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April 28, 2010

Does Pitt Need a Center?

Filed under: Basketball,Recruiting — Chas @ 9:01 am

In football, no question. But in basketball, I’m not so sure.

There’s a growing concern that Pitt is going to lack a center after Gary McGhee is done. (Yes, even after last year it is still mildly strange to type that.)

After all, the present roster has no true center. Dante Taylor wants to play and his future is at the 4. Plus, at 6-8 to 6-9, there is concern about whether he is big enough (or perhaps, better phrased as whether he plays big enough). J.J. Richardson is definitely undersized to play the spot at 6-7, but did show energy and enthusiasm. Talib Zanna at 6-9, will be a redshirt freshman and is certainly a candidate to play the spot more — especially if he has bulked up a bit. But no one seems enthused by that idea.

Now, I imagine most want the center to be someone who is 6-10 or bigger. A guy in the tradition of Aaron Gray, Toree Morris or McGhee. A big guy inside to defend the paint, get rebounds and some easy putbacks. The fact is, finding a true big man is not easy.

There’s a reason why Pitt stuck it out with Gary McGhee and he actually had some decent offers despite how raw he was. There was a reason Pitt tried for quite a while to figure a way to make it happen with Maurice Walker despite the lack of scholarship — and other teams came so hard  for him late — even though, everyone acknowledges he is a project.

There’s a reason the top two or three center prospects are one-and-dones almost without fail.

There aren’t that many truly big men, and more often than not, it takes a couple of years to find out if you have a good one.

According to Scout.com, these are the Center prospects Pitt is looking at for the 2011 class: Mikael Hopkins, Desmond Hubert, and Joey De La Rosa.

Want to know what jumps out at me about them?

It isn’t that Hopkins is the highest ranked prospect of them, a consensus 4-star listed as center or power forward (Insider subs.). Or that Hubert is another consensus 4-star center with lots of promise (Insider subs.). Nor is it that De La Rosa is a very raw 2-star to unranked at this time, but againwith lots of potential (Insider subs).

No, what stands out to me is that Hopkins and Hubert are both listed at 6-8 on all recruiting sites. De La Rosa is listed at 6-8 on ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc., while Rivals.com says 6-11 and Scout.com says 6-10.

In other words, the two best center prospects (and perhaps three) Pitt may be pursuing are similar in size to Zanna and Taylor. The (presumably) tallest prospect they are pursuing will be a project.

DeJuan Blair thrived at the 5 spot despite being 6-6 to 6-7 because of a freakish wingspan and a body that could bang inside, but just as importantly: desire. He outworked and outplayed bigger men. He thrived on the contact and beating them.

I’m not hung up on where the player Pitt gets with the 3d scholarship plays. There’s a pretty good balance between frontcourt and backcourt players right now.

I think Pitt and Coach Dixon will stick with getting the best player they can. Whether it is an undersized center, another wing guard or perhaps even a shooting guard that is deadly from the perimeter.





Chas – Great insight. Having a true center is great in a half court offense but can be cumbersome to a running transistion team. I think Pitt is the type of team that could easily go without a traditional center.

Comment by Dan 72 04.28.10 @ 9:48 am

I don’t think the point is having someone who is a “center” but having someone who is comfortable with his back to the basket. DT seems to be more comfortable facing the basket and scoring in transition. I’m not sure what Zanna’s game is like. I think the concerns some people had about Jaylen Bond is that he isn’t a back to the basket type.

Comment by Cabe 04.28.10 @ 10:47 am

I agree with Dan. WVU didn’t have a true center this season but they had the ability to throw three 6’7-6’9 athletes at the rim after every missed shot and kill opponents on the boards.

In a few years we’ll have Moore, Bond, Zanna, Taylor and Richardson on the team and at least two or three of them on the court at the same time. If that group crashes the boards and learns the art of interior passing then we’ll be + in the paint every night without a space eater.

Comment by Pabs 04.28.10 @ 11:08 am

How many people have seen Bond play that are certain he can’t play back to the basket. Plus what does it matter, he isn’t being brought in to play the 5. Dixon told him he’ll play the 3. But he could start out playing 4 and move to 3 later. Finding players who are comfortable with their back to the basket in HS is nearly impossible. Even a player like Blair didn’t come with an array of post moves with his back to the basket. He just outworked people in there.

