Center Candidates: The All-Time 0 & 00 Team

Looking at sports history and reminiscing about legendary players from different eras is a fun pastime for most sports fans. These great players kindle fond memories. The attraction of the great ones to the fans may come in various avenues; their statistics, what they did in big moments, individual awards, or how they led their team to a title.

We connect to these players on so many levels, but a common thread is to remember them by jersey number. Babe Ruth’s number 3, Wayne Gretzky’s 99, Jordan’s 23, or a Walter Payton 34 jersey are all iconic and fun to remember.

SHN Project: Best Team By Jersey Number

Our Sports History Network team would like to solicit your help in putting a fun twist on your sports memories by kicking off an endeavor to field the best pro basketball teams by jersey number. That team should consist of a Point Guard (PG), Shooting Guard (SG), Center (C ), Small Forward (PF), and Strong Forward (SF).

If a player is listed as playing that position in their career, they become eligible to play it on our team. Additional criteria are that they had to play in the BAA, NBL, NBA, or ABA and wear the jersey number for at least a part of 5 different seasons. Our team of SHN experts will provide some information, personal preferences, and other tidbits about the players of each to help you make an informed decision in the poll we will provide. After the deadline is reached, we will post the results on JerseyDispatch.com.

In this segment, we will start with the players that wore 0 or 00. Okay, they are two different numbers; to reduce confusion, we will count them the same for this exercise. Let’s look at the candidates that meet our qualifying criteria for each position to aid you in making a decision. We will cover each position in the next five days for 0 and 00 and then ask you to vote. Up today will be the players that qualify at Power Forward.

Center Candidates (Jersey # 0 and 00)

Olden Polynice: played the position of C on the Los Angeles Clippers (1991-92), Seattle SuperSonics (1991-99), Detroit Pistons (1994), Sacramento Kings (1994-98), and the Utah Jazz (2000-01) for eight seasons as he scored 8265 points, dished out 744 assists, crashed the boards for 7110 rebounds, and blocked 651 shots.

Andre Drummond: played the position of C on the Detroit Pistons (2014-20) for seven seasons as he scored 9529 points, dished out 926 assists, brought down 9104 rebounds, and blocked 1018 shots.

Robert Parish: played the position of C on the Golden State Warriors (1977-80), Boston Celtics (1981-94), Charlotte Hornets (1995-96), and the Chicago Bulls (1997) for 18 seasons as he scored 23334 points, dished out 2180 assists, brought down 14715 rebounds, and blocked 2361 shots. Dan Neumann, co-host of the Sports History Network podcast Hello Old Sports, adds this about Chief; “A part of the “Big Three” of the 1980’s Boston Celtics, Parish later won another championship as a bench player with the Chicago Bulls.

He is a member of the NBA’s 50th and 75th Anniversary Teams. “ Chad Cain, the host of the Sports History Network podcast One Guy with a Mic Presents: History of Dingers and Dunks, also thinks very highly of Robert Parish on this list of centers.

Benoit Benjamin: played the position of C on the Los Angeles Clippers (1986-91), Seattle SuperSonics (1991-93), Los Angeles Lakers (1993), New Jersey Nets (1994-95), Vancouver Grizzlies (1996), Philadelphia 76ers (1998-99), and the Cleveland Cavaliers (2000) for ten seasons as he scored 9223 points, dished out 1070 assists, brought down 6063 rebounds, and blocked 1581 shots.

Kevin Duckworth: played the position of C on the Portland Trail Blazers (1987-93), Washington Bullets (1994-95), Milwaukee Bucks (1996), and the Los Angeles Clippers (1997) for eight seasons as he scored 8085 points, dished out 598 assists, brought down 3945 rebounds, and blocked 316 shots.

Greg Ostertag: played the position of C on the Utah Jazz (1996-2006), and the Sacramento Kings (2005) for eight seasons as he scored 3512 points, dished out 443assists, brought down 4145 rebounds, and blocked 1293 shots.

Eric Montross: played the position of C on the Dallas Mavericks (1997), New Jersey Nets (1997), Philadelphia 76ers (1998), Detroit Pistons (1998-2001), and the Toronto Raptors (2001-02) for five seasons as he scored 2071 points, dished out 207assists, brought down 2159 rebounds, and blocked 275 shots.

Kevin Love: played the positions of C and PF on the Cleveland Cavaliers (2015-22) for eight seasons as he scored 13563 points, dished out 1801 assists, brought down 8287 rebounds, and blocked 330 shots.

Spencer Hawes: played the positions of C and PF on the Philadelphia 76ers (2011-14), Charlotte Hornets (2016-17), and the Milwaukee Bucks (2017) for five seasons as he scored 5932 points, dished out 1271 assists, brought down 3893 rebounds, and blocked 652 shots.

Cast Your Votes Below!!!

Leave a Comment

Digital $50 gift card to Homefield Apparel