Power forwards of the past
- Thread starter Makaveli
- Start date
Uhhh, they dominated the league back then too.
Makaveli
Bench
That’s true lol. I guess to be honest cousins was the last true skilled big
ShastaKingsFan
All-Star
The 3 point shooting obsession has turned power forwards into centers and small forwards into "stretch 4's"
Makaveli
Bench
Let’s just say instead of the 26 3’s we took mid range instead or whatever inside the 3pt line. At 47% that would be 12 pts we win 110-107 lol. Don’t worry about the math trust me bro
ShastaKingsFan
All-Star
DeRozan understands that concept
Insomniacal Fan
Starter
Big men of today are so much more skilled than in of the era of the PF. (~2000 C.E.) By the standard of that era, Alex Len would be a finesse guy. PFs made sense as a position in an era where teams needed to play 2 bigs (to soak up fouls guarding Shaq)
In a 1 big man era, if your C can create while facing the basket, PFs are kind of useless. Better to fill that spot with a shooter
In a 1 big man era, if your C can create while facing the basket, PFs are kind of useless. Better to fill that spot with a shooter
upinsmoke
All-Star
Those "big men" are actually traditional 3's tho. Speaking of bigs we need another 5/4 in a major way.
Insomniacal Fan
Starter
I’m talking about guys like Bam, Jokic, Embiid, and Domas. Guys that make Slim’s BMoTN thread
Most centers from the 80s, 90s and 00s were just there to crash the boards and stand in front of Shaq. It’s why Duncan rejected the center label, it wasn’t a skill position. Now, centers are integrated into the offense and are expected to be able face the basket. And teams don’t need two big men to fill that role.
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SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
All those players mentioned would likely be C's in todays game. They all shared time there but that's what they would be. As for Keegan, I think we've already seen the benefits of him moving closer to the rim. His numbers from college are starting to translate. He needs to get that shooting efficiency up but that should come in time.
Insomniacal Fan
Starter
There would be a split; I think some, if they had modern coaching growing up, would probably become more like the big wings of today, (Giannis, Lebron, and KD). C-Webb would probably fit into that bucket
serbiangoat
Starter
Dirk revolutionized the position and the game of basketball in the NBA in the process he killed the position moving SFs to it and moving PFs to the C spot.
Insomniacal Fan
Starter
Dirk was certainly a harbinger of the future when he entered the league, but he became a fairly traditional power forward after his first few years. I think that NBA coaches of the time kinda broke him.
I think it's an interesting what-if, if the Mavericks decided to build around his perimeter game, and built their team around that, would we have seen the 3 point revolution a decade earlier?
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
What is position though? In the end, it's always pretty much been a G skill league. Either you have G skills and essentially play like a guard, whether it be through passing, shooting, or whatever, or you don't. It doesn't matter what you call the position. Webber was really no different than Jokic which is more Magic Johnson than anything. Heck, first day in Don Nelson, being as a far ahead of his time as he was, tried to make Webber a center. Webber wasn't having it.
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
I mentioned him in my other post. The true revolutionary was likely Don Nelson. Junk ball as some have called has become the norm. What was already the norm though was unless you were Shaq, you better be able to face up a team and score, pass, or dribble and honestly, do all of them if you want to be a true star.
Insomniacal Fan
Starter
I think that "big man" still has value as a label to categorize players, even as PF (and SG) have disappeared. And it's tough to guard a big with anybody other than another big.
