98 Centers

[Zyme]

Top 5 1998 Centers

Michael Olowokandi B D- D- C+ B- B

Small school stud out of the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA. He absolutely dominated his competition, scoring over 22 point and ten boards his entire career. He wowed scouts at the combine with his skill on the court and absolutely chiseled-from-marble build. He rebounds, he defends, and he has great touch around the basked both on the roll and with his back to it. He looks like he has all the tools for stardom save for two issues, he makes Shaq look like Tiit Sokk at the free throw line. In addition he has proven quite injury prone over his tenure in college and this raised more than a few red flags.

Nazr Mohammed C D+ F+ B- C+ A

Very strong center that knows how to play the position the right way. He has enough of an offensive game to pay for his keep but where he shines is on the defensive side of the ball. Great footwork on the boxout and on recovering off of screens. He tends to not gamble on defense and prefers to uses his excellent strength to keep his matchup at bay and away from the basket. At the combine he forced Dirk to burn him on the perimeter and sent the Kandiman sprawling in a heated exchange when he got too aggressive on a back-down dribble move.

Rasho Nesterovic B- C- D+ C+ C C

A very polished finisher out of Yugoslavia. He possesses a very mature post game that rivals anyone in this class. He has ideal strength for his position and has very mature footwork rebounding the basketball. He played on a smaller side in Yugoslavia which never made the top level of FIBA. This means that unlike Sabas or Drazen he never really faced off against top competition. This lack of competition has lead to scouts to lower their evaluation of him until they can see him compete aginst the top level players he will see in the NBA.

Michael Doleac B C- D+ C+ C A

This bigman hails from the perrenial dark horse in the very strong Mountain West. The Utah bigman has a great touch around the rim and his hook shot is top shelf. Despite being rather slow at getting off screens scout really like how he plays the post and even manages to poke away a fair number of balls when his opposition gets careless. His main weakness is his footwork on boxing out his man as all too often they slip him and manage a putback.

Brian Skinner C+ D- D- C+ C+ B

Skinner is the proverbial jack of all trades. He can block shots pretty well, defend in the post well, doesn't turn the ball over, good potential, rebound well and finish well. He is just master of no one of these skills, and this makes many scout wonder if he will do more than be a 6th man.

[Phenom]

Not a good year to need a center.

[Larry Bird]

Nazr's ratings here are different from the index, which will he really have ?