Comment by PITTapotamus 04.28.10 @ 11:10 am

I totally agree. Would much rather see them get an IMPACT player than a body at center.

They may very well need more inside muscle and desire to play “Pitt basketball”….. they certainly need more rebounding, but to go where they want to go, the final four, they need NBA talent. I am not sure they have any of that in the pipeline at this point.

Comment by Boubacar AW 04.28.10 @ 11:30 am

Seems like there’s a movement to athletic slashers at the 3 & 4, a long range shooter at the 2 and a PG that can penetrate. To me that means that they need a 5 who can rebound, play D and is quick enough to get out of the way and then back in position for rebounds on the offensive end. That pretty much rules out the big, back-to-the-basket center IMHO. Hopkins seems to fit that bill perfectly, so I hope Jamie is pushing hard to land him. Hubert might be a good backup plan guy, but he looks pretty slight and mixing it up in traffic is noted as a weakness, which is not what you want in a BE frontliner.

Have to agree with Boubacar AW on the 2011 class so far. Bond may grade out as a 4-star by the time he finishes, but I’m still wondering about Johnson. Why did Pitt need yet another PG with both Woodall and Epps already in place? Maybe Jamie has a different plan for one of the three. Only time will tell.

Comment by TampaT 04.28.10 @ 1:08 pm

Johnson is more of a combo guard. And he is a big time scorer something that Pitt doesn’t necessarily have at the 1 or 2. He can shoot it, but is especially good at creating his own shot. Pitt hasn’t had a scorer coming in at either gaurd position like him in recent memory. That is why he is coming to Pitt. For them to get him as early as they did, means there was bit time interest from them. This is a kid they desperately wanted, and luckily got before his exposure made him a hot commodity to other big time schools. He will be a stud.

Comment by PITTapotamus 04.28.10 @ 1:21 pm

Totally agree, at least with the current landscape. With the general quality of the talent on the team and how its spread evenly between the front and the back courts, Pitt doesn’t need to look for a specific position. It would be best served to pick the best player. Coincidentally, it looks like the best two players we have in our sights happened to be “centers”. And to me, whether one’s a back-to-the-basket guy or not is sort of a misleading characterization, and not a key concern with the cast Pitt will have. To me, the question for any C Pitt looks at is whether they can draw in defenses and pass. Defense matters of course, but how many big men have killed Pitt last year? none really. I can’t imagine any center coming in to the Pitt system not being at least serviceable.

Comment by PantherP 04.28.10 @ 2:10 pm

I will refer to Dokish again because since his info is free, that’s all I have, but he has said for a long time now that Pitt sees Hubert as a PF. As for Johnson, he said that if he and Epps would start together, it would be Johnson that would move to SG. And he also said that Pitt was trying to get a center and that Dixon feels he needs one.

Comment by Mark 04.28.10 @ 2:35 pm

Most of this year’s losses that I can recall…1st SHU, 2nd ND, Xavier, WVU…were due to a severe deficit at the center position. We need at least average play at this position.

Comment by steve 04.28.10 @ 3:18 pm

Funny, when I read the title of this blog, I thought for sure it about Pitt’s football team.

Anyway, I believe Coach Dixon is very concerned about having a physical center who can keep a low post player away from the hoop. On the other hand, I thought the lack of an inside scoring threat this year had a big adverse effect on perimeter players like Gibbs since there was little need for the opponenents to double-down.

Pitt’s defense may be its bread and butter but I thought the lack of a Blair or Gray had a negative impact on its inside-out offense.

Comment by wbb 04.28.10 @ 4:07 pm

Boubacar AW: check out JJ Moore’s videos online, and realize that he is playing in one of the most competitive HS/prep leagues in the world. Also note what he and South Kent did to Brewster(5 Star Barton, and M. Walker). JJ has all of the potential in the world and is already far ahead of where sam young was at the same point in their careers. So maybe, just maybe we might have some NBA talent in our pipeline….

Comment by PantherProto 04.28.10 @ 4:09 pm

Also exactly how much NBA talent was in the final four this year? Other than Butler and Ebanks who on the court struck you as an NBA player. Roe? Hayward?

