NBA / Nov 20, 2009 / 8:00 am

Top 5 power forwards of all-time

By

The One

The One

In basketball and every other major pro team sport, we always seem to be in the middle of a period where one position is enjoying a “Golden Era.” Right now, a lot of people would say this is a Golden Era for point guards in the NBA. And if you haven’t seen Dime’s NBA preview issue yet, there I wrote that we’re seeing the beginning of a Golden Era for small forwards.

At the beginning of this decade, though, we were in the age of the power forward. As legends like Karl Malone and Charles Barkley were on their way out, All-Stars like Tim Duncan and Chris Webber and Kevin Garnett were in their prime, and youngsters like Elton Brand, Kenyon Martin and Amar’e Stoudemire were on the come-up. Looking around today, there aren’t as many elite PF’s on the NBA landscape, and historically, the four has been the one position that isn’t as littered with all-time greats.

In the TNT studio last night, Kenny Smith showed me and him are on the same page by naming Duncan his pick for greatest power forward of all-time, with Malone second and Barkley third.

I wouldn’t argue much with that, and taking it a step further, I’d throw Garnett at the fourth spot, but deciding on five is tough. Kevin McHale has the rings and solid numbers, but then C-Webb had a ridiculous amount of talent, and Dirk Nowitzki brings the element of being able to do one thing — shoot from the outside — better than anyone at the position has ever done. And I have to mention Shawn Kemp, who would’ve cracked the list easily if he hadn’t gotten in his own way. If I had to choose right now, I’d go with Dirk as the fifth guy.

Who are the five greatest power forwards of all-time?

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  • Ian

    peli
    u have to win or at least get deep into the playoffs. i know no one wins alone but ive seen players take scrubs deep in the playoffs (pre duncan admiral and lebron for example).

  • http://uoregon.edu sans

    I could see bosh or Amar’e making the list but not yet–they gotta do something to prove it…and y’all are right, I do not know enough about Elvin Hayes…put him in my top ten over McAdoo–because he was a 3.

    Otis Thorpe was nasty–but not HOF nasty…him and Mad Max Vernon Maxwell should have put together a tagteam for the NWO when they finished playing. But for real, how much better was Thorpe than Tyrone Hill?

    Oh, and this shit is hilarious:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD796H08J7w&NR=1

  • http://uoregon.edu sans

    And Petit should be taken off the list for what he did to Sweet Tea Clifton…

  • http://uoregon.edu sans

    On my all white boys squad, McHale is number 5, now way does he rank any higher on this list…

  • Lex

    Charles Barkley says McHale is the best power forward of all time. Any list that doesn’t include mchale at positions 1,2 or 3 is a joke.

  • Dave

    Tim Duncan is a center, hello?

    1- Malone, any GM would take him first based on the career, just ask.
    2- Barkley, anyone who is the go to guy and leading scorer on Dream Team is not overrated.
    3- nobody
    4- nobody
    5- McHale
    6- KG
    7- Truck Robinson
    8- Elvin Hayes (was he really a power forward though or more like what LeBron plays?)

  • Name (required)

    Duncan
    Barkley
    Malone
    Dirk
    Mchale

    @anyone who says Dirk Doesn’t belong on the list… Neither him, Barkley or Malone won rings, but Dirk is probably the best scorer at the PF position ever. Malone had 18 years next to the greatest passing pg of all time so its unfair to compare stats, but you know if u wanted a bucket then Dirk would be your man, in the post or on the perimeter.
    also, in his MVP season he took a team where JASON TERRY was the second best player to 67 wins.. thats impressive.

  • E

    where’s elvin hayes and rest of the old school ringers. guess barkley and c-webb did more than them.

  • buck

    duncan’s a pf. dirk belongs on the list somewhere. i’m pretty sure mchale had a pretty good “supporting cast” also.

  • Celts Fan

    @50 – umm, you’re forgetting young Devin Harris and Josh Howard (and Marquis Daniels.) Jet was damn good, but he wasn’t the 2nd best player on that team.

