2003 Cs

[Zyme]

Top 2003 Cs:

Marc Gasol C+ C D+ B- B- A

The year of the International Invasion is in full swing and it starts with a familiar name: Gasol. This hulking center looks chiseled for the position of center. This kid from Spain is the brother of the emerging stud Pau Gasol. The young man, despite being only in his teens , he is already on the Spanish national squad and when he showed it when he arrived at the combine. Gasol destroyed the bench press record and it was a tight race between he and Gortat for the best defender. From what has been seen on the international level he has a very mature post game for someone of his tender age. Scouts have been drooling over this player for some time and are unanimous that the sky is the limit for this kid.

Andrew Bogut C+ D+ C- C+ C+ A

The big man from down under brings a ton of high skill to bear. While he may not be as strong as his peers, he is no slouch himself. He has a very solid defensive balance, though he tends to play more straight up than others like Gasol or Gortat. He has a very good post game and his footwork around the backboard is very well developed. Bogut had a very solid showing at the combine, but was rather outshined by the beacon that was Gasol. The one place that Bogut struggled with was at the line as he left way more points than he should there. Scouts love his potential and has all the tools to hang around a long time in the league.

Tyson Chandler C D+ C- C+ B- A

The local prospect out of USC chose to bypass the draft earlier despite may scouts really wanting him to give it a go, and USC was happy to have him. He was the rock of the Troyan defense this past year and anchored them to a sweet sixteen berth in the NCAA tournament before being knocked out by Pac-10 rival Oregon and the power of the Lukes. At the combine he was your classic defense and rebounding center with excellent footwork on boths sides of the court and his post game looked to be coming on very nicely. Great upside, but scouts are still concerned that he might have a higher ceiling had he come out earlier.

Marcin Gortat C+ C- C- B- C+ B

The third of the multinational center Corp is the big man out of Poland. For someone of his side, he has outstanding strength and an astounding ability to move around screens for someone of his size. His lithe frame provide an excellent basis for his motor, especially on the offensive boards. Very good defender, and the scouts at the combine had to split hairs to say who was better between Gortat and Gasol. One thing that especially stood out was Gortats surprisingly good range from the free-throw line extended and while no point guard can start the offense off with some pretty decent passing. Probably not as high of potential as some of the others in this class, but then again he has some might good competition in that regard.

Darko Milicic C+ C+ C C+ C+ A

An freak of an athlete is the final member of the international quartet in the Center corp. The quick and whily euro-center out of the obscure Yugoslavia second division KK Hemofarm side. He was spotted dunking at age fifteen, already over six and a half feet and was heavily pressured to be sold by the club. They held onto him as long as they could, riding him to the first division and into the finals against Yugo mega club KK Partizan. But with first professional contract coming to an end, and with no desire to sign a new one nor the flexibility to transfer the bigman to Partizan or another, larger, club Milicic is coming Stateside. His range is outstanding for someone of his side, many are already calling him the next Sabonis. While is a little on the skinny size for his position, he should have plenty of room to grow and develop his frame. The biggest concern for Darko is that he unless he can round out his game, he may be living off his athleticism and potential, and those parts of the game only stick around so long.

Chris Kaman C+ C- D C+ C+ A

The young man out of Directional Michigan (Central in this case) can be one of those forgotten men in this class. Very mature for his age with exceptional upside, he struggled to separate himself from his contemporaries at the combine. That said he had a very good season, leading his team to the MAC championship and a first round exit to eventual champion Syracuse and Carmelo Anthony. The one area he was able to showcase at teh combine was his outstanding athleticism as playes of his size rarely have the pace or change of direction ability of someone half his size.

[Oregon Ownage]

Great set of centers to choose from this year.

[UOducksTK1]

Seriously, center class is loaded.