I think this year’s tournament proved that maybe the gap between the #1 and #100 coming out of high school is razor thin and the whole “you need elite NBA talent to make a deep run” addage is overated.

Comment by Pabs 04.28.10 @ 4:30 pm

there was probably more NBA talent on North Carolina in 09 than entire Final 4 in 010.

Comment by wbb 04.28.10 @ 4:32 pm

You may not need NBA talent, but you better have excellent high school talent. It’s a fact that the average winner and final four participants have a lot more top 50 prospects than Pitt has had. That’s just a fact.

Comment by Mark 04.28.10 @ 4:33 pm

Hayward,Mack and possibly Howard are all pro prospects for Butler.

Comment by TJ 04.28.10 @ 4:38 pm

What happened to Maurice Walker anyway ?

Comment by Marty 04.28.10 @ 4:57 pm

Marty, Walker committed to Minnesota after it became apparent that Pitt would not have a scholarship available.

Comment by Bryan 04.28.10 @ 5:51 pm

while Pitt still doesn’t get the blue chip talent like other top progams, I do believe the talent has definitely improved over the decade. Page and Taft were considered the major gets back then, whereas beginning with Young and Blair, I believe we are getting more and better talent the last few years.

Brown, Taylor, Patterson, Epps, Moore, and possibly Bond and Johnson are pretty good quality bb players.

Comment by wbb 04.28.10 @ 6:06 pm

Bryan,
Thanks for the info.

Comment by Marty 04.28.10 @ 7:34 pm

Went to school with Mikael Hopkins. He is tall, lanky excellent shot blocker and true back to the basket center. Dont see him playing the 4 at all. Although has been developing a short-mid range shot. Nice guy needs to put on some muscle for sure, but dont see us as much of a contender

Comment by Eric 04.29.10 @ 1:28 pm

Did check out some of videos of Moore, Wright and Epps. Pretty impressive. Hopefully they’ll come to Pittsburgh this summer and play in Green Tree. Then we’ll really get a good idea as to what we’ve got. Can’t wait!

Even though the Green Tree games are free, here’s some stuff I’d pay to see:

1) Woodall v. Epps – A starting spot is up for grabs, who will be the guy to go get it? Woodall looked bigger, tougher in Green Tree than he had the previous season. Can he step it up some more? Can he hold off Epps?

2) Small forward battles – which one of the young guys, if any, will be able to take it to Brad and Nas? They were the two best players in Green Tree last summer. They played HARD.

3) Development of the big guys – Last year JJ Richardson out worked Dante, Talib and Dwight. Have any of those guys added anything significant to their games?

It was clear after seeing Taylor last summer that he wasn’t going to have a big impact last year, same with Miller. Hopefully we’ll leave Green Tree saying the opposite about Epps, Moore and Wright.

Comment by Boubacar AW 04.29.10 @ 4:52 pm

[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Pitt Panthers Buzz. Pitt Panthers Buzz said: Pitt Blather >> Does Pitt Need a Center? link to buzztap.com […]


Thanks for the info on Johnson, PITTapotamus. I now recall the “combo guard” mention when he was signed. And, based on is PPG avg., it looks like he can score. My only concern about him is that with all the scouts/writers these days, a “stud” is rarely missed. He’s still only a 3-star with no national ranking in the most updated ratings. Maybe now that he’s linked with Pitt, he’ll get more attention.

Eric: Thanks for confirming Hopkins as a true 5. Again, I think Pitt needs athletic guys at that spot – not “A Grays” (sorry, wbb) – based on the offense and defense they’ve been running, so he fits perfectly. The fact that he plays a post up style still allows for an inside-outside game without clogging things up for the wings, because he’s athletic enough to get out of the way when necessary. Sorry to hear you think we’re out of the mix for him though.

Comment by TampaT 05.01.10 @ 8:09 am

TampaT I think a lot of the issue with Johnson’s 3-star ranking was his exposure. He played on an AAU team that did not travel to tournaments around the country and wasn’t seen playing against the best by evaluators. He has since switched to a high level AAU team and it will be interesting to see how the increased exposure affects his ranking.

Comment by OntarioLett'sGoPitt 05.03.10 @ 7:50 am

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