    Also, you’re out of your GD mind if you think anyone would ever take Dirk over KG knowing what we know now if you could go back and grab them when they were 18. Not one GM in the league would do that. Even Mark Cuban would laugh and take KG. People only look at box scores and don’t watch games or value defense nearly enough. It’s getting ridiculous. KG’s one of the best defenders ever. He could literally guard every position on the floor and is a solid (albeit not nearly as good as Dirk) shooter. Neither’s clutch (slight edge to Dirk) so you can’t say that and Dirk’s clearly a “I can win an MVP but can’t take a team to a title by myself” type guy. It’s not entirely clear if KG definitely was that (again, look at those supporting casts.) Dirk’s bottom of the top 10. KG’s bottom of the top 5. This isn’t even a discussion.

    @Dave – Duncan’s a center now, but he wasn’t really one until a few years ago. A decade of running ish at the 4 (Admiral didn’t retire til ’03, followed by him winning chips with Nazr Mohammed and Oberto starting at the 5. I’ts only been the last 2 years when SA’s been trying to call Matt Bonner and Antonio McDyess 5s that it’s been truly BS.)

  • Dave

    I’m not saying TD isn’t the top of this list of players, but the sets run through him are for a center. PF can step out on the floor some and shoot the ball and are restricted to 15 ft in. Plus this is the only thing Malone will ever be #1 in so I was kinda throwin the old dog a bone.

  • http://www.in-n-outnba.blogspot.com Lucas

    1. Duncan
    2. Barkley
    3. Malone
    4. Garnett
    5. Webber

  • Ian

    lol dave nice excuse for malone

    celts fan
    id take dirk over kg any day for my team sure kg is ahead on d i mean who isnt really? but on the the other end the gap is bigger. dirk is a go to guy in crunch time kg isnt. 3s are to small to guard dirk and 4s are to slow the man is one of the hardest to guard in the league can u say the same for kg?67 wins was impressive they just got the worst draw for the first round its like if the suns end this season with the 1st seed and the spurs the 8th bad fucking luck. he took his team to the finals kg couldnt do that again i know he had sucky teams but superstars dont miss the playoffs he did twice i think.

  • Guitar Hero

    1.TD (one of the greatest winners of all time – almost no faults in his game)
    2.McHale (best post player ever)
    3.Malone (notable choker, but a very complete player)
    4.KG (does everything well, and a leader)
    5.Dirk (best offensive PF ever – no defense.)

    6.Barkley (amazing talent,but too dumb and defenseless)

  • yoda

    i see some people put amar’e as a one of future best pf’s. don’t get it why. he is beast, don’t get me wrong, but hes also a guy who doesn’t play real D, he looks for his stats alone, and we still need to see him alone. i.e. without nash. but when its all said and done, i think that gasol could be in top 15 maybe. he might be pf with best skill set ever, maybe even more polished then TD. as a the man in memphis he was good, but now as second best for lakers he really shines. give him few more years to show us how good he is. i know he’s not no.1 in his own team, but kg is no3. for celtics, the team where he won his trophy.

  • mw

    I have to agree with TD as number 1. To be honest I don’t know enough of the old school guys to correctly rate them. However when I saw some old games Kevin Mchale really impress me. He was locking down SF’s that were busy giving Bird the business. And just thought I would throw this out there for a laugh. I was having a debate with some friends about TD being the best 4 in the game and someone actually said Stodoumire(sp) was better. I was in so much shock, I actually could not speak.

  • cb34

    1. Barkley
    2. Duncan
    3. KG
    4. Malone
    5. Mchale

    6. CWebb
    7. Rodman

  • Celts Fan

    @Ian – You’re out of your mind. KG’s a damn good offensive player. The gap is CLEARLY wider in their defensive abilities. Also, if you put Dirk on those TWolves teams, he’d have missed the playoffs more than twice. You’re talking one of the worst teams ever with Dirk (who are they gonna stop? Who’s patrolling hte middle and blocking shots like KG did? You really think Dirk’s doing anything better than the 25 and 12s KG was averaging at that point?) KG has a damn good jumper (admittedly not as good as Dirk’s) while Dirk is average-at-best defensively, while KG’s one of the greats and can guard all 5 positions. Also, KG led the league in rebounding 4 or 5 times. The only thing Dirk’s ever led the league in is women with fake names.

    This isn’t even an argument for their careers. It’s like arguing Deron Williams over Isiah. Everyone knows you’re either just saying something stupid to get a reaction, a complete homer, or someone who knows NOTHING about the game.

    Again, THIS IS NOT AN ARGUMENT. THERE’S ONLY ONE RIGHT ANSWER HERE.

