All-Stiff Team -- Center Poll

[The Human Q-Tip]

Bigger isn't always better, and nothing demonstrates that better than the nominees for center on the All-Stiff team. Here's where you can argue, bitch, and advocate for the biggest - or at least largest - stiff of them all. I'm going to try to cut and paste write-ups from the other thread to post in here, but please feel free to add whatever detail or other arguments you think are appropriate to sway the votes of other RCF'ers. Some players were just listed by name without much of an argument, so if you want those guys to "win", make your case in this thread. You can vote for two, and you can change your vote if you'd like. Ties are broken by...me, I suppose.

ETA: Eh, I'm tired of moving over all the write-ups, so you guys can do those on your own.

My vote for worst center went to Milos Babic. I can't figure out either how he got in the league in the first place, or how he managed to play for two seasons. He didn't have some great career overseas, and played his college ball at Tennessee Tech. I didn't even know that was a school, much less that it had a basketball team. And against that horrible level of competition, he only averaged 12.4 ppg and 7.3 rpg. He was immobile, a shitty rebounder, pasty, and soft.


In his single season with the Cavs, he averaged 1.6 ppg, 0.8 rpg, and 0.1 bpg. 7 feet tall, and he managed all of 1 blocked shots for the Cavs.

My second vote went to Kim Hughes. If Charmin had a face -- after it was smeared with shit -- it would have been Kim Hughes. In the 45 games he played, he didn't shoot a single free throw. How can a center be so impossibly soft/passive that nobody fouled him?? Obviously, if you're looking for an enforcer, he wasn't your guy.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Nominated by: @The Human Q-Tip

DeSagna Diop - High Ceiling, Ridiculously Low Floor

View attachment 3121

He wanted to be known as "Baby Shaq"

View attachment 3120

but he was much closer to being "Baby Shit"


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The Cavs' 2001 first round pick, No. 6 overall, was a 7', 290 lbs (it varied....) Man-Baby who, during his 4 years with the Cavs, managed a blistering 1.6 ppg. He actually managed to stay in the NBA for 12 seasons without ever scoring more than 3.0 ppg. He averaged only 1.6 ppg -- how was that even possible to stay in the league that long, and be that bad at basketball? His one usable skill in the NBA was shot-blocking -- and he averaged 1.0 bpg during his stellar 12 year career. One of the few guys in the league to have had more baby fat on him when he left the league than when he entered it.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Nominated by @WUJU:
Who can forget one of the all time biggest stiffs of the 90s. At Center from Notre Dame Tim “can eat a whopper in one bite” Kempton ! When a players best attribute is how well they can eat a large hamburger that’s probably not good for the team.

Tim Kempton Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft Status and more | Basketball-Reference.com

Checkout the latest stats of Tim Kempton. Get info about his position, age, height, weight, draft status, shoots, school and more on Basketball-Reference.com

www.basketball-reference.com

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Nominated by @Randolphkeys :

It's time to talk about the real gem of a center in Cavaliers Stiff history:

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Milos Babic, second round pick out of Tennessee Technological University. Played 12 games as a Cavalier, followed by a cup of coffee with the Heat. He excelled in standing around being seven feet tall, sitting on the bench while being seven feet tall, and occasionally clapping for a teammate while being seven feet tall. Led the NBA in fluid ounces of Drakkar Noir during the 90/91 season, leading to the catch phrase Milo's Babic: Feel the Power.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Nominated by @2 For The Brew :

I want to make my case for the stiffest stiff ever to put on a Cavaliers Uniform -- 6'11" C Kim Hughes.

He played 45 games in 80-81 for Cleveland after over five years with the Nets and Nuggets. Some fun facts about Hughes:

- Played 331 minutes for the Cavs in those game (over 7 mpg)
- Wore #12, #3 and #44 in those games (that's right -- THREE different numbers in less than one season). He wore #35 with the Nets and Nuggs.
- 77 RB, 73 PF. Good Lord.
- After shooting a savage 39.7% from the FT line before arriving at the Coliseum, Hughes' record at the FT line for us was worthy of Senator Blutarski -- zero for zero. He never went to the line in 331 minutes playing center.
- 16/45 from the field for 32 points and 35.6% from the field.
- Had 17 steals and 21 blocks so at least he could play some D - barely.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Nominated by @AllforOne :

When you pick a player in the lottery, you expect him to have an impact for years. The Cavs did just that in 2000, picking Jamal Crawford. Crawford went on to a 19-year NBA career as one of the best sixth men the game has ever seen.

Unfortunately, the Cavs got the benefit of none of those 19 years, because on draft night, they swapped Crawford for the player picked one spot before him ...

Chris Mihm - C

View attachment 3144
Positioning for a rebound? Or waiting for the Weed Fairy to drop blunts from the sky?

