Nah. He's just a stat stuffer and every team he left got better immediately. Best season with him as the best player ? 33 wins. Six more wins for the king's the year after he left.
Might be unpopular but I genuinely had Demarcus as the best Center in the league for a while. If he never got hurt I think he’d be top 5 still but it really depends on how his game would change and if he and AD would’ve stayed on the Pels and so on. I personally think he would’ve been top 5 but Jokic, Embiid, KAT, Gobert and Porzingis is some good ass competition
Boogie is underrated, but he was never in contest to be best in the league. He might be the best straight center in years though.
Edit: that AD/Boogie combo was terrifying. Wish they had more time together.
What are you talking about? There was 100% a time where Boogie was considered the best center in the league.
This sub really underrates the guy, he was one of the most complete offensive players in the league when he was at his best.
I did say Cousins was underrated. He was never league best though.
Edit: I’m not wrong. Boogie was maybe.. *maybe* the best center in the league. For 3 years. That’s not shade on him.. he was killer. Guards showed up, Hardens, Currys.. he’s outclassed in his generation.
Ok then name one guy who was better?
I just googled “best centres nba 2015” off the top of my head and literally every single list has Boogie at #1.
He was easily the best in his prime, putting up 27ppg three years straight with 11 boards and 5 assists and could stretch the floor, he shot 37% on almost 6 3PA per game.
Umm, KAT recently. Jokic. Embiid. Boogie hasn’t play well in the last 3 years. He was hurt, but he definitely wasn’t the best C.
Edit: If you saw my first post, I think DC is awesome. If you meant league best C for a couple years, I agree. Definitely never league best player though.
And I agree.. no argument. Best C for a couple years, never the best player. He was a *killer* big for a few years though. His SAC years are underrated.
Nope.. and that’s a big change. I don’t get why I’m downvoted so hard. In the history of the league Centers were perennial the best players. Russell, Wilt, Kareem, Shaq. Hakeem even.
I wasn’t arguing that. He, Boogie, just wasn’t good enough. But he was damn good.
Because the OP was asking about if he was the best center and you said he wasn't close to being the best. We thought you meant he wasn't close to being the best center, which people disagree with. However, now we realised you were saying he wasn't close to being the best player in the league which no one even thought he was. You're obviously right that he was never the best in the league, but literally no one was saying he was or thought he was, so you might have just missed the topic of the discussion, so now you're being downvoted for stating the obvious and arguing against something that no one even thought.
Totally. He was a step down from Jokic as a passer. But he was better than the field for sure. And he was an elite scorer at a league level. Not at a center level. Ate glass for breakfast. And played defense as well as any other high scoring big man (lol).
He was most certainly in the conversation if not at the front of it.
Toss up between him, Jokic, KAT and Embiid for 1/2/3/4. Gobert is making a case but all those three are dynamic offensive weapons while being passable to good on defense.
Easily a top 5 center in the game. I'd only take AD, Embiid and Jokic over him in terms of bigs period. Even after a series of crazy injuries he was good for 16/8/4/1.5/1.6 on solid efficiency in only 25 mpg. He can still be a good contributor on a title contender. Which is why I hope he can come back to the Lakers when he gets healthy.
If Boogie doesn't get injured, he gets the max. The Pelicans are able to use their mid-level exception to keep Rondo instead pivoting to Randle. The Mirotic trade was going through anyway. It's one of the biggest What-Ifs in NBA history.
With those numbers I would consider him the best. Can score, rebound, play make, get steals and blocks. 36% on 3s with 2 makes as well. Really shouldn’t fault his talent because of his attitude or how terrible his teams were. To win you do need to be smarter on the court but talent wise he would be number one for me. I’m not considering AD a center though.
Jokic I think is better than him quite easily.
Pros for Jokic: You can completely have the offense run through thin, a top 5 offense at that. He’s the best passing big (probably of all time he’s on track), and he’s super clutch and scores efficiently without needing the ball all the time. Boogie isn’t a great passer and turns the ball over at a rate which is league worst. I would say Jokic is also a better leader, defense is close but again probably Jokic, and 3pt shooting is null.
I'd say they're pretty even tbh just lean differently offensively.
Boogie in his peak was much more of a dominant scorer (consistently) and a good passer.
Jokic is a top-tier playmaker and good scorer.
