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NBA Awards: 4 Ways To Fix The System

By Josh Cornelissen

Feb 14, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Chris Paul, and LeBron James pose for a picture after the NBA All Star Game at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 14, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Chris Paul, and LeBron James pose for a picture after the NBA All Star Game at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /
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Oct 31, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis (23) is guarded by Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) during the first half of a game at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 31, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis (23) is guarded by Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) during the first half of a game at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports /

Eliminate The All-NBA Center

At the end of each season the media selects the top 15 players in the league to be recognized for All-NBA honors. Those selected become eligible for certain elite contract incentives, including total value and length, so the selection becomes very important for the players involved.

The problem is that the current system rarely puts the top 15 players on the teams. This is because each team is forced to showcase a center, a position that increasingly is not manned by the league’s best players.

In previous decades the center position was stocked with stars, from Tim Duncan and Shaquille O’Neal to Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, all the way back to Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain.

But in the modern NBA the league’s stars are on the perimeter and forcing those players out to stock the All-NBA team with centers misses out on truly recognizing the league’s best.

The problem is only compounded by the fact that the best “centers” in the league are listed at other positions.

Draymond Green came into the league as a small forward, but mans the pivot in one of the best lineups in NBA history, while Anthony Davis starts every game at the 4 before being unleashed at center later in games.

Giannis Antetokounmpo often runs the point on offense and guards centers on defense.

Last season, Andre Drummond made an All-NBA team as a center, while Davis, Isaiah Thomas, and James Harden missed the cut entirely.

Not only is the league better served showcasing its biggest stars, but Drummond and DeAndre Jordan are not more deserving of the contract incentives than Harden or Davis.

Changing the All-NBA qualifications to two guards and three frontcourt players — such as the All-Star Game changed to a few years ago — would better align the rosters with the league’s top talent. In some years that may mean three centers, but in many it would not.

Next: Picking All-Star Starters As Voting Begins

Like expanding the All-Star rosters and clarifying the year-end awards, this is a change that needs to happen.