Dubai: In a sport of giants, the NBA’s centre position is where the true titans clash.
Ever since 6ft 10in George Mikan towered above the competition throughout the 1950s, NBA history has been ruled by the men in the middle.
But who is the greatest to ever play the position?
If Mikan was the first great big man, it was Bill Russell who took NBA domination to a new level, winning 11 NBA titles in his 13 seasons after entering the league in 1956.
Wilt Chamberlain is the only man to score 100 points in a single game and once averaged more than 50 points per game over the course of a season. After that, Bill Walton, Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O’Neal dominated their respective eras.
But no one put the ball in the basket more times than Kareem Abdul Jabbar.
The 7ft 2in basketball legend will this week visit the UAE to take part in the Take a Step for Diabetes Week at the Imperial College London Diabetes Centre in Abu Dhabi.
Record-breaker
Abdul Jabbar redefined the game with unstoppable offence and impenetrable defence, shattering records in high school, college and NBA competition as he went. So dominant was he in college play for UCLA that governing body the NCAA implemented the ‘no-dunking rule’ in a vain attempt to give his competition a fair chance. The ‘skyhook’ shot that became his trademark is one of the league’s most famous moves.
But, ask the LA Lakers legend who he thinks was history’s greatest centre and he will bat away the question like a futile shot attempt from an unmatched rival.
“It’s really impossible to say who the best centre ever is,” said the typically modest 67-year old, who scored 38,387 points in 1,560 regular-season games over his 20-year NBA career.
“Some would argue that Bill Russell is the best ever and his team certainly won more championships. Wilt Chamberlain set a lot of records that won’t be broken. You could argue on and on.”
And so fans will, until Abdul Jabbar’s scoring record is broken — a feat that won’t happen any time soon.
At present, 36-year-old Kobe Bryant, a fellow Lakers great, is the only active player with any hope of catching up, and he sits more than 6,000 points behind on 31,700.
Bryant is one of 10 active players in the top 50 scorers. Of these, only LeBron James is aged under 30. Even he — the world’s best player but not the scorer that Bryant was in his peak — would need to score more than 2,000 points a season over seven more healthy years to be in with a chance. Abdul Jabbar, though, would hold no grudges if one of these men was to take his title against the odds.
“I set the record so probably someone is going to break it,” he said. “I had such a wonderful career. I don’t have to be jealous of the record, I can be proud that I set it and it’s been wonderful experience to have the opportunity to play this game and I am very thankful for that.”
After 13 seasons with the Lakers, during which he won five of his six titles and three of his five MVP awards, he still lives in LA, where Bryant is planning a comeback from a series of career-threatening injuries. The current star of the Hollywood sports scene will need a lot of luck to dominate the NBA in his fourth decade, according to his predecessor in purple and gold.
“Kobe had injuries and in order to come back, it takes a while,” said Abdul Jabbar. “He has done a lot of work. The papers here in LA have expressed that they are looking for him to have a good season, but he is just getting started. We will have to wait and see how that plays out. “It takes a lot of dedication and good luck. I was very fortunate not to get injured in a way that curtailed my career. It doesn’t all work out that way.
“I think I had a serious work ethic that I wanted to do my job as well as I could. That was the real incentive for me, to be at my best each year, so I worked hard on my conditioning and preparation at the beginning of each season, which allowed me to have a long career and do as well as I did.”
Abdul Jabbar was already into his eighth season when he was joined on the Lakers roster by a 20-year-old point guard by the name of Earvin Johnson, who was better known by his nickname ‘Magic’. The two would go on to form one of the league’s greatest double acts.
But how would the pair fare in the current NBA? Would they win the title? “I would have to say yes,” said Abdul Jabbar. “But you never know.
“That’s why they play the games. Putting a team together from my era against a team from the present era is why people go to sports bars.
“It’s impossible to put that in words how it compares now. I think the NBA has continued to attract elite athletes. Now they are attracting athletes from all over the world as the popularity of the game has jumped, so I think that it’s healthy and if it continues on the same path it will continue to grow around the world.”