In the interests of trying to make it sound like the Cavs did OK in the trade, I'll point out that Mihm finished his career with more blocked shots and a better field-goal percentage than Crawford did! But that's about as much as I can shine that turd. Mihm spent two-plus lackluster seasons with the Cavs, during which time he accomplished ... shit, I'm not sure he did a damn thing while he was here.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Nominated by @Nathan S :

Another obscure stiff who deserves some recognition: Ryan Stack

It's not clear why Stack ended up in the NBA after averaging a modest 9.6 points per game as a college senior. But he didn't stay long. The lanky big averaged just 2.6 points per game on 38% shooting as a rookie, and those numbers declined to 2.1 points per game on 33% shooting his second and final year. In his last 10 games, he scored just 2 points on 1/14 shooting.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Nominated By @Nathan S

Now you see him, now you don't edition: AJ Bramlett

Believe it or not, the aforementioned Ryan Stack was not the worst big on the turn-of-the-millennium Cavs. That honor belongs to his teammate, drafted 39th out of Arizona. Bramlett managed 8 points in his 8 game career on subterranean 19% true shooting. A real all-around stiff, he finished with 0 assists and 0 blocks but nevertheless turned it over 3 times and committed 13 fouls.

Advanced stats confirm that while his 61-minute career was forgettable, it was nevertheless exceptional. It is the longest career in NBA history by a player with box plus/minus -15.0 or worse.

 

[panchan]

Some of the other guys were no better (could they be much worse?) but considering draft position, hope placed in him and opportunities to succeed I don`t know how any center in Cavs history could beat DeSagna Diop. What is amazing about his `career` was that other teams bought the coolaid and kept trying to get some value out of him. One of our (too many) high draft picks that we should have given up on far earlier than we did. Sometimes a high draft pick can be a blessing and a curse. Can make you waste time and resources much better spent elsewhere.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Some of the other guys were no better (could they be much worse?) but considering draft position, hope placed in him and opportunities to succeed I don`t know how any center in Cavs history could beat DeSagna Diop. What is amazing about his `career` was that other teams bought the coolaid and kept trying to get some value out of him. One of our (too many) high draft picks that we should have given up on far earlier than we did. Sometimes a high draft pick can be a blessing and a curse. Can make you waste time and resources much better spent elsewhere.

That's true., and if we were looking for the center "who most underperformed their draft slot", it would be him.

In terms of the actual worst Cavs center overall, I think there are other guys who were completely useless on both ends of the floor. Diop was horrendous offensively, and shot a sparking 40% from the line with the Cavs. But he was a pretty decent defender, and advanced stats have him as a plus defender both in Cleveland and for his entire career.

 

[Nathan S]

That's true., and if we were looking for the center "who most underperformed their draft slot", it would be him.

In terms of the actual worst Cavs center overall, I think there are other guys who were completely useless on both ends of the floor. Diop was horrendous offensively, and shot a sparking 40% from the line with the Cavs. But he was a pretty decent defender, and advanced stats have him as a plus defender both in Cleveland and for his entire career.

Mihm was actually drafted 1 slot higher than Diop, for what it's worth.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

Mihm was actually drafted 1 slot higher than Diop, for what it's worth.

Excellent point. I did a comparison on bkref (can't figure out how to put in here or I would), and it looks interesting. Diop's offensive numbers are very clearly worse, but in terms of career VORP... Diop is actually positive because of his defense, and Mihm is a pathetic -4.3. Then I looked at them both in their third season -- both of them spent that with the Cavs, and the same thing, though both were a negative at that point. Diop's defense gave him a VORP of -0.8, while Mihm was a -3.3.

So it looks as though Mihm, drafted one slot higher, was actually worse. Hype was definitely bigger for Diop even though he was drafted lower. Guess you should be careful before comparing yourself to one of the greatest centers of all time, because people may hold you to it.

ETA: Shifting one of my two votes to Mihm....

But I'm still a "fan" of Milos Babic.

 

[Randolphkeys]

But I'm still a "fan" of Milos Babic.

I'm not shifting the rubric, personally. If we are voting on the worst draft picks at every position... I'm in. It's just a different discussion.

Milos Babic was so incredibly incapable at basketball, and you had to see it to believe it. AJ Bramlett could play in college, then he wasn't fit to be a pro NBA player.

Babic couldn't even play college basketball. His existence is an amazing dark star vortex of anti-basketball.

 

[TheAdmin]

Martynas Andriuskevicius was so bad that a teammate damn near killed him. Speaking of that, Awvee Storey is coaching in the WNBA... how in the hell was that allowed to happen?

 

[prf100]

No one can match Diop’s longevity, physical advantages, and total lack of production. Stiffest of stiffs.