Do the Cavs have the best center rotation in the NBA? Other contenders
Now the question becomes: does any other team in the NBA have a better center rotation than the Cavaliers? The Cavs have a clear Top-10 guy, a budding star, a sharpshooting maestro and an overqualified third/fourth center. Who can match that?
Let’s work through some honorable mentions. The Sacramento Kings have a good one-two punch in Domantas Sabonis and Richaun Holmes, but they have a hodgepodge behind them. The Memphis Grizzlies don’t have a star, especially if Jaren Jackson Jr. can’t survive at the 5, but they have really solid depth with Steven Adams, Brandon Clarke and Xavier Tillman. The Milwaukee Bucks occasionally slide Giannis Antetokounmpo to the 5, and Brook Lopez, Bobby Portis and Serge Ibaka make up a good veteran group – they don’t make the cut because Giannis is primarily a 4. The Denver Nuggets and Philadelphia 76ers have basically no center depth behind their superstars.
The team with the best clear-cut centers is the Boston Celtics, who rode the combination of Robert Williams III and Al Horford to the NBA Finals. That combination is something like Mobley and Love, with Horford a better defender than Love, but they don’t have anyone else to then match Allen’s production.
Now the question of “who counts” matters. The Golden State Warriors have one of the two or three best defenders in the league in Draymond Green; does he count as a center? If so, they have Green, the ever-reliable Kevon Looney, some bench scoring juice in JaMychal Green and the upside of James Wiseman. Even counting Green they fall short, but if Wiseman takes a leap they will rival the best teams on this list.
Finally, the true contender here is the Minnesota Timberwolves. Rudy Gobert is one of the few defenders in the league better than Allen and Mobley, and Karl-Anthony Towns is probably the league’s second-best offensive center. He will start at power forward for the Timberwolves this year, but presumably will play a lot of center when Gobert sits. Naz Reid is a decent shooting center, while Nathan Knight and Eric Paschall are smallball options at the 5. It’s a hyper-talented and deep rotation.