Because all the current giant guys you have listed can at least move a little bit down low. Roy Hibbert had the lateral and forward agility of a rusty tug boat.

More importantly, they all offer more offensive and defensive upside than Hibbert and Okafor. Okafor was an excellent back to basket offensive engine, but couldn’t do anything else and was a defensive liability. Hibbert was a defensive anchor, but was too slow to switch on anyone and offensively couldn’t contribute much unless he was right next to the rim.

These giants may be huge, but they are all much more well rounded than Hibbert and Okafor.

There’s (typically) a give & take between how fast you can play and how strong/big your team is. I think teams realized it was skewing heavily in one direction and tried to take advantage

Teams went small ball to compete with Warriors. Now teams are working to compete with the Spurs and Thunder and you’ll need height to compete.

Good question. I think teams got better at hiding (pre-switching, etc.) these guys against teams that don’t play 5-out, and for some reason, very few stretch 5s still exist. I also think teams gradually recommitted to the offensive glass. Post-7-second-or-less teams were scared to send anyone to the offensive glass b/c they thought it meant they would get killed in transition. Some coaches, like good old Thibs, realized that with the right personnel you could go to the glass, win the possession battle, and not get crushed in transition.

Those are my theories; I am very curious as to what other observations have made that explain true bigs regaining value after 2010.

I would argue that change happend on opposite end.

Around 2015 there was really no elite offensive big. Best offensive players were either guards or wings. Just look at All NBA teams at the time. Boogie made 2 2nd teams despite Kings being ass, because he was the only center that scored.

Basically elite rim protectors, that couldn’t provide much more were just unnecessary, because there was no one to protect against. But nowadays trend shifted, and offensive quality of centers is significantly higher.

Making big strong shot blockers who may be a bit slow again valuable.

Having Jahlil Okafor in the same sentence as Hibbert is mad disrespectful to Hibbert.

I don’t think it’s any different now then it was then. For every Kessler or Zubac now you have a Marcin Gortat or David Lee then.

These guys might not win you championships but they are still damn good players and there will always be a home for a 7 foot guy who can clean the glass

Many good points here, one other is that the 2010s were the height of Greg Popovich anti-offensive rebounding thought. The idea just being that offensive rebounds are bad because they kill transition defense. People are moving away from this now with an increased focus on the possession battle, making big men more important

First, I think NBA coaching staffs have gotten better at figuring out how to build a defensive scheme that doesn’t leave a ‘lumbering’ center exposed.

Second, we have better centers now so theres more downside to simply going small. We have superstar centers like Jokic and Wemby and another tier of very good centers in KAT, Embiid, AD, Bam plus guys like Sengun, Duren, etc. that are making it more valuable to have a Kessler / Edey/ Clingan level player.

They still be ass today. Slow centres need to be effective playmaking hubs. If you surround a playmaking center with shooters they can be effective if everyone revolves around them.

Zubac can move pretty good.

I don’t think we have evidence yet that those other guys are more than a change of pace on a winning team. Brook Lopez was phenomenal, but without Giannis’ defensive range those Bucks teams wouldn’t have worked.

It will be fun to see. The conventional wisdom today is that those guys will need to space floor on offense and get a lot of offensive rebounds to offset the defense they are giving up at the three-point line. If that theory is correct, then Clingan has the best chance of any of them of being the starting center on a contending team.

The answer to any question that is “why was possible but not now?” is The GSW, Steph Curry and the 3 point shot.

More specifically, there is a lot of space in the game today.

Two main reasons, IMO.

Primary reason is better conditioning. Those guys like Hibbert and Okafor were often out of shape. One of the reasons Rudy Gobert is still in the league playing big minutes is because he keeps himself in peak condition.

Secondary reason is coaches got smarter. They use pre-switching and more sophisticated defensive rotations and quasi-zone schemes to protect their big defenders.

The simplest answer is that they’re better. In the 2010s, there wasn’t a very big pool of bigs who could play in space, so teams sacrificed size for speed and skill. Now, every player has developed in a post Warriors world and trained those traits, so teams are able to play bigger players without sacrificing skill. All of the bigs you listed can handle the ball enough to run a DHO, deny space when they play drop coverage, punish smaller guys on the glass and even shoot some open C&S 3s. Edey and Clingan are the slowest of the bunch, but they’re still all-time great athletes for their size.

Hibbert couldn’t do offense or rebound

Okafor couldn’t do defense.

The guys you mentioned aren’t 0’s on offense or defense. All are actually big plus’ defensively except raynaud who’s defense is maybe the worst in the league and we’ll see if he ever plays for a good team. I would bet Caldwell wins the back up spot sooner rather than later.

The guys you are naming move better than okafor and actually defend the rim and guard pick and roll effectively. Hibbert probably became washed shortly after the pacers run

The NBA is a circle, the smaller guys become good at something to gain an advantage cause they’re short -> the centers eventually become good at it to compensate -> teams start needing centers again. We’re now at the point where a lot of good centers can shoot, mainly Wemby, Jokic, and KAT, so teams now need legit 7 footers to contest those guys shots. Which is why everyone is looking for 7 footers again. Eventually this will flip again.

the defense system has evolved utilizing big men in a different way.

Laziness and injuries prevented them from keeping up at the same level consistently and not willing to change their game to adapt to things that were changing through the league.