For Divac, 10 Centers Who Came to Pass

The Sacramento Kings on Tuesday retired the No. 21 jersey of center Vlade Divac, a great statesman and a very good center.

Divac played six seasons for the Kings – from 1998 through 2004 – and every one of those years he played alongside Chris Webber. A case could be made they were the best big-man passing tandem of all-time.

Divac and Webber were the integral pieces that allowed the Kings to play a beautiful style of basketball based on spreading the floor, ball movement and passing. In the early 2000s, Kings basketball was a wonderful alternative to isolation, and more successful in most cases.

In honor of Divac, here's one guy's list of 10 of the greatest passing centers of all-time:

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Finished his career with more assists (5,660) than any other center who has ever played the game.

Alvan Adams: Averaged 5.6 assists per game during his rookie season for the Phoenix Suns, who lost to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals.

Wilt Chamberlain: Led the league in assists during the 1967-68 season.

Dave Cowens: Six consecutive seasons of 4-plus assists per game from 1972 through 1978.

Vlade Divac: During the Kings' glory years of early 2000, the Kings ran their offense through Divac and fellow big man Chris Webber.

Sam Lacey: Three times during his career, Lacey averaged 5-plus assists per game and three other times he averaged 4-plus assists per game.

Arvydas Sabonis: He was on the downside of his career by the time he got to Portland, but he had the court vision of a guard and the craftiness to go with it.

Jack Sikma: So much of Sikma's game is underrated. Not only did he finish his career averaging a double-double, but only six centers finished their careers with more assists than him.

Wes Unseld: The outlet pass alone puts Unseld on this list, but he could deliver to the open man in the halfcourt, too.

Bill Walton: A master in the low box at finding cutters.