  • Dapro

    Top 5 dead or alive

    Duncan
    chuck
    kg
    Malone
    Mchale

    I’ve never been a big fan of Malone his #s put him in the conversation as for Mchale, the second best back to the basket player game behind the dream but how can people knock Kg and then priase Mchale. He played with 3 or 4 Hofs throughout his career. He was never top dog on any Celtic team but still nice on the court.

  • cesar

    TD, mailman, barkley, bob pettit, elvin hayes

  • Ian

    Celts fan
    Homer? We are talking a celtic vs a mav and I’m the homer? I dont even care about this one so this will be my last post about it. Its stupid cuz you don’t agree? Run a poll here trust me ull be surprised when dirk gets more then 2 votes. Don’t give me the what if excuse dirk goes deep in the playoffs almost every season kg needed allen and pierce fact. Kg chokes and isn’t a crunch time go to guy fact. Good jumper ? You are throwing that crappy fade thing whatever u call it vs dirk? Numbers? When u are the best player on a bad team you numers will be better than what u really are. What are kgs stats this last 3 years? Would love for u to have them both on your team and pick kg over dirk for a crucial possesion. Kg can guard all 5 postions hahaha sure like marion he can stand in front of them but will get torched by good pfs and good pgs unless they are 5’5 and white then u win that one. Memories of kg getting destroyed by td and peeler that’s it. He’s the ewing of todays nba. Kg can be single covered everyone that has watched a game can tell u dirk can’t.

    If u don’t agree I don’t care but please don’t refer to my choice of dirk over kg homer or stupid because u don’t like it. I said why I picked him I didn’t just post for fun.

  • Soopa

    I respect McHale’s game a great deal and i have watch more then a couple of classic Celtic games. But i still stand by my top5 which doesnt include him! Imaging Dirk (or Duncan, Sir Charles, Malone or KG) playing along side Bird, dont you think they would have won ATLEAST the same amount of titles?

    And dont get on KG for not winning while in ‘Sota. Have you any idea of the kinda supporting cast he had? He almost took at team with Cassel and Sprewell as #2 and #3 options to the finals for Gods sake!

    And look at his stats during his peak season:
    24.2 points 13.9 boards 5.0 assists 2.2 blocks 1.5 steals 49.9 FG% 79.1 FT%. Thats completely N U T S!

    Dont tell me Garnett wouldnt have made those ’80s Boston teams better!

  • rell

    So dime when are we going to get the top 5 small forwards of all time. I can’t wait to see if dime going to put Lebron over The Legend.

  • Young C

    SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDD!!!!!!!

  • Celts Fan

    @Ian – That’s fine, just know you’re wrong.

    and I’m sure some would vote for Dirk over KG, but some also had CWebb in their top 5. All that means is that there are plenty of tards out there (not exactly a huge surprise.) That doesn’t make it right.

    The “deep playoff runs” you talk about with Dirk, he was flanked by Steve Nash and Michael Finley, then Josh Howard, young Devin Harris, JET, and now replaced Devin with old JKidd and kinda-old Matrix. If you don’t think KG wins at least one title with those teams (all of which have been considered soft, you think that’s a problem w/ KG there?) then I just don’t know what to tell you. Understand that the best player KG ever played with in Minnesota excluding Sam I Am and Spree was either Terrell Brandon, Ricky Davis, Wally World, or Joe Smith. Reread that list again, compare it to Dirk’s, then tell me again how Dirk is possibly better than him when it’s clear that Dirk’s no more capable of leading a team to a title than KG was (and honestly, had he been on a good team his whole career where someone else coulda handled the crunch-time scoring, he’d have already won a ring or 2 and I wouldn’t have had the best 3 years of my Celtics fandom – and let’s be real, clutch in Dec. means nothing, Dirk will choke in big Playoff moments so neither’s clutch.)

    I’m done on this topic. Just know that anyone that puts Dirk over KG (for their entire careers, at this point, you could take Dirk,) is showing they don’t understand anything about the game of basketball.

  • Dave

    Deron Williams over Ike? Give it a few years and if the Jazz can capitalize somehow on a Boozer trade, a Knicks lottery pick, and maybe even a second lottery pick of their own DWill could definitely get to Isaiah’s stature.

    ok, that’s a lot of if’s but it could happen, remember the Alamo!

