In the 1990s, perhaps the best decade of NBA hoops, there was a smorgasbord of big name centers across the league.
All-Stars Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Shaquille O'Neal, Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo all played at the same time.
Nowadays, things are a lot different. Center is absolutely the weakest position in the game today.
Three-time Defensive Player of the Year Dwight Howard is hands-down the league's top center right now. However, after him, there's not many players at the position that have future Hall of Famer written all over them.
DeMarcus Cousins has the potential to give Howard some competition at the five spot, though. The second-year pro for the Sacramento Kings doesn't have the defensive skills that Howard has, but he could indeed develop into a much better scorer than "Superman."
After being selected by Sacramento at the fifth overall spot in the 2010 NBA draft, Cousins would put together a nice rookie campaign. The 6'11", 270-pounder out of Kentucky averaged 14.1 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists per contest and earned a spot on the NBA All-Rookie First Team.
He also finished third in Rookie of the Year voting behind All-Star Blake Griffin and former Kentucky teammate John Wall.
At times, Cousins has looked unstoppable in the low post and has proven he could stick the 15-foot jumper like former King Chris Webber used to do. Also like Webber, Cousins has displayed his unselfishness by using his outstanding passing ability.
Cousins could certainly blossom into one of the league's most dangerous scorers and rebounders down the road. The only thing that could stop him from morphing into a superstar big man is his attitude.
As a rookie, Cousins constantly argued with refs and threw numerous temper tantrums. Let's hope he can start to keep his cool, improve his game and ultimately reach his sky-high potential.
In order to become the league's best center behind Howard, Cousins is going to have to surpass guys like Andrew Bynum, Al Horford, Brook Lopez and Joakim Noah. However, that shouldn't be too difficult of a task if Cousins continues to get better as many believe he can.
Not long from now, don't be surprised to see his name up there with Howard's when fans and pundits rank the NBA's top big men.
Rasheed Wallace LeBron James Ben Gordon Josh Howard Jason Terry Jason Kidd
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