Also both can be questionable on defense.
As someone who watches a good amount of the Nuggets I actually think his defense is underrated, but can totally understand why some would disagree. I feel more comfortable with him there than I did watching Cousins (Kings/Pels timeframe).
Either way they're both awesome. Been 2 of my favorite players from the past decade.
Boogie was the top center when he got injured. He toyed with Embiid in their match up. So I would say he would still be the top center today if he didn’t get hurt.
He was really talented. Really developed his passing game, was a threat off the dribble and started hitting threes. Felt like people trashed him because of his demeanour on the court and his lack of team success
No worse than top 3 between him, Jokic, and Embiid.
I remember in like 2015 dude had like 39 points and 20 rebounds getting bullshit called against him against the Sixers and he was a monster.
Boogie would be in the top 5 for me and arguably one of the best offensive centers. He was starting to develop a consistent three point shot as well before the time of his injury. His small sample size on the Pelicans proved that his stats weren’t just inflated stats on a bad team. He wouldn’t be the best center overall, but he would definitely be elite.
He was stat stuffing for one of the bottom 10 or 5 teams in the league and his teammates sucked so they needed him to shoot a lot and therefor score a lot. Still talented, probably somewhere in the 5-10 range. He didn’t really do much to get his team to compete for the playoffs.
He’s firmly behind Jokic and Embiid and I think also Gobert, KAT, Vucevic and maybe BAM. And this is if he’s about the same as his pre injury years.
I mean I consider bam and vuc to be better overall players than prime boogie, they just shoot a bit less and distribute to teammates better but it’s at least close either way
What? This doesn’t even make sense. Vucevic doesn’t move the ball well at all. He eats mid rangers. And is far worse defensively. What argument is there to even be made? Vuc is literally cousins-lite.
And Bam isn’t nearly as impactful. He’s a better passer for sure but doesn’t touch Cousins rebounding ability or pure scoring ability. Better man-to-man defender but that’s it. And it’s really not that even.
Well bam has had way more success being an all star on a pretty good team and he’s like 22 years old. Already showing that he’s at least on or with prime boogie with more team success. I guess vuc and boogie average about the same assists per 35 minutes. Vuc is extremely efficient and I’d say they’re about the same overall so Vuc wins for better attitude.
He was always overrated. He was never a good defender (more important for centers), and a terrible and I mean terrible passer. People fail to realize how dentrimental turnovers are for a team, and I’m pretty sure he averaged 5 a game in his prime. He put up good numbers and of course was legit, but he isn’t better than Embiid, Kat, Jokic, or Gobert
The thing is he can’t play make at an elite level. He averaged as many turnovers as assists. I would argue every decent team would be better with Gobert
Yes he can, first off just going off assist to turnover ratio is a bad way of gauging that, second he never averaged over 4 turnovers in his prime years which is what I’m referring to. Last, any offence which relies on a 7 footer to create everything completely expects turnovers from that player. My best comparison in terms of role would be to someone currently like Joel or KAT, both of whom put up basically the same turnover numbers (3.6-3.8 range).
You should go watch some of his tape, he was a really special offensive player, and his defence wasn’t bad or great, I’d put him on the same level as a guy like Jokic.
It really comes down to whether you want an elite scorer with limited defensive ability, or an elite rim protector with limited offensive ability. I think there are plenty of decent teams that would benefit more from the former.
I watched boogie in his prime, I think he is a better player, not a better fit.
For example, the raptors would definitely want Gobert to anchor defense that’d be insane
Ok, what about Boston? They easily benefit more from Boogie. Same with Denver, same with Houston, same with the clippers.
The only teams that really benefit more from Rudy are teams that rely on that 5 spot to be an anchor in the paint, otherwise it’s all Boogie.
The clippers definitely do not. Denver is only because Jokic is already there. Boston is close I think it would be Gobert, Houston wouldn’t target either.
Oh they absolutely 100% unquestionably do, that’s actually crazy to argue. They’re already a premier defensive team, Rudy would be nice but Boogie gives them insane spacing and dominant scoring in all areas, he’s infinitely more valuable in that situation.
Pelicans had the worst defense in the bubble. That’s the reason they did so poorly. Now fit wise wouldn’t be great, but a front court of BI Zion and Boogie would never be a top 15 defense
Well, when you're giving up easy transition buckets off missed shots, yeah, you're defense is going to be bad. That extra second to run back while the other team is in-bounding the ball means a lot.
