Greatest power forwards of all time

[Slugger]

I think you need to look by the slew of low draft picks by the Spurs, and how successful they are.

People put their successes down to a masterful front office.

i put it down to one man.  Tim Duncan

He is a leader, who leads by example.

Their will not, nor has their been a better PF.

His ability in the post, whether it be backing down or facing up from up to 18ft out is unrivalled. 

Duncan saw more double teams in his prime season than McHale did his whole career.

Duncan turned his teams into the best defensive units.  He enabled players like Bruce Bowen to gain the recognition they did.

[GreenFaith1819]

I'm sorry...I love McHale obviously, as well as the other PFs listed throughout this thread. But I don't think they impacted the Defensive end like Kevin Garnett:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrGJxcYxUDg&feature=related

There is another video of KG's Blocks that is about twice as long.

KG played all 5 positions in Minny as well.

Defensively KG was without peer, IMO.

[NoraG1]

I think you need to look by the slew of low draft picks by the Spurs, and how successful they are.

People put their successes down to a masterful front office.

i put it down to one man.  Tim Duncan

He is a leader, who leads by example.

Their will not, nor has their been a better PF.

His ability in the post, whether it be backing down or facing up from up to 18ft out is unrivalled. 

Duncan saw more double teams in his prime season than McHale did his whole career.

Duncan turned his teams into the best defensive units.  He enabled players like Bruce Bowen to gain the recognition they did.

Duncan is a large part of it obviously but its not like the front office did not build around him and have players around him that fit. I think you don't give the FO enough credit for being one of the few who knew what they were doing.

[Fafnir]

Read Simmons book of Basketball article on Duncan... He'll will pursuade anything who thinks Duncan isnt the best power forward of all time do think so.

Simmons arguments weren't all that persuasive to me.

[Fafnir]

agree with eja that Rodman has to be in the conversation because of the # of titles he ended up with.  Greatest rebounder by size of all time, premier defender and a winner.  If he didn't do the zany offcourt antics he's a 1st ballot hofer

I agree with everything you said, but I still don't think that puts Rodman into the top five of all-time.  Rodman won a bunch of titles, but never as a top-two player on his team.

He's as good a defender and rebounder as you'll find, but I think his lack of an offensive game holds him back a bit in terms of all-time rankings.

Yeah, Rodman was too much of a one way player to crack this list. Especially when all of the other top PFs were also great rebounders. (and in Duncan/KG's case better defenders overall because of superior help defense)

[drza44]

Duncan turned his teams into the best defensive units.  He enabled players like Bruce Bowen to gain the recognition they did.

The problem with that logic is that Bowen had already made the NBA All Defense team in Miami, before he ever got to San Antonio.

Don't get me wrong, I regard Duncan as the anchor of that defense and one of the best defenders in history (see my post earlier in this thread).  But if you ignore that he has been surrounded by very strong defensive teammates over the length of his career (Robinson early, Robinson and Bowen at prime, Bowen and Ginobili as wings later) you are being revisionist in your history.

[dysgenic]

I think Dennis Rodman was a better player net net than Malone. 

[wdleehi]

agree with eja that Rodman has to be in the conversation because of the # of titles he ended up with.  Greatest rebounder by size of all time, premier defender and a winner.  If he didn't do the zany offcourt antics he's a 1st ballot hofer

I agree with everything you said, but I still don't think that puts Rodman into the top five of all-time.  Rodman won a bunch of titles, but never as a top-two player on his team.

He's as good a defender and rebounder as you'll find, but I think his lack of an offensive game holds him back a bit in terms of all-time rankings.

you could say the same about Russ, except he was obviously the best player on his team and the leader of his teams (but offense was not his forte)

Russell also averaged 15 points a game for his career.  Rodman, 7.3 points. 

[dpaps]

Read Simmons book of Basketball article on Duncan... He'll will pursuade anything who thinks Duncan isnt the best power forward of all time do think so.

Simmons arguments weren't all that persuasive to me.

I agree with you, Simmons didn't persuade me at all. And I thought the book as a whole was terrible, but thats a whole different topic. And I've been a big Simmons fan, and still am. His book of basketball is garbage though.

[KGs Knee]

I have to agree with the OP.  In my mind, Duncan will always be a center.

I realize in his early years he played almost stricty PF, next to Robinson, but even then his style of play was still more that of a center.  After Robinson retired, his style of play has been stictly that of a center, even if he did play some time next to other legitimate centers.

In regards to KG, he is bar none the best defensive PF EVER (could also be considered one of the best defensive players, regardless of position).  On offense, I would say his selflessness actually ended up hindering him.  He could have put up much better numbers had he been more agressive on offense. 

Ultimately, his legacy is downgraded due to the fact he played on a lot of crappy teams.  Those teams in Minny would have been the worst in the league without him, ala Cleveland this year without Lebron.  Just making the playoffs with so little talent surrounding him was an accomplishment.

I know it's impossible to say what WOULD have happened, but, swap Duncan and KG, and they probably have completely different legacies.

[2short]

Tim Duncan
Kevin Garnett
Kevin McHale
Karl Malone
Bob Petit

Someone had mentioned McHale best post moves ever.  This was true until Akeem came along.

[anthony83]

 KG
 Duncan
 Barkley
 Malone
 Sheed
 Webber

 To my Sheed and Webber two of the best of the decade.

[Eja117]

 KG
 Duncan
 Barkley
 Malone
 Sheed
 Webber

 To my Sheed and Webber two of the best of the decade.

The Sheed that played hard or the one that never did and then tried to just turn it on in the playoffs?

[LB3533]

Sheed was never a great PF at all, he wasn't even that good of a player either.

[housecall]

1.McHale
2.Malone
3.KG
4.Duncan
5.get back to you later