The Company You Keep
In 2015-2016, the team never seemed to have everyone healthy. As a result, the talent level of the team fell by quite a bit. The point guard situation was unsettled until the arrival of Ish Smith at Christmas time. The front court situation was horrendous as well, as Noel attempted to play power forward as Jahlil Okafor played his post offensive game.
But the matter of whether a championship team needs a starting center rim protector, or can that be served form the bench?
Joe Boozell covered the ten best rim protectors in the NBA in a January 2015 article (which would have missed on Noel’s first full season). In this article, his top ten protectors are:
10: Anthony Davis
9 : Robin Lopez
8: DeAndre Jordan
7: DeMarcus Cousins
6: Tim Duncan
5: Dwight Howard
4: Serge Ibaka
3: Roy Hibbert
2: Andrew Bogut
1: Rudy Gobert
Now, you may ask why Hassan Whiteside or John Henson, or even Cole Aldrich failed to make this list? To be honest, it could simply be the matter of the articles timing.
The focus of this article is to determine whether at championship team needs a starting center who can block everything in sight, or can that role come from the bench?
Let’s examine some recent champions:
San Antonio Spurs
Golden State Warriors
Cleveland Cavaliers
Next: Spurs