Fantasy Basketball Showdown: Who Is This Year's Top Center?

Last year, there was absolutely no debate on this question. Who should be the first center off the board in my fantasy basketball draft?

This year, things might be changing thanks to what Amare Stoudemire did in his first season as a New York Knick.

There is no question Stoudemire has certainly closed the gap between No. 1 and No. 2 in the fantasy basketball center rankings. The question we must ask is, has Amare surpassed Superman for the top spot?

Here, I will break down the two players, offer my own projections and make a pick for who is No. 1.

I am making these projections based on the way things are right now. When free agency and trading starts, things could look differently.

First, let’s look at the reigning fantasy basketball big man champion.

The Case for Dwight Howard

We know all about D-12’s free throw shooting issues and how maddening they can be for fantasy basketball owners who don’t like to see that missing point in any category.

Taking Howard means you then have to be conscious for the rest of the draft. You must build a team around Howard to overcome his poor free-throw shooting in order to salvage a couple of points at least.

But then you look at the rest of last season’s numbers.

22.9 PPG, 14.1 RPG, 1.4 APG, 1.4 SPG, 2.4 BPG, 59 percent FG, 60 percent FT

Those are awfully enticing numbers, and more importantly they are improved numbers from the past. Dwight Howard is in a class with only one other guy when it comes to boards (Kevin Love), and there are very few who can touch him when it comes to blocks.

If you own Howard, you can bank on being near the top of the standings in two categories based on D-12’s merits alone.

Then there is the counter to his FT percentage—his FG percentage.

Howard might sink your free-throw average, but he gives you the ability to carry a guy like Brandon Jennings on your team without stressing about FG percentage.

Especially as D-12 starts to shoulder more of the offensive load and takes more shots, which will only make his FG numbers more appealing.

That takes me to my next point, which is Howard is evolving as a scoring big man. He can do more than muscle guys up and dunk on them now.

And hopefully he’s doing more work on that low post game this offseason to get even better. The Magic must realize they need to feed the big man to win games. And Howard needs to step up and accept that role as the go-to guy on the team.

If those two things happen, and Howard keeps evolving offensively, we haven’t yet seen him max out on points per game.

And we haven’t even mentioned the fact he gets a lot of steals for a big man. That’s a whole lot to like when weighed against his FT shooting percentage.

Projected Stat line

24.4 PPG, 13.8 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1.4 SPG, 2.5 BPG, 60 percent FG, 60 percent FT

The Case for Amare Stoudemire

Reunited and it feels so good. Amare was more than excited to be back and working under Mike D’Antoni last season for the New York Knicks.

His numbers reflected that excitement, as he reverted to his earlier Suns years rather than the later ones.

These are the numbers put up by Amare in his first season in the Big Apple.

25.3 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 2.6 APG, 0.9 SPG, 1.9 BPG, 50 percent FG, 79 percent FT

There are no two ways around things here—he is dominant. Amare had his second best season in point-scoring and his second best season in blocked shots.

There were stretches last season where Amare was the best player in fantasy basketball. For the month of December, he was almost an automatic 30 and 10 every single game.

Unlike Howard, there isn’t one single category in which Amare dominates, but there isn’t a category where he doesn’t contribute or a category where he hurts you.

Any center who shoots 80 percent from the free-throw line is a rare treat to have, and Amare even dishes out a fair amount of assists for a center.

It’s obvious Amare doesn’t have the same rebounding numbers, or even close as that of Howard, but he is an across-the-board player and that’s not easy to come by.

I know there are some who are worried about what a full season with Carmelo Anthony will do to Amare’s stats, but it didn’t have a terrible impact in their short time together last season.

Amare continued to score in the high 20s, so his big games were a bit more inconsistent, but it all evened out in the end.

Having another scoring option should also free Amare a bit more under the hoop to take and make better shots.

Projected Stat Line

24.8 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 3.0 APG, 1.0 SPG, 1.9 BPG, 52 percent FG, 80 percent FT

Conclusion

Dwight Howard may be the most dominant player in the game, or at least he has the potential to be if he allows himself to be. But that free-throw shooting is hard to get past, and it puts a lot of pressure on you to draft a specific way once you take Howard.

Amare’s the safe pick for sure. At worst, he is a 20-point and eight-rebound guy who doesn’t hurt you anywhere else.

And he has the ability to be a 25 PPG guy, which no one can question.

You could call it a matter of preference, but my preference is still Dwight Howard. He has his downfalls, but there are few players who can dominate in more than one category the way Howard does while contributing significantly in so many others.

I think we’ re going to see D-12 take another step forward this year in the point-scoring department. If that happens, he’ll re-establish himself as the surefire No. 1 center and there will be no debate next season.

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