The NBA: April 2014 Position Battle – The Top 5 Centers Right Now

In this Position Battle post, we will focus on the top five centers at this point in the season. We will take into account just the players’ stats for the latest five games of their respective teams. This will, hopefully, give us a more current picture of each player’s production.

This is the last Position Battle post for the regular season, as all teams have played out their 82 games. The next series of Position Battles will focus exclusively on the players in the postseason.

In this list, a resident Sacramento bad boy remains at the top spot, while a troika of playoff-bound big men crowd him. Oh, and quite possibly the league’s worst free throw shooter is here, too. Go figure.

The league's best centers are comprised of a curious sort.

Note: All of the following stats are based on each player’s stats as computed by HoopsStats.com. They were taken on April 17, 2014 (Manila time).

The NBA: The Best Players and Teams of March 2014

It’s early April and that means most of the Playoff spots have been taken. The only ones still up in the air are what I call the crap seeds, mainly because a team’s prize for claiming the 7^th or 8^th seed is to take on, gulp the Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs, or OKC Thunder. Pick your poison. Oh well, at least your gate attendance should skyrocket, right?

Regardless, however, we’re here to celebrate the NBA’s own version of March Madness, which basically starred the San Antonio Spurs, who quietly put together a boatload of wins and have, once again, become the top title contender heading to the sunset of the regular season. Meanwhile, out East, the Indiana Pacers continue to pay for the folly of trading away Danny Granger. They no longer have the top seed and they have absolutely ZERO momentum heading to their last handful of games.

Best of March (clockwise from top): Al Jefferson, Gorgui Dieng,
the San Antonio Spurs, and Kevin Durant.

This is the fifth in a series of “Best of the Month” citations based on the Efficiency Recap ratings on HoopsStats.com. Team citations will be based on Efficiency Recap Difference (Team Efficiency – Opponents’ Efficiency), while Player citations will be based on Player Efficiency. You can check out the Stats Glossary here.

The NBA: March 2014 Position Battle – The Top 5 Centers Right Now

In this Position Battle post, we will focus on the top five centers at this point in the season. We will take into account just the players’ stats for the latest five games of their respective teams. This will, hopefully, give us a more current picture of each player’s production.

Don’t look now, but the Chicago Bulls are sneaking up on the Toronto Raptors and might actually steal third seed in the East. That’s awesome news for Bulls fans, and, more importantly, it might make Heat fans a little edgy. The main conduit for Chicago’s recent rise, of course, has been the awesome play of Joakim Noah, who is joined by a hodge-podge of young bigs and old bigs in this top five list.

And, for all the Lakers and Magic fans who despise Dwight Howard, you’ll be happy to know he’s nowhere on this list.

Note: All of the following stats are based on each player’s stats as computed by HoopsStats.com. They were taken on March 23, 2014 (Manila time).

These are the NBA's top five centers right now.
(composite image by Enzo Flojo/Hoop Nut)

The NBA: February 2014 Position Battle – The Top 5 Centers Right Now

In this Position Battle post, we will focus on the top five centers at this point in the season. We will take into account just the players’ stats for the latest five games of their respective teams. This will, hopefully, give us a more current picture of each player’s production.

And just like that the consensus best center on the planet is, once again, actually the best center on the planet. He is putting up monster stats again, and leading his new team in an awesome midseason run. Also, we have a couple of underrated slotmen and one guy who just loves to make posters out of people.

Note: All of the following stats are based on each player’s stats as computed by HoopsStats.com. They were taken on February 20, 2014 (Manila time).

5. DeAndre Jordan (LAC) - 13.0ppg, 14.6rpg, 1.4spg, 2.8bpg, .750 FG%, 27.2 EFF

Look out below because DeAndre Jordan is finally shaping up to be the kind of center the Clippers need to make some serious noise come Playoff time. For the first time in his young career the poster-maker is averaging a solid double-double along with awesome D stats. He’s still not the kind of center who’ll drop 30 on, say, the Mavs (or even the Bucks), but he has become a reliable enough offensive weapon to keep opposing frontlines busy (as if they weren’t busy enough with Blake Griffin). If this April and May become memorable (in a good way) for Doc Rivers and his crew, then a ton of credit should go Jordan’s way.

DeAndre Jordan is a top five NBA center?! Why, YES!!!
(image from sportal.au)

The NBA: The Best Players and Teams of January 2014

And just like that, we are one-twelfth into 2014. The All-Star rosters have been named (look at the snubs here), and the two New York teams have finally put together some winning runs. In this post, we’ll look at the best that January had to offer, from Kevin Durant’s insane run of 30+ point games to Victor Oladipo’s rise up the rookie ladder.

This is the third in a series of “Best of the Month” citations based on the Efficiency Recap ratings on HoopsStats.com. Team citations will be based on Efficiency Recap Difference (Team Efficiency – Opponents’ Efficiency), while Player citations will be based on Player Efficiency. You can check out the Stats Glossary here.

Team Citations:

Best Backcourt: Toronto Raptors - 46.2ppg, 12.8rpg, 16.8apg, 3.3spg, .420 FG%, .384 3pt%, 14.6 DEFF

How is the best point guard of the league’s best backcourt in January not an All-Star? Beats me. But here’s a more pressing query – who the hell voted for Joe Johnson as an All-Star this season anyway? Toronto’s backcourt was a huge reason they were 11-6 in the month and remain a top four team in the East.

Toronto's Kyle Lowry was one of the most interesting
All-Star snubs this season.
(image by Mark Konezny/USA Today)

The NBA: 2014 All-Star Snubs

At this time every year most of the deserving players are voted in by fans as starters. The final seven are chosen by the head coaches. It's uncanny to see how often the coaches manage to select the less "deserving" player for the All-Star game. Thus, the term "snub" was designated for those omitted by the coaches.

This year is no different from other years. There are snubs on both the East and West teams. Now, who are they?

Kyle Lowry has played so well that the Raptors are considering NOT trading him
(Image from: CBS Sports)

EASTERN CONFERENCE

1. Kyle Lowry, Toronto Raptors
The Raptors are potentially the 3rd best team in the East primarily due to Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. DD made it to his first All-Star while KL was snubbed. Lowry has been playing the best ball of his career. He is doing it all for the Raps: score, rebound, pass and defend. Lowry has career-highs for points, assists, steals and three-point shooting. He is arguably the best all-around guard in the East who can defend PGs and smaller SGs.