Blue is Me

Tag: power forward

  • Who is the greatest NBA power forward who has never been the best power forward in that league?

    Well that’s interesting I would say from my reserves of NBA history here’s what I would consider the best power forward in the NBA during each era:

    1950–1955: Dolph Schayes

    1955–1965: Bob Pettit

    1965–1969: Jerry Lucas

    1969–1980: Elvin Hayes

    1980–1985: Larry Bird (yes Bird played PF during his early years)

    1985–1988: Kevin McHale

    1988–1993: Charles Barkley

    1993–2000: Karl Malone

    2000–2004: Tim Duncan

    2004–2007: Kevin Garnett

    2007–2011: Dirk Nowitzki

    2011–2015: Blake Griffin (or Lebron if you want to be technical about him playing PF in MIA)

    2015–2018: Anthony Davis

    2018-now: Giannis

    So yeah that’s generally your list of all time power forwards, but who’s the best PF after these guys? I’ll probably go with one of these two guys (both underrated):

    Spencer Haywood

    You might be wondering who is this guy.. well in his prime he was pretty much a freak. Very strong, deadly scorer from the inside and a great rebounder too, the first superstar for the Sonics who was All-NBA 4 times, averaged 25/12 for the Sonics.

    The other guy is Chris Webber

    Like Haywood, he had a short but dominant prime, 5x All-NBA player who averaged 23/10/5 for the Kings. Webber not only had the whole scoring and rebounding package, but he’s probably one of the most gifted passers I’ve seen from that position.

    https://youtu.be/lhYzuQoXjdg

    I even have a video comparing the two… but yeah I think it’s probably one of these two.

  • Who is the 2nd greatest basketball power forward of all time (after Tim Duncan)? 

    Actually this is a very good question. Because after Tim Duncan (who is unanimously the greatest PF), the 2nd greatest.. is very debatable.

    First we can rule out Kevin McHale. He’s 1x All-NBA. No way a player with 1x All-NBA is going to be 2nd greatest at their position all time.

    Next, we can also rule out Elvin Hayes. Hayes is an underrated player who has longevity, great at scoring, great at rebounding, very good at defense. However the lack of an MVP or Finals MVP (one could say he got robbed by Unseld) hurts his case a lot here, because everyone else on this list has at least 1 MVP.

    Now the case for the rest..

    Pettit

    Pros: best stats out of all of them. 26/16/3 is insane. 2 MVPs. Would have a FMVP if it existed. Only player to beat Russell in the Finals.

    Cons: Defensively not great. Played too long ago

    Barkley

    Pros: Tied with Pettit for best rebounder. All around talent. Had a great peak.

    Cons: Defense is lackluster. Didn’t win a ring.

    Dirk

    Pros: The best shooter out of them all. An offensive juggernaut. Had one of the most impressive playoff runs ever in 2011.

    Cons: Defense (or lack thereof)… and a below average rebounder for his size

    Karl

    Pros: The best longevity for a PF alongside of Duncan and Hayes. 2 MVPs. 3rd most points in NBA history. Solid rebounder. Solid defense. 25/10 for 19 seasons.

    Cons: No ring.

    KG

    Pros: All around great. Solid offense. Great rebounder. Great defense. Great passer for his size.

    Cons: No FMVP. Scoring ability is good but not great.

    Giannis

    Pros: All around great. Great offense. Great defense. Great rebounder. Great passer for his size.

    Cons: Not a great shooter. Lacking in stat totals because his career isn’t finished yet.

    I’m going to say Giannis. Giannis has all the pros of KG but is a better scorer than KG and has a FMVP which were KG’s main cons. He has everything else. He’s a great scorer, rebounder, passer, defender, has the rings and mvps and fmvps. He has everything except for career totals which he will have by the time he retires. He’s my pick for #2.

  • Comparing Tim Duncan to other big men

    Spurs just won the 2014 NBA Finals!! and they beat their opponents (the Miami Heat) by the largest combined margin in NBA history: 70 points. Pure dominance.

    The greatest power forward of all time
    The greatest power forward of all time

    This is Tim Duncan’s 5th ring, and he’s still playing at a high level at 38 years old! Let’s look at some other players who have played for a long time and see how Duncan matches up (I’m using 37 as the threshold age here which was Wilt’s age when he retired):

    Name FG% PPG RPG APG Age Year
    Tim Duncan 0.502 17.8 9.9 2.7 37 2013
    Kareem Abdul Jabbar 0.578 21.5 7.3 2.6 37 1984
    Karl Malone 0.509 25.5 9.5 3.7 37 2000
    Wilt Chamberlain 0.727 13.2 18.6 4.5 37 1973
    Hakeem Olajuwon 0.458 10.3 6.2 1.4 37 2000
    David Robinson 0.507 12.2 8.3 1.2 37 2002
    Patrick Ewing 0.435 17.3 9.9 1.1 37 1999
    Shaquille O’Neal 0.609 17.8 8.4 1.7 37 2009
    Moses Malone 0.474 15.6 9.1 1.1 37 1992
    Charles Barkley 0.477 14.5 10.5 3.2 37 2000
    Robert Parish 0.580 15.7 10.1 1.3 37 1990
    Elvin Hayes 0.472 16.1 9.1 1.8 37 1982
    Artis Gilmore 0.619 16.7 8.5 1.4 37 1986
    Kevin Garnett 0.496 14.8 7.8 1.1 37 2013

    As you can see from this table, Wilt Chamberlain was an absolute beast, even in his late years! Aside from that, you can see why Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Karl Malone became the NBA’s all time leading scorer, and 2nd leading scorer respectively – they were putting up 20+ points when they were 37 years old! Tim Duncan actually compares quite favorably to Patrick Ewing when they were about the same age – though Duncan is a much better shooter. He is clearly up there when compared to other long lived big men.