  • Ian

    All u r doing is playing the what if game. I can do that with anyone. What if richmond and jordan traded teams in the 90s? So by your logic richmond is better? F dat. What happened happened? Dirk is better or at least arguable and whoever doesn’t think so is a tard (see same thing u did why do u get to decide who’s right?).

  • Ian

    Oh shit I answered your post my bad forget what I said.

  • Nevacare

    Worthy was a 3 not a 4. McHale wouldn’t have had the same impact against these other guys in their primes. He didn’t even start during certain points in his career
    1 TD
    2 Malone
    3 Barkley
    4 Garnett
    5 McAdoo
    *Dirk because of the versatility
    *C- Webb because of the same reason

  • Nevacare

    @ Soopa I agree with you on every point but 1. Those ‘Sota teams were pretty good. Shaq was just too much for them in those days. Hell, I’d take a circa 2000 Timberwolves team right now as the favorites in the West to upstage the Lake Show. Cassell,Spree, & KG. weren’t Gugliotta & Wally Szerbiak there? They would at least play for the Western Conference Championship

  • Nevacare

    I Like Dirk, me being from Texas & all but I wouldn’t dare take Dirk over KG. If Mark Cuban would have pulled the trigger on a KG for Dirk trade after Dirk’s choke job in the Finals against D-Wade or even his choke job against the #8 Seeded Warriors, he could have squeezed a Championship out of that under-acheiving Dallas Squad.With Josh Howard, Kidd, Jason Terry, Van Exel, Nash & all the other good players he’s had Dirk hasn’t got it done even when they had way better teams than their opponents. You can’t really say KG had better teams against those opponents that his ‘Sota teams lost too

  • mcw88

    that minny team in 2003 had cassell, spree, KG wally-z against Shaq, Kobe, Gary Payton and Karl Malone. Oh yeah Cassell and his backup were both injured so KG actually played as a point guard in game 2. And yeah somebody actually said that Dirk had the best handles ever for a PF…

  • mcw88

    that minny team in 2003 had cassell, spree, KG wally-z against Shaq, Kobe, Gary Payton and Karl Malone. Oh yeah Cassell and his backup were both injured so KG actually played as a point guard in game 2. And yeah somebody actually said that Dirk had the best handles ever for a PF…Versatility my ass

    @80
    Nope sam-i-am and spree were only there for 2 seasons, 2003/04 and 04/05. Gugliotta retired before then. Wally-z had one all-star season, averagin 18ppg. When wally-z is one of ur starters, you know you have no depth. And that 03/04 did play for the western conference title, against 4 HOF players.

  • gertie

    Bob Petit
    Rookie of the Year
    2 time MVP
    All NBA 1st team 10 of his 11 years in the league

  • heartbreaker85

    ill just throw this out there:

    my top 5 all time who can play both O AND D

    c bill russell
    pf tim duncan
    sf larry bird
    sg michael jordan
    pg isaiah thomas

    6th man’s magic

  • Kante

    I would pick Dirk over KG at any time any year!!

  • kowtz

    Stop putitng dirk in… He’s a tall Small Forward…

    Larry Johnson who gives up about 6 inches to dirk would eat his ass on the post…

  • Ferlo Star

    Where is Moses in all of this crazy talk… You have to get Kemp in there before he started messing around with drugs and got over a million pounds of weight!

  • Celts Fan

    @ian – I get to say that CUZ I’M RIGHT. Ask any true hoops expert (most of these clowns clearly aren’t) and you take KG over Dirk 100% of the time. If you think Dirk can do even half (this is probably still too generous) of what KG does defensively you’re insane. Take away the 3ball and KG and Dirk are very similar offensively with Dirk’s jumper being better (so KG’s offensive repertoire is/was prob 80% of Dirk’s.) Defense wins championships and his offense is pretty damn good too. Anyone sayig dirk over KG is the same kinda person whod take Amare over Timmy right now. All they do is look at box scores and clearly don’t understand anything at all about what it takes to win games (“You play to win the game!” Thanks Herm…)

    Also, to the McHale haters, he almost always defended Bird’s guy and sometimes guarded 2s when they went with their massive lineup in ’86 (walton, parish, mchale, bird, and a PG.) So to recap, a versatile and solid defender and one of the best sets of post moves ever. You can argue where he goes after Timmy but he HAS TO be top 5. (I’m going w/ 2 cuz Malone and Charles never won shit, but that’s plenty debateable, KG/Dirk is like 5X5; there’s only one right answer, regardless of what the kid in the back row of class that picks his nose and always smells like gym class says.)

