Back end of the lottery centers have not had really any success to speak of.
Actually, centers taken after the 3rd or 4th pick are a big gamble, regardless of skin color. In fact, if you go back and look at the last 15 or 20 NBA drafts, you will see plenty of serviceable centers, not stars, but solid starters with long careers (guys like Dale Davis and Kurt Thomas come to mind, there are many others), taken in the 10 - 14 range. You also see an occasional diamond in the rough (Andrew Bynum) taken in this range.
If you look at those same drafts, you will see a LOT more centers that were total busts taken in the 5 - 9 range (Rafael Araujo and Patrick O'Bryant come to mind) than 10 - 14. There are even plenty of busts, of all skin colors and countries of origin, taken top 3 (Kwame, Olowokandi, Darko, Oden, etc.). Why? Because you can't teach height, center is the hardest position to fill, and teams will always be desperate enough to take a chance on a 7-footer with potential. Hell, it's hard enough to get an average starting center, let alone a game changer.
As long as the expectations for Leonard aren't ridiculous, I think he'll do just fine and justify his draft position, both compared to others taken in this range in past drafts and the players taken after him in this draft. Does that mean he'll be better than everyone taken after him? Most likely not. Most drafts have at least one Michael Redd or Monta Ellis that makes all the GMs that passed on them look foolish. But that's what the draft is, a big gamble. You do your homework, pick the guys you think will pan out and hope for the best.
EVERYONE knows my views on American born white centers, but I really hope Leonard proves me wrong in a couple of years
Who was the last American born white center that possessed Leonard's combination of size an athleticism? Rather than skin color and birth country, wouldn't it be better to compare Leonard to other players of similar physical characteristics, skill level and experience? Also, by all accounts (so far), Leonard is a hard worker and seems to be coachable. Hopefully, that will allow him to take maximum advantage of his rare combination of size and athleticism.
BNM