Centers take time

Dwight Howard is the crown jewel of Orlando's offense. Centers like him come once in a lifetime.

That is why so many teams take the risk to draft big men. You cannot teach height, after all. And most teams who have won a title and continued to win titles had dominant big men -- think Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O'Neal, Bill Russell. You need a guy like Michael Jordan to win a title without a dominant big man.

Height is rare. A skilled player with height is even more rare.

Friday's Daily Dime talks about all the guards that are playing really well in the first seasons in the NBA. From Russell Westbrook to George Hill to the recent emergence of Eric Gordon, guards are dominating the talk for rookie of the year.

Courtney Lee has proven how a guard can quickly adjust to the NBA game.

It is a lot easier for a guard to do so. Scoring from the perimeter is something anyone with a basketball can do.

Playing in the post against much stronger and more developed NBA centers? That is a little tougher.

Remember Howard his first year? He could not score at all int he post. All his points came off rebounds, put backs and fast breaks. His game has been refined over the last five years. But we all know he still has a ways to go offensively to be the force the Magic envision him.

High talent guards like Kevin Durant can make the transition to the NBA a lot easier because the game and the defenses they face change very little from college (strength is not a little thing, but some of these college programs have NBA weight training programs).

Guys like Kevin Love and Greg Oden need some polish to their games. But with time and ptience they both have the potential to become special players. Just not immediately.