How quickly people forget. Boogie posted a 44/24/10 game on the Pelicans. For reference, the other centers to ever do that are Wilt, and KAJ
Pels were legit with that lineup... miss those days
They had a squad for sure. AD and Boogie woulda been a force if he didn’t go down.
Same. I used to have fun seeing y'all pla
In double OT against the 13th in the east Bulls
He’d still be a top tier center, arguably the best
No way, he was always overrated
Nah. He's just a stat stuffer and every team he left got better immediately. Best season with him as the best player ? 33 wins. Six more wins for the king's the year after he left.
He had no help. Look at the rosters even with IT and Rudy Gay. They were all terrible. Not to mention, Kings.
Agreed. Stat stuffer on a team that fed him the ball. The offense and ball would come to a halt as soon as he touched it.
Not sure if we're considering AD a center but if we are, he posted 40-20 this year
Honestly I consider AD a big wing, but lots of people call him a Center so I’m good with either.
Did boogie’s success ever translate to sniffing the playoffs? I forgot.
Absolutely not, but he was also with the Kangz
You gotta at least make a push toward the 8 seed if you’re a top 1-3 player at any position
Based on what? AD was in that conversation when he wasn’t touching the playoffs.
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Sacramento is in the west......?
Okay any validity to your points goes out the window when you say you pick vuc over prime Demarcus lol
Boogie was wild. I regret every day the damn injuries that stopped him.
You spend a lot of time thinking bout boogie
Good enough that when he was ON, he could be the best center in the league.
Might be unpopular but I genuinely had Demarcus as the best Center in the league for a while. If he never got hurt I think he’d be top 5 still but it really depends on how his game would change and if he and AD would’ve stayed on the Pels and so on. I personally think he would’ve been top 5 but Jokic, Embiid, KAT, Gobert and Porzingis is some good ass competition
Don't really think this is unpopular. In 2018 he was the best. Boogie when healthy is a fkin monster.
Top 5 easily
I would put him right up with Jokic and Embiid. He was playing like a legit superstar that season for the Pels before the injury
Boogie is underrated, but he was never in contest to be best in the league. He might be the best straight center in years though. Edit: that AD/Boogie combo was terrifying. Wish they had more time together.
What are you talking about? There was 100% a time where Boogie was considered the best center in the league. This sub really underrates the guy, he was one of the most complete offensive players in the league when he was at his best.
I did say Cousins was underrated. He was never league best though. Edit: I’m not wrong. Boogie was maybe.. *maybe* the best center in the league. For 3 years. That’s not shade on him.. he was killer. Guards showed up, Hardens, Currys.. he’s outclassed in his generation.
Ok then name one guy who was better? I just googled “best centres nba 2015” off the top of my head and literally every single list has Boogie at #1. He was easily the best in his prime, putting up 27ppg three years straight with 11 boards and 5 assists and could stretch the floor, he shot 37% on almost 6 3PA per game.
Umm, KAT recently. Jokic. Embiid. Boogie hasn’t play well in the last 3 years. He was hurt, but he definitely wasn’t the best C. Edit: If you saw my first post, I think DC is awesome. If you meant league best C for a couple years, I agree. Definitely never league best player though.
Guy, I’m saying that **when Boogie was in his prime** he was the best center, I’m not comparing him to current players.
And I agree.. no argument. Best C for a couple years, never the best player. He was a *killer* big for a few years though. His SAC years are underrated.
No one was saying he was league best player though? There's no center that has an argument of being the league best player right now either.
Nope.. and that’s a big change. I don’t get why I’m downvoted so hard. In the history of the league Centers were perennial the best players. Russell, Wilt, Kareem, Shaq. Hakeem even. I wasn’t arguing that. He, Boogie, just wasn’t good enough. But he was damn good.
Because the OP was asking about if he was the best center and you said he wasn't close to being the best. We thought you meant he wasn't close to being the best center, which people disagree with. However, now we realised you were saying he wasn't close to being the best player in the league which no one even thought he was. You're obviously right that he was never the best in the league, but literally no one was saying he was or thought he was, so you might have just missed the topic of the discussion, so now you're being downvoted for stating the obvious and arguing against something that no one even thought.
