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Smallwood: Noel trade shows how little NBA values centers

IT IS HARD to believe how much respect NBA teams have lost for the big man in the middle. Centers, at least the historical center, have not gone the way of the NFL fullback, but the desire for them certainly doesn't seem to be what it used to be.

IT IS HARD to believe how much respect NBA teams have lost for the big man in the middle.

Centers, at least the historical center, have not gone the way of the NFL fullback, but the desire for them certainly doesn't seem to be what it used to be.

There was a time, even in the last decade, that the big man – you know, the 7-foot monster who could dominate the paint on both ends of the court – was considered as valuable as a top-of-the-rotation lefthanded starter in baseball.

The team that had a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson or Shaquille O'Neal was at a minimum going to be a determining factor in the fight for the championship.

I don't think trading Nerlens Noel to the Dallas Mavericks for reserve swingman Justin Anderson, the expiring contract of center Andrew Bogut and a protected 2017 first-round pick that isn't likely to convey is how most thought the Sixers would resolve their logjam at center.

Still, that's all the Sixers got for the big man who was the first major piece of the rebuilding plan started three seasons ago.

I've never been as high on Noel as some others, but I thought he would bring back more as the player who was drafted sixth overall in 2013 and was projected to go first had he not been injured during his one seaso at Kentucky.

It speaks to the declining stature of the NBA center.

On Monday, the New Orleans Pelicans acquired three-time All-Star DeMarcus Cousins, who is currently the best "true" center in the game, from the Sacramento Kings.

What was the cost?

Rookie shooting guard Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway and a top-three protected 2017 first-round pick.

Think about that.

Cousins, who is averaging 27.8 points and 10.7 rebounds and is only 26, was traded for Hield, who is only three years younger and has a considerably lower ceiling.

I'm not sure whether Sacramento had the bigger stones for accepting a pick that won't be higher than fourth in an exchange for Cousins or New Orleans for asking for the protection in a deal for a legitimate game-changer.

The Cousins deal was the writing on the wall about the market for big men like Noel and Jahlil Okafor – whom the Sixers could not deal after desperately trying.

In today's NBA, the traditional center has become like the running back in the NFL. Everybody wants a great one, but will settle for a productive one.

It's changed.

From 1980 to 2004, the only NBA champions that did not feature an All-Star starting center were the Chicago Bulls led by Michael Jordon.

In 2005, things began to shift dramatically when the post-Robinson San Antonio Spurs won the title with the unremarkable tandem of Nazr Mohammed and Rasho Nesterovic minding the middle.

The Spurs showed that a team with an all-world forward such as Tim Duncan, an All-Star point guard in Tony Parker and a bunch of three-point shooters who liked to defend could win titles without a dominant center.

Since then, O'Neal with the Miami Heat in 2006 and Pau Gasol with the Lakers in 2009 and 2010 are the only centers to win an NBA title in the same season that they were All-Stars.

As long as he has Robin and reliable Gotham Knights to run with, Batman doesn't have to be a dominating center.

He can be a forward like Duncan, a swingman like LeBron James or a lights-out shooter like Stephen Curry.

This was the NBA backdrop in which the Sixers tried to solve their big-man dilemma of what to do with Noel, Joel Embiid and Okafor, who were acquired in consecutive drafts.

Sixers president/general manager Bryan Colangelo, however, overestimated the values of Okafor and Noel.

He should have packaged one of them with enough picks to move back up into the top 10 of the 2016 draft.

That was the huge missed opportunity, as the stock of Noel and Okafor started to plummet.

Even when the Sixers lowered their price to 75 cents on the dollar, other teams offered only a quarter.

In the past, teams would have looked would have considered the youth of centers such as Noel and Okafor and decided it was worth the chance to trade for them.

How many chances did Kwame Brown and Eddy Curry get to not live up to their potential?

Big men used to be the most desired commodity in the NBA. It was almost irresistible to take a risk when one showed up.

Starting with Lew Alcindor (Abdul-Jabbar) in 1969 to Greg Oden in 2007, there were 20 players who played as true centers drafted No. 1 overall, more than half of the total.

Since Oden, Karl-Anthony Towns, the 2015-16 Rookie of the Year, is the only 7-footer to be drafted No. 1 overall. Minnesota has moved him to power forward.

On Thursday, the Sixers traded Noel, who was an All-Rookie selection in 2014-15, for a backup, an expiring contract and a first-round pick that will likely end up becoming two second-rounders.

They couldn't even give away Okafor.

Going into the season, the Sixers' glut of young centers was considered the team's biggest asset for making a move to improve.

Just like Goliath and the giant on Jack's beanstalk, the Sixers' big men have fallen.

Whoever thought the NBA would become a league in which centers would be marginalized?

smallwj@phillynews.com

@SmallTerp