The New Orleans Pelicans just wrapped up a mini two-game series against the Phoenix Suns, with both legs coming on the road at Footprint Center. In the first match, at close to full strength, New Orleans was able to cruise to a 124-116 victory.
On the second night of the back-to-back, Zion Williamson and CJ McCollum were both held out, joining Dejounte Murray and Herb Jones on the sidelines. The Suns were able to take advantage of the severely shorthanded Pelicans to get a much-needed tick back in the win column, 125-108.
That last loss from New Orleans was anything but a typical game. With all of their absences and Phoenix completely taking Trey Murphy III out of the game, the Pelicans needed some unlikely candidates to step up. They did get two outlier performances from Jordan Hawkins and rookie phenom center Yves Missi. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, as the Suns responded with their own surprising stellar showing from Bol Bol.
Yves Missi and Bol Bol highlight the new age of centers in the NBA
With several core players out for the Pelicans, including two of their top scorers in Zion Williamson and CJ McCollum, the team needed to get its offense from somewhere. The Suns must have implemented an updated scouting report for Trey Murphy III, as they were able to completely mitigate his offense after he's ascended into an apt second star for New Orleans this season. They held him to just 10 points on 3-8 shooting, sending multiple bodies at him and forcing him to become a playmaker. He responded with eight assists, but it worked out for Phoenix in the end.
With Murphy III struggling, Jordan Hawkins was able to step up and pour in 24 points on a clean 10-17 shooting. He performed admirably, shouldering not only some of the scoring yoke in Zion's absence but also taking on extra ball-handling responsibilities with CJ McCollum out.
The most impressive performance for the Pelicans had to have been from Yves Missi though. He finished the game with 24 points, five rebounds, and a block, going 11-14 from the field. Unfortunately, his Suns' counterpart in Bol Bol also had a great showing, with 25 points on 9-12 shooting, including a pristine 5-8 from 3-point land.
This duel between the two young big men really illustrated the duality of the modern center in today's NBA. For the past decade or so, teams have been searching desperately for the next unicorn, a uniquely skilled giant capable of both anchoring a defense and creating mismatches on offense with rare perimeter skills. We've seen players like this all throughout league history, but there was definitely a peak in interest for this archetype in recent times.
This search discovered a variety of different prospects, with a wide range of outcomes in the NBA. Players like Nikola Jokic, Mo Bamba, Chet Holmgren, and Bol Bol have all been dubbed a unicorn at some point in time. What this period in the league has taught us is that the unicorn archetype isn't especially that rare — at least, not anymore — but the successful ones, those that truly transcend the center position are still mythological in their scarcity.
A by-product of the NBA's recent obsession with big men with perimeter skills was the near extinction of the prototypical run-and-jump center. For decades, centers who could block shots, run the floor, and finish lobs and dump-offs came a dime a dozen in the league. Pretty much every single team had at least one big who could fill that role. Now, a reliable anchor who can also reliably finish at the rim has become a hot commodity. Just ask the Los Angeles Lakers, who made a desperate trade to acquire Mark Williams from the Charlotte Hornets in hopes of giving Luka Doncic another lob threat just for the deal to fall through due to shaky medicals.
After being nearly eradicated from the league, this archetype is making a comeback. Players like Yves Missi, Dereck Lively II, and Zach Edey have been leading the way for this new generation of centers and have done a fantastic job of reminding the NBA and the basketball world of how impactful this sort of player can be, especially at raising a team's floor.
The Pelicans have long been looking for a stretch five to put next to Zion Williamson, someone who can space the floor for Big Z and New Orleans's other ball-handlers while also erasing their mistakes on the defensive end of the court. Considering Williamson's limitations as a jump-shooter, it makes perfect sense why they'd be looking for a center who can hit from deep. But in that time, they overlooked the potential of putting a finisher like Missi next to Zion, someone Williamson could throw lobs to or find in the paint for easy looks.
Bol Bol may have gotten the best of the Pelicans this time around, but Yves Missi and the run-and-jump center could end up getting the last laugh when it's all said and done.