by Keith Hook

Created on: April 02, 2009

As their names implies, the center for a basketball team is, quite possibly, the most important player on the court. No, he doesn't have to be the best player, but he usually is involved in a (pardon the pun) big way. A center's job is to play defense by blocking shots and being an intimidating presence, by rebounding, by scoring and even by passing. Most every great NBA team has had a dominating big man as their focus.

As the "Unstoppable Force", Wilt Chamberlain has to top this list. I don't need to get into his lifetime statistics, they might just bore you. Suffice it to say that Chamberlain once socred 100 points in a game and averaged 50 points per game for the entire 1961-62 season. Chamberlain could grab a rebound or two, as his 22.9 caroms per game career average shows. Heck, he even passed the ball ala' Bob Cousy or Magic Johnso as proven by his leading the league in assists in the 1967-68 season. No other center has even done this. And let's not forget that Chamberlain was able to amass such stats as he battled Bill Russell, of the Boston Celtics, all those years. In fact, Chamberlain had many of his best games against the Celtic great.

Speaking of Bill Russell, he falls in right behind, if not almost even with, Chamberlain. Russell was a different player than Wilt. He was never the focus of the offense and was never a high scorer, but boy could the man play the game of basketall. Russell, either by his shotblocking ability, or his rebounding accumen, was usually the starting point of the vaunted Boston fast break. Bob Cousy may have made the break go, but it was Russell that kick-started the engine. Despite his supposed lack of an offensive game, Russell could and would score on you when he needed to. Of course, Russell's greatest legacy is his leading his tem to eight straight NBA titles, at one point and winning 11 rings during his 13 year career. Yeah, I'd say Bill Russlee was pretty good.

The top two names on this list have to be giants, in order to keep someone like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar relegated to the #3 spot. All Jabbar ever did was win 6 MVP awards, play in 19 All-Star games, win six NBA Championships and end his career as the #1 all-time leading scorer in NBA history. Along the way Kareem distinguished himself with class and elegance, as graceful as his patented skyhook was.

There are quite a few others we can put in this pantheon of immortals. George Mikan and Bob Petit, giants of the early NBA who knew how to win. Men like Willis Reed, Dave

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