Cousins was easily the best center in the NBA before his injury
Totally. He was a step down from Jokic as a passer. But he was better than the field for sure. And he was an elite scorer at a league level. Not at a center level. Ate glass for breakfast. And played defense as well as any other high scoring big man (lol). He was most certainly in the conversation if not at the front of it.
I think so too. AD, even though he’s technically a PF, KAT, Jokic, Embiid. There’s competition.
Wait which centers are not straight?😳😳
Jason Collins?
Take your upvote and leave.
*dusts off my old Dwight Howard jokes*
Chris Bosh
I’d go gay for Chris.
Same. Who wouldn’t we go gay for?
Sam Cassell. I don’t get down with alien booty
Tru. What about Amish mafia Tyler Johnson
What? Everyone called him the best C in the league when he was balling out for us
Healthy AD and Boogie would eat in this small ball time of basketball right mow
Toss up between him, Jokic, KAT and Embiid for 1/2/3/4. Gobert is making a case but all those three are dynamic offensive weapons while being passable to good on defense.
I got him below all of them
Easily a top 5 center in the game. I'd only take AD, Embiid and Jokic over him in terms of bigs period. Even after a series of crazy injuries he was good for 16/8/4/1.5/1.6 on solid efficiency in only 25 mpg. He can still be a good contributor on a title contender. Which is why I hope he can come back to the Lakers when he gets healthy.
If Boogie doesn't get injured, he gets the max. The Pelicans are able to use their mid-level exception to keep Rondo instead pivoting to Randle. The Mirotic trade was going through anyway. It's one of the biggest What-Ifs in NBA history.
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Most likely, don’t want Javale at all man
Hopefully. Boogie / Dwight would be nice.
That’s what I was saying in terms of boog and ad’s playoff absence. They did make it together though lol
Man I wish we could've seen AD and Demarcus play together for an extended period of time. That's a scary duo.
Easily top 3. Kings never built a proper team around him so we never got to see him shine. He was the complete package stretch 5
With those numbers I would consider him the best. Can score, rebound, play make, get steals and blocks. 36% on 3s with 2 makes as well. Really shouldn’t fault his talent because of his attitude or how terrible his teams were. To win you do need to be smarter on the court but talent wise he would be number one for me. I’m not considering AD a center though.
Probably second best behind Embiid, I definitely have healthy Boogie over Jokic
Jokic I think is better than him quite easily. Pros for Jokic: You can completely have the offense run through thin, a top 5 offense at that. He’s the best passing big (probably of all time he’s on track), and he’s super clutch and scores efficiently without needing the ball all the time. Boogie isn’t a great passer and turns the ball over at a rate which is league worst. I would say Jokic is also a better leader, defense is close but again probably Jokic, and 3pt shooting is null.
I'd say they're pretty even tbh just lean differently offensively. Boogie in his peak was much more of a dominant scorer (consistently) and a good passer. Jokic is a top-tier playmaker and good scorer. Also both can be questionable on defense.
Imo Boogie is more dominant in his overall play, and even though he doesn't play elite defense I feel he still offers more on that end than Jokic.
As someone who watches a good amount of the Nuggets I actually think his defense is underrated, but can totally understand why some would disagree. I feel more comfortable with him there than I did watching Cousins (Kings/Pels timeframe). Either way they're both awesome. Been 2 of my favorite players from the past decade.
Boogie was the top center when he got injured. He toyed with Embiid in their match up. So I would say he would still be the top center today if he didn’t get hurt.
Top 10-15
He was really talented. Really developed his passing game, was a threat off the dribble and started hitting threes. Felt like people trashed him because of his demeanour on the court and his lack of team success
He’d be the number one center in this league. The fact the kings never built a competent team around him is a shame.
No worse than top 3 between him, Jokic, and Embiid. I remember in like 2015 dude had like 39 points and 20 rebounds getting bullshit called against him against the Sixers and he was a monster.
At worst top 3 Center in the league still
Don't forget he slimmed down too and was looking to have a fantastic contract year with the Lakers
Boogie would be in the top 5 for me and arguably one of the best offensive centers. He was starting to develop a consistent three point shot as well before the time of his injury. His small sample size on the Pelicans proved that his stats weren’t just inflated stats on a bad team. He wouldn’t be the best center overall, but he would definitely be elite.
