Projecting NBA's Best Centers in 2017‑18
1 / 12OrlandoMagic.com’s Josh Cohen projects the best centers in the NBA in 2017-18. Click through this gallery for full rankings and analysis. Honorable Mentions Myles Turner – The Paul George trade should open up more scoring opportunity for Turner, who needs to become a more reliable and proficient 3-point shooter. Andre Drummond – Drummond tried to enhance his offensive repertoire last season without much success. He’s an outstanding rebounder and a fairly good alley-oop target, though. Al Horford – Horford is the only returning starter from last year’s Celtics conference finals team. He has a high basketball IQ and is now a dependable stretch five. Dwight Howard – Howard is now on his fifth team in the last seven seasons. While still an elite rebounder, Howard is nowhere the same physically or athletically from his All-Star years. Clint Capela – Capela is really explosive around the rim and he runs the floor extremely well, which is a terrific asset to have playing in Mike D’Antoni’s system. Jahlil Okafor – Okafor has reportedly dropped 20 pounds since last season ended. If the knee is okay, which was a problem in 2016-17, he could make an impact in Philadelphia (or elsewhere if he gets traded at any point) because of his outstanding footwork and post moves. Nerlens Noel – Noel chose the one-year qualifying offer to stay in Dallas, which makes this year extremely important before he becomes an unrestricted free agent next summer. Willie Cauley-Stein – The DeMarcus Cousins trade at the All-Star break last year opened up more opportunity for Cauley-Stein, who averaged 12.9 points and 8.1 rebounds after the deal. Jusuf Nurkic – Nurkic was exceptional after the trade to Portland. He averaged a double-double in those 20 games before suffering a fracture in his right leg.