They were once considered as an extinct species and their craft an nearly vanished art form, but the center position has reawakened and has gone through a massive renaissance thanks to a new generation of big man who have brought old fundamentals back into the game.  They are no longer tall power forwards that have masqueraded as centers in years past preferring to shoot outside jumpers than pound for them in the paint.  This new crop of big men have returned back to the basics returning home at the low block and using their God given gifts of size and strength to their advantage instead of trying to be "versatile" and playing fancy.  It is almost liken to the era when the NBA were dominated by mighty titans who went by the names of Kareem, Wilt, Russel, Cheif, Ewing, Hakeem, Robinson, and O'Neal to name a few and how opposing team cowered to the mere mention of their names.

The circle is now complete as the center has finally returned to prominence and hopes to stay there for a very long time.  Here are the names of the thirty men who should be credited to bringing back this once fading art form to life and returning basketball to it's roost in the middle.  They represent not only the best that the league has to offer in the center position, but the return of an era.  Stay tuned as I will be posting the best of the best in the other four positions in basketball in the upcoming weeks.

(This is just an excerpt of a much more detailed piece. Click here to finish reading this post and so much more on JT's Hoops Blog)