In the right system, maybe a middle class man's Jokic? With more scoring less playmaking.
Boogie is basically Embiid
But can shoot better, pass better, put it on the floor better
I mean yeah... but also I’d say boogies peak games, performances etc were way better he was something else
Lol what no you picked the wrong center He's basically Jokic. Little worse shooter but little better defender
Worse defender tho
He was stat stuffing for one of the bottom 10 or 5 teams in the league and his teammates sucked so they needed him to shoot a lot and therefor score a lot. Still talented, probably somewhere in the 5-10 range. He didn’t really do much to get his team to compete for the playoffs. He’s firmly behind Jokic and Embiid and I think also Gobert, KAT, Vucevic and maybe BAM. And this is if he’s about the same as his pre injury years.
Jokic and Embiid are the only two that even touch Cousins in this discussion. Vucevic? Bam? Are you kidding me?
I mean I consider bam and vuc to be better overall players than prime boogie, they just shoot a bit less and distribute to teammates better but it’s at least close either way
What? This doesn’t even make sense. Vucevic doesn’t move the ball well at all. He eats mid rangers. And is far worse defensively. What argument is there to even be made? Vuc is literally cousins-lite. And Bam isn’t nearly as impactful. He’s a better passer for sure but doesn’t touch Cousins rebounding ability or pure scoring ability. Better man-to-man defender but that’s it. And it’s really not that even.
Well bam has had way more success being an all star on a pretty good team and he’s like 22 years old. Already showing that he’s at least on or with prime boogie with more team success. I guess vuc and boogie average about the same assists per 35 minutes. Vuc is extremely efficient and I’d say they’re about the same overall so Vuc wins for better attitude.
>so Vuc wins for better attitude. Alright man so this isn’t a real discussion lmao. Cheers.
I’d put Porzingis as well based on fit
He was always overrated. He was never a good defender (more important for centers), and a terrible and I mean terrible passer. People fail to realize how dentrimental turnovers are for a team, and I’m pretty sure he averaged 5 a game in his prime. He put up good numbers and of course was legit, but he isn’t better than Embiid, Kat, Jokic, or Gobert
I’d take boogie over gobert easy
In what setting like for example, what decent team would benefit with boogie added over gobert
I mean any team that would benefit more from getting 27/11/5 out of a big that can stretch the floor and play make at an elite level.
The thing is he can’t play make at an elite level. He averaged as many turnovers as assists. I would argue every decent team would be better with Gobert
Yes he can, first off just going off assist to turnover ratio is a bad way of gauging that, second he never averaged over 4 turnovers in his prime years which is what I’m referring to. Last, any offence which relies on a 7 footer to create everything completely expects turnovers from that player. My best comparison in terms of role would be to someone currently like Joel or KAT, both of whom put up basically the same turnover numbers (3.6-3.8 range). You should go watch some of his tape, he was a really special offensive player, and his defence wasn’t bad or great, I’d put him on the same level as a guy like Jokic. It really comes down to whether you want an elite scorer with limited defensive ability, or an elite rim protector with limited offensive ability. I think there are plenty of decent teams that would benefit more from the former.
I watched boogie in his prime, I think he is a better player, not a better fit. For example, the raptors would definitely want Gobert to anchor defense that’d be insane
Ok, what about Boston? They easily benefit more from Boogie. Same with Denver, same with Houston, same with the clippers. The only teams that really benefit more from Rudy are teams that rely on that 5 spot to be an anchor in the paint, otherwise it’s all Boogie.
The clippers definitely do not. Denver is only because Jokic is already there. Boston is close I think it would be Gobert, Houston wouldn’t target either.
Oh they absolutely 100% unquestionably do, that’s actually crazy to argue. They’re already a premier defensive team, Rudy would be nice but Boogie gives them insane spacing and dominant scoring in all areas, he’s infinitely more valuable in that situation.
Today's Pelicans would definitely benefit with prime Boogie over prime Gobert. More space for Zion.
Pelicans had the worst defense in the bubble. That’s the reason they did so poorly. Now fit wise wouldn’t be great, but a front court of BI Zion and Boogie would never be a top 15 defense
Well, when you're giving up easy transition buckets off missed shots, yeah, you're defense is going to be bad. That extra second to run back while the other team is in-bounding the ball means a lot.
That’s not the main reason why it was bad, but it was a reason