  • chief youngblood

    not enough moses malone love

  • Celts Fan

    Cuz Moses was a 5 except for a few early, right-outta-HS years when he was filling out.

  • http://dimemag.com kyle

    wow, its obviously

    duncan, dirk , malone, barkley, and kg (no particular order)

    i always thought this was pretty obvious…

  • GURU

    1st of all TDuncan isnt a center (this is just a way NBA figure it out to create role model players)…

    they new TDuncan was never gonna be the best center or even in the top 10, so they though why not rate him as a PF…

    Old Robinson was the one who was guarding the Spurs opponents PF.
    TD was guarding shaq…
    TD guards OKUR not boozer, Td guards EDampier not Dirk(Dirk would have him for lunch), Td guards most of the Centers in this league, he plays in the paint with center post moves everthing he does was a CENTER position influence…(the only thing he does that its not from a typical center is is 45degrees shoot to the back board)…

    STOP SAYING that he is a PF…

    THEY knew that SHAQ was going to be at the ALL-STAR in the CENTER position, so they change it…like they have done it to VCARTER/IVERSON/TMAC…

    THIS IS a bussines and thats why players like AI are going to the all-star without even playing.

    CKAMAN is the best player in the LA CLIPERS roster this year(better than BDAVIS), he is their center, but in the NBA BALLOT he doesnt even show up (MCAMBY shows up there, WHY?)
    HOW can the center who is leading all centers in SCORING doesnt show up in the NBA ALL-STAR BALLOT?and MCAMBY shows up…

    D.LEE/BARGNANI are PF or CENTERs?

  • GURU

    1-KARL MALONE (if hadnt JSTOC he wouldnt be the nº1).
    2-BARKLEY
    3-EHAYES
    4-B.Petit
    5-DNowitzky
    6-KMCHALE
    7-CWEBB/ KG

  • GURU

    Sorry i ment TDUNCAN is a CENTER AND NOT A PF…
    TDUNCAN IS A CENTER AND NOT A PF.
    TDUNCAN IS A CENTER AND NOT A PF.

  • Dragonyeuw

    I personally think Barkley was a better player than Malone, in terms of talent and impact in their primes. Malone has the longevity in his favor, and I think that’s what people look at. Barkley, at his height, was an amazing player. The guy was a 12 rebound per game guy at 6’6, fighting amongst the trees during what was the NBA’s tallest period statistically with Hakeem, Shaq, Admiral, Ewing, Mourning, Mutombo all in their primes. Good for 25-28 ppg, 4apg,and among the league leaders in Field goal% despite having to score over taller players.Could also grab the rebound and go coast to coast.

    My top 5 is(and this is based on who I’ve seen):

    Duncan(can’t argue against the rings and the stats)
    Barkley
    Malone
    Mchale
    Garnett

    I got Dirk at #6

  • JustletgoMC

    “Y’all really overrate KG. Y’all just gonna ignore him as a choker but put Chris Webber on blast? KG made it out of the first round how many times as a TWolve? Once? He consistently disappeared in the 4th quarter, Webber at least during the final minutes. They are actually the same player”

    LOL. I’m sorry, but you’re a f*cking idiot. Kinda like how he disappeared in game 6 of the NBA finals? Oh that’s right, he put up 30 in that game, with most coming in the 2nd half. And kinda like how he disappeared against Sacramento in Game 7 of the west semi’s? Try actually watching the games KG has played, instead of looking at how his team faired (the same teams that started career backups everywhere else they played for most of his career.) Chris Webber is essentially a KG without his all-time great defense, all-time great leadership/intangibles, all of his plaques/hardware, and no dream shake. So yeah.. same player I guess….

    You’re an idiot if you put KG any lower then 3rd (behind Duncan and Malone.) Off pure talent alone he’s a top 5 all-time NBA player.

    Charles Barkley is easily the most overrated PF of all-time, he isn’t top 7 all-time to me, and if you wanna talk about a player disappearing in big games, Chuck is your man.

  • Luke McCann

    shawn kemp, the man they all feared on court

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