NBA Power Rankings: All 30 Starting Centers

29.  Miles Plumlee — Phoenix Suns

We could be looking back on Plumlee’s career in the next two or three seasons and wondering why Frank Vogel limited his success in Indiana.  His playing time was limited to little to nothing, and it was mainly due to his defensive aspects.  With Roy Hibbert and Ian Mahinmi on board, with David West thrown into the mix at power forward, there was no room for Plumlee to grow into his own character.

The trade to Phoenix in exchange for Luis Scola was the outbreak of Plumlee’s first two seasons as a pro.  Jeff Hornacek needed help up front during his first year as a head coach for the Suns, and there wasn’t much available.  Alex Len had been picked up in the 2013 Draft — don’t worry, he didn’t live up to any hype, in addition to 98 percent of the 2013 entrees.

Miles turned into the better offensive player between him and his brother, Mason.  That’s how you can differentiate between the two, as Mason is the more reliable defender that can contend at the rim with some of the league’s more versatile forwards and centers.  Offensively, Mason is capable of catching the ball and being sharp on backdoor cuts to the rim for lobs.  Miles, on the other hand, is just more aggressive with the ball in the middle.  Both of those skills by each brother are surprisingly hard to come by, because so many big men these days lack basic fundamentals and IQ of the game.

Free throw shooting shouldn’t be this much of a struggle for the Plumlee brothers, but Miles is the worst out of the two in that department.  Something incredibly interesting is that Mason played six less minutes on average than Miles, but shot more free throws per game than his brother.

Miles doesn’t get create buckets or get to the line as much as Phoenix would love him to, as he took only 1.7 free throw attempts per game last season.  There’s probably a reason he doesn’t strive to make plays in that nature, since Miles only shot 56.1 percent from the line with the Suns.  Just as much as Hornacek and the Phoenix community would love for him to become a defensive force, gaining versatility on offense is just as significant of a goal.

There’s still a long checklist for these athletically sound brothers to run through as young players.