7.2 |
0.3 |
| Theo Ratliff |
.551 |
17.7 |
9.3 |
6.3 |
0.5 |
| Jerome James |
.501 |
26.8 |
14.1 |
6.3 |
0.3 |
| Jim McIlvaine |
.528 |
19.4 |
11.8 |
6.2 |
0.8 |
| Shawn James |
.594 |
19.8 |
10.9 |
6.2 |
0.5 |
| Alonzo Mourning |
.599 |
25.9 |
13.1 |
6.1 |
0.6 |
| Greg Ostertag |
.596 |
19.8 |
15.4 |
6.0 |
0.3 |
| Walter Palmer |
.527 |
29.3 |
11.5 |
6.0 |
0.1 |
| Lorenzo Coleman |
.645 |
22.1 |
15.1 |
6.0 |
0.2 |
| Hamady N’Daiye |
.579 |
13.3 |
10.1 |
6.4 |
0.3 |
This group goes from Alonzo Mourning, a strong inside player with a complete game, to Ken Johnson, a shot blocking specialist. Coleman and Shawn James are the only two on the list who never played in the league, though the careers of Johnson, Williams and Palmer were very brief. Just looking at the numbers, one would think that if Theo Ratliff had a long NBA career, so could N’Daiye. But it doesn’t really work that way. Ratliff’s career exceeded his college stats and that just doesn’t happen very often. N’diaye’s numbers are below what would be expected from a prospect and he’s on the small side for an NBA center. About all I can say in his favor is that if there’s one thing a big guy should do exceptionally well and still get drafted, blocking shots is probably the best one.
I doubt Ndiaye will be drafted in what is a pretty deep group of big men. I doubt even more that he’ll find a spot via free agency. I don’t see that his shot blocking is valuable enough to make up for his weak offense and ordinary rebounding.
Brian Zoubek, Duke: Zoubek’s career at Duke didn’t go as he had probably planned it, but ended on such a high note that it was probably worth the trouble. As a senior, Zoubek became a monster on the boards, averaging over 16 per 40 minutes. This puts him in some elite company. Here are college centers who topped 16 rebounds per 40 minutes:
| Player |
2 pt pct |
P40 |
R40 |
B40 |
A/TO |
| Shaquille O’Neal |
.628 |
35.1 |
18.7 |
6.4 |
0.5 |
| Chris Dudley |
.569 |
22.8 |
17.1 |
3.6 |
0.3 |
| Hakeem Olajuwon |
.611 |
20.3 |
16.7 |
7.5 |
0.4 |
| Greg Ostertag |
.537 |
19.5 |
16.6 |
5.3 |
0.2 |
| Dikembe Mutombo |
.709 |
16.7 |
16.4 |
6.5 |
0.3 |
| Nigel Dixon |
.678 |
25.3 |
16.3 |
0.5 |
0.1 |
| Ervin Johnson |
.572 |
17.0 |
16.3 |
3.3 |
0.6 |
| Tim Duncan |
.628 |
22.7 |
16.1 |
3.6 |
1.0 |
| Jeff Foster |
.498 |
20.2 |
16.1 |
1.4 |
0.8 |
| Sean May |
.571 |
26.1 |
16.0 |
1.5 |
0.7 |
| Brian Zoubek |
.638 |
12.0 |
16.6 |
1.7 |
0.8 |
For players who topped 16 more than once I used their best season. Random note: Chris Dudley won the Republican primary for Governor of Oregon. With KJ already running Sacramento, it won’t be long before ex-NBA players take control of the country. Then we’ll all have some fun. Back to Zoubek, while this is some fast company to be in with, he clearly isn’t in the class of some of the bigger names on this list. I just wanted to illustrate how impressive his performance on the boards was this year. He doesn’t match up with the all-timers on the list. His blocks are low and he doesn’t score very often. In fact his offensive repertoire is basically put backs and layups. The good part is his .638 FG pct. compares better with the greats. The exception here being Nigel “Big Jelly” Dixon who was an offensive force, but never got his defense and ball handling down enough to make it. The low number of blocks is a bad thing, but a look at his past years seasons shows some shot blocking ability. In his three previous seasons he was at 1.5, 2.4 and 2.6 blocks per 40 minutes, so there is some ability there.
Zoubek is also very foul prone. Before I condemn him too much for this I should also point out that all of the Duke big men posted high foul rates this year. Both Plumlees and Lance Thomas were similar to Zoubek this way. This suggests that fouling was either a strategy or a symptom of the strategy used by Duke this year. Since he’s a certain reserve at best, I doubt that will be a huge issue.
Like the rest of the marginal center prospects, Zoubek has the ability to help an NBA team and might get the best chance, because playing at a high-profile college helps a player get noticed and getting noticed helps a player get a chance. Good enough to give a team useful low minutes if he finds a spot. Not good enough to be much more than that.
