who is the best power forward ever?

Question

theres malone, bird, mchale, duncan, garnett, and a couple of others

i have to go with duncan. the things you need from a power forward are a dominating inside game on offense, intimidating defense and shotblocking, and rebounds. this includes field goal %. these are the necessities. some bonuses are outside shooting, passing, free throws, and steals. duncan has a dominating inside game, great defense, a great rebound game, and even good passing and jump shots. bird was a GREAT passer and shooter, but i dont like his lack of shotblocking. garnett, malone, and duncan are the top three. they have similar stats, except malone wasnt much of a shotblocker. also, malone didnt have any rings, and john stockton probably made him who he is. that leaves garnett and duncan. i have to take the 2 time mvp, 3 time champion and finals mvp. hes been all nba and all nba defesnive team every year of his career. what do you think?

Answer 1

I think of Larry Bird as more of a small forward, or at least that was the position he played for most of his career with the Celtics, seeing Robert Parish played center, and Kevin McHale the power forward. Garnett, in my mind, is a terrific talent, but he's never taken his team to the NBA Finals, and he's only been as far as the conference finals once, in his entire career. In my mind, the two best power forwards to ever play the game are Karl Malone, and Tim Duncan. It's a fair argument, that Malone owes a great deal of his success to John Stockton, but Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili, not to mention David Robinson, were instrumental in alot of what Duncan accomplished as well. Duncan was also taller then Malone, and thus played the center position as well. He's not really a "pure" 4, or a "pure" 5; he's actually a tweener, who can play either position. Malone was the prototype "pure" power forward in terms of height, strength, and speed. Still, it's tough to argue the fact that Duncan has three rings, and that Malone hasn't any. Of course, Duncan never played Michael Jordan in the Finals either, like the Mailman did on a couple of occasions. Duncan in essence, was in the right place, at the right time. It's really a difficult call between the two, because there are so many different variables to consider. Lets just say that they are both future hall of famers, and two of the greatest players in the history of the league, and leave it at that. But, if you still want to consider Larry Bird a power forward...he was a better player then either one of them.

Answer 2

Bird was more of a small forward

The Best Power forward of all time is Karl Malone followed by Charles Barkley

They where both much better scorers than Duncan and good rebounders as well

Malone is a good defender and a Strong presence who had his way down low and could shoot freethrows

something duncan chokes on

Karl Malone's average season was 25 and 10 and this included well past his prime seasons

a guy like duncan only scored over 25 points once in his career and has been on the decline for years his career numbers just don't measure up

especially for a 7 footer too scared to play center and hiding out in the power forward position

no guts like Barkely playing power forward at 6 foot 4

Answer 3

I think there will always be controversy when you try to compare different times in the game because it evolves and changes, for example, in the time of mchale a PF was an intimidating force, a great defender and a low post scorer, now we have guys like Nowitzki and Rasheed who can nail down some treys, but i'm my opinion in the active list the debate it's between Duncan and Garnett, with the edge going to Tim because of the championships. Of the retired, there was Bob Petit, Elvin Hayes, Sir Charles, Malone (both Karl and Moses) and McHale (Bird played mostly as a SF), i think Charles was a ferocious player, Karl won 2 MVP's, but Moses won 3 and a few championships so the edge goes to him.

Answer 4

I'm a Spurs fan, and even I'll admit that Duncan couldn't have asked for a better situation than the one he found himself in. Would he have had anywhere near his level of success if he had been drafted by the Celtics or Hawks? Duncan may never have played against Jordan in the Finals, but he won the Western Conference three times when that conference was clearly the better of the two. But I'll take three rings over a "best of" list any day.

Answer 5

Karl Malone. Just look at the stats. Yes, he may be missing a ring but that is due to the fact that he doesn't have a strong supporting cast.

Duncan had Avery, The Admiral, Ginobli, Parker etc.

McHale with Bird, Dennis Johnson, The Chief etc.

Malone had Stockton, Osterstag and bunch of unknowns.

Answer 6

good post up there 'truth' and 'craig'...the only thing Malone is missing is a ring...but he certainly had a big career and numbers bear that out...I also remember Barkley showing a lot of guts and resolve playing a head shorter and smaller than most guys he battled with night after night, and I do remember 'the enforcer' playing with those good Portland teams ...Lucas being a key player in the 4-2 finals win over the 76ers (1977 the team with Bill Walton and coach Ramsey played three guards, twardzik, davis, and hollins )after they took a 2-0 lead in Philly with Doc averaging over 30 the first two games, I remember watching that series and the guards cutting all over the place and Walton hitting them with passes from the high post, I thought for sure Philly had their number after the first two(a little known fact Bill Walton named his son Luke after his teammate Maurice Lucas)...I agree its true that while fundamentally sound Duncan appears to play soft at times as do a few other 'power forwards' who are centers hiding at the 4 spot or tall small forwards...

Answer 7

Tim Duncan

Answer 8

Power forward? Karl Malone. Definately. He was a true power forward.

Malone didn't have any rings because he came up againt Michael Jordan in his prime. No one else was going to win a ring with MJ in the picture (unless you're on his team.) So don't count that against him.

Answer 9

If we speak about the best POWER forward... I will pick Karl Malone. He's so powerful and very strong under the basket.

But if we speak about the best WINNING power forward... I will pick Tim Duncan. No further explanation needed :)

Answer 10

Gus Johnson, Baltimore Bullets