Center

The center is considered a necessary component for a successful team, especially in professional leagues such as the NBA. But recently, the NBA has turned into a point guard league and many centers are shooting threes now. Great centers have been the foundation for most of the dynasties in both the NBA and NCAA. The 6’10” (2.08 m) George Mikan pioneered the Center position, shattering the widely held perception that tall players could not develop the agility and coordination to play basketball well, and ushering in the role of the dominant big man. He led DePaul University to the NIT title, then, after turning professional, won seven National Basketball League, Basketball Association of America and NBA Championships in his ten-year career (1946–56), nine of them with the Minneapolis Lakers. Using his height to dominate opposing players, Mikan invented the hook shot and the shot block; as a consequence, the NCAA, and later NBA, adopted the goaltending rule, and, in 1951, the NBA widened the foul lane, a decision known as the ‘Mikan rule’.^[1]