Jeff Foote, Cornell: Passing as a skill for center prospects is a tough one as far as gauging its importance. I addressed it a little with Monroe and Udoh. Foote is another prospect who would list passing as one of his top skills. The best passing center in recent history, at least going by assists is Phillip Ramelli from Samford, who didn’t measure up anywhere else as a prospect. In statistics measuring scoring, rebounds and blocks, the all-time per minute leaders are dotted with all-time greats. Not so for passing. There are centers including David Robinson, Patrick Ewing and Dikembe Mutombo, who became perennial all-stars while posting low A40 totals in college. But centers with good passing skills also seem to have this habit of winning NBA championships, so as a skill it can’t be completely dismissed. Since I don’t have much in the way of data from small conferences, I’ll compare Foote’s season with the best passing seasons from center at colleges of all levels and work through the difference in level of competition later.
| Player |
2 pt pct |
P40 |
R40 |
B40 |
A40 |
A/TO |
| Kevin Rankin |
.524 |
20.4 |
10.8 |
1.7 |
4.4 |
1.2 |
| Oliver Miller |
.624 |
19.2 |
10.9 |
3.7 |
4.3 |
1.1 |
| Luc Longley |
.660 |
21.5 |
10.3 |
3.6 |
4.1 |
1.0 |
| Rich King |
.576 |
22.7 |
11.8 |
2.9 |
3.9 |
1.0 |
| Phillip Ramelli |
.562 |
18.3 |
7.3 |
1.4 |
3.7 |
1.1 |
| Tim Duncan |
.628 |
22.7 |
16.1 |
3.6 |
3.5 |
1.0 |
| Tim Young |
.506 |
16.1 |
11.6 |
1.5 |
3.3 |
1.1 |
| Jabari Smith |
.579 |
17.5 |
9.9 |
1.4 |
3.1 |
0.9 |
| Will Perdue |
.634 |
22.4 |
12.4 |
2.9 |
3.2 |
1.3 |
| Doug Roth |
.558 |
14.5 |
11.9 |
2.9 |
3.0 |
1.0 |
| Travis Knight |
.521 |
13.1 |
13.4 |
2.9 |
3.0 |
0.9 |
| Jeff Foote |
.625 |
17.6 |
11.5 |
2.7 |
3.3 |
0.9 |
All but Rankin and Ramelli played at least some NBA basketball. The one thing that stands out is the four players who had long careers, over 10K career minutes, were the four players with a 2-point pct. over .600. This is good news for Foote, as his is .625. The bad news is the other 4 scored more points and blocked shots more frequently than Foote. The low points could be a big negative as this table comparing Foote with past small college senior centers who had some level of success as pros:
| Player |
2 pt pct |
P40 |
R40 |
B40 |
A/TO |
| David Robinson |
.591 |
32.6 |
13.7 |
5.2 |
0.5 |
| Rik Smits |
.626 |
31.0 |
11.0 |
4.9 |
0.2 |
| Kevin Duckworth |
.631 |
24.4 |
11.3 |
1.6 |
0.3 |
| Chris Dudley |
.569 |
22.8 |
17.1 |
3.6 |
0.3 |
| Jeff Foster |
.498 |
20.2 |
16.1 |
1.4 |
0.8 |
| Mark Acres |
.582 |
22.7 |
11.7 |
1.3 |
0.8 |
| Carlos Rogers |
.623 |
34.7 |
11.8 |
4.3 |
0.4 |
| Mike Smrek |
.601 |
21.7 |
9.5 |
2.6 |
0.4 |
| Jeff Foote |
.625 |
17.6 |
11.5 |
2.7 |
0.9 |
| Artisom Parakhouski |
.591 |
24.6 |
15.4 |
2.4 |
0.4 |
Most of these players appear in the Larry Sanders comment as juniors. Especially interesting is the development of Duckworth and Dudley. Rogers was very impressive, but he was a 6th-year senior at the time. The important thing is every player scored more than 20 P40. Most were well above 20. This is a bad sign for Foote. The players who made it were likely the top option on the college team. Foote was the Big Red’s 3rd leading scorer. This makes his .625 FG pct somewhat less impressive too. It is more difficult to put up a high percentage when you’re the player taking the most shots on your team and attracting the most attention of the defense. I’m not saying what Foote did this year was easy, but the circumstance he put up the .625 wasn’t as impressive to me as Smits hitting .626 while scoring so often.
Foote does some things well. He has center size, can pass and rebounds well enough. It wouldn’t surprise me if he found a place. But the fact that he was the 3rd leading scorer on an Ivy League team is just a huge negative. Scoring a lot of points is a huge deal for prospects at every position and every level. A P40 of 20.0 is preferred for a center at this level. Foote didn’t hit that. Add that to his other negatives which include weak shot blocking and the fact that he was a non-prospect before his senior year and he becomes the longest of long shots in this group.
Artsiom Parakhouski, Radford, Jerome Jordan, Tulsa and AJ Ogilvy, Vanderbilt: Three centers who are out there, have played decent ball that falls short by prospect standards and might have been much hotter items in years where the position wasn’t so stacked with talent. Parakhouski is a good scorer/rebounder, but comes up short on the blocks. I included his numbers in the Foote comment for comparison. Jordan is a guy who has been close as a prospect for 3 seasons now, but never made the next step and even regressed some this year. Ogilvy was a hot item in the mocks briefly, but never lived up to that hype and is probably the weakest overall prospect in this group.