If Dwight D. Eisenhower played basketball: center, rated 82

Dwight D. Eisenhower as a basketball player: scouting report

Dwight Eisenhower belongs in the middle, directing traffic. As Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during World War II he coordinated armies, navies and air forces from several nations at once, and a center's job is a smaller version of that: see every rotation, call out every screen and make sure five people move as one. His basketball IQ is the best part of his card, and his defense sits just under it, which is why he anchors a lineup rather than simply occupying the lane.

He was an athlete long before he was a general. Eisenhower played varsity football at West Point, and that background shows in his rebounding, the third pillar of his game. He boxes out, plays through contact and wins the ball with positioning more than leaping. Later in life he was famously devoted to golf, even having a putting green put in at the White House, and the patience that game demands fits a big man who waits for the right moment to step in and take a charge instead of chasing blocks.

Shooting is the soft spot. He will not stretch the floor, so surround him with shooters and keep him working inside the arc on dives, putbacks and short hooks. If you already have a center, he moves to power forward with only a small drop and still guards the post, and he can handle some small forward minutes in a big lineup. Draft him early as a defensive organizer, pair him with a scoring guard, and let him run the back line the way he ran a command: calm, methodical and always a few moves ahead.

Plays like A cerebral anchor who quarterbacks the defense from the paint

Put Dwight D. Eisenhower in your lineup

8 rolls, a starting five and a bench, 82 games. Can you go 82-0? Free, no account.