Tim Duncan’s a Power Forward, and The Best Ever

• Add a Comment
• x

  Invite a Friend

  Your name:
  Your email:
  Friend name:
  Friend email:
  
  Invite a friend
• Share
• RSS

• niQ Posted: Apr.16 at 5:25 pm
  No offense but I think Kelly Dwyer’s material is wack. Especially when none of his (its a guy right?) articles included Jamal Crawford for 6th man of the year (this season).

• CELTICS Posted: Apr.16 at 6:40 pm
  Tim the best PF ever? lmfao!

• ber Posted: Apr.16 at 6:56 pm
  Sadly, he’s going to always be underrated and overlooked because he doesn’t have a big personality or ego. The very reasons that make him my favorite.

• wayno Posted: Apr.16 at 7:24 pm
  Best PF ever…period

• I am the Walrus Posted: Apr.16 at 7:29 pm
  TD is the greatest power forward ever…

• Michael NZ Posted: Apr.16 at 8:11 pm
  Best PF ever. Top 10? Somewhere 8-10 maybe – tough to omit some of those names.

• M Cho Posted: Apr.17 at 12:04 am
  The point is beyond discussion to me, and I’m not even a TD or Spurs fan. Malone has the numbers, but Duncan has the rings. The only reason he gets slept on (if he ever does) is because he’s not flashy or loud.

• WolfNast Posted: Apr.17 at 1:11 am
  Correct

• philonius Posted: Apr.17 at 1:20 am
  so by your logic, M Cho and ber, John Stockton is not much chop as one of the greatest point guards to ever play the game because he was not flashy or have a big ego. The man did his job better than most of the league for what, 19 season.

• LB Posted: Apr.17 at 1:20 am
  Who cares what “position” TD is labeled as? Great players are great players. PERIOD. That’s why players like Magic and Pip can shift so easily between positions. In the end, hoops is all about scoring more buckets than the other team, and great players will do whatever it takes to accomplish that, whether by bringing the ball up, distributing, scoring, rebounding, whatever.

• Ronald Posted: Apr.17 at 2:39 am
  Sir Chuck himself said TD is the best PF ever. And you know what they say about validation from your peers. And Malone is his only competitor (stats twise) who never had had TD’s sustained greatness and was a great choker during crunch time situations. I mean the fact that we’re already discussing his HOF induction and he’s still putting up one of the best numbers and PER of his career speaks for itself.

• Ronald Posted: Apr.17 at 2:41 am
  And co-sign Todd.

• M Cho Posted: Apr.17 at 3:55 am
  @philonius: You’re misreading me. I said that TD gets forgotten sometimes because he’s quiet, not that he’s the greatest PF of all time. That same quiet professionalism also applies to Stockton. I had a lot of love for Stock’s game, and he’s always been in my top 5 PGs of all time. John short-shorts was as pure a PG as there ever was in the L, and he was gritty as hell.

• ab_40 Posted: Apr.17 at 4:18 am
  count the rings (4) check the finals mvps(3) regular season mvps(2 back to back) and he has mor real awards than shaq(asg mvps don’t count). He’s one of the best players to ever man the 4

• JoeMaMa Posted: Apr.17 at 5:00 am
  Tim Duncan will come off the bench if need be. He’ll sacrifice minutes. He lets himself be coached. He never stops working. He insists on being treated the same as his other teammates. He plays defense. He’ll give up shots to get other guys going. He doesn’t take days off. He plays the game the right way. He wins. He’s the best ever. GO SPURS!!!!!!!!!!

• PAPALOUKAS (click on my name) Posted: Apr.17 at 7:37 am
  i prefer Charles over everybody and at the same time i have a feeling that Malone (that i hate for non-bball reasons) in his prime would have no problems against Duncan….at the same time i got no real problems with Duncan over everybody since all of them are close. Most underatted PF ever..? McHale.

• PAPALOUKAS (click on my name) Posted: Apr.17 at 7:43 am
  By the way, you think that Tim would have many chances of guarding sir-charles..?? For those who didn’t saw Barkley at his athletic prime(76er’s), he was more of a freak of nature than any guy currently at the league (Lebron,Howard,Wade,iguodala,etc are freak of labs, just look at their rectangular jaws).

• eZ Posted: Apr.17 at 8:20 am
  karl malone is very overrated player. He gots a 70% of his points from easy buckets from stockton. Not a good rebounder, defender e not so consistent with his midrange game. Timmy is a complete player. Very, very consistent with his beautiful off glass shoot. A lot os assists, blocks points from everywhere inside the arch and all of this without a true playmaker. Cmon, he is the best PF ever. Malone is not better even to McHale. Malone is the top 1 of most overrated players ever. A Hof that has his moniker as mailman and knowed to deliver easy buckets ? Cmon. The most consistent easy layups finisher ever ? damn it

• Adrian Zapata Posted: Apr.17 at 11:18 am
  Papaloukas…. Tim Duncan in his prime MVP seasons could guard Charles Barkley in his prime, and DID sucessfully guard Kevin Garnett in his prime, and he also DID guard and defeat Malone at the end of his prime.

• Jukai Posted: Apr.17 at 12:03 pm
  Sandy Dover… Let me clarify this… you look DOWN on people for grouping Duncan in at center (which, by the way, you’re 100% right… do you remember his first six years in the L? He was taking people off the dribble and shooting in the high post! Just because he goes down to the paint DOES NOT MAKE HIM A CENTER) but… you also think Pippen is a point guard despite playing at the small forward position for 85% of his career?
  Just… just clarify that for me before I dissect anything anymore.
  And Spanny: You’re -RIGHT- in a way, but…. I guarentee Duncan could guard Charles better than Charles could guard Duncan. I’d put money on that. Thousands. Barkley would score more but Duncan would dominate him in just about every other way.

• Jukai Posted: Apr.17 at 12:06 pm
  And how is Duncan’s numbers low?
  22-25 points a game, 12 rebounds a game, 3 to 3 1/2 assists a game, a steal and 2 and a half blocks a game? That’s underwhelming stats?
  Is it really that worse than Malone’s 26-29 points a game, 10 rebounds a game, 4 assists a game, a steal and a block a game? While Malone shoots worse percentages and plays worse man-to-man defense?
  I know I’m nitpicking the stats a bit here, but look at them and tell me Malone REALLY has superior numbers.

• TR Posted: Apr.17 at 12:32 pm
  TD has been putting in work for years. Hes one of the best to ever do it, regardless of position. People probably wont realize the greatness until hes retired. Wont be another player with fundamentals like him.

• PAPALOUKAS (click on my name) Posted: Apr.17 at 1:51 pm
  Barckley > Duncan :scorer,rebounder,shooter,passer,dunker(ok,ok, that’s a personal preference).
  Duncan > Barcley : defender, blocker. I’ll take the first one (basically because of the dunks!!!).

• Yann Blavec Posted: Apr.17 at 1:57 pm
  Isn’t a twin-tower a half of two centers playing together !? (I mean when he played with David Robinson…) Nowadays he plays with power forwards. All that means he’s a center !!

• letsmotor Posted: Apr.17 at 3:12 pm
  duncan’s the greatest power forward ever, no question. he’s just too good on both sides of the ball, plus, he’s a winner. i also love his humbleness and he’s probably a great teammate. number 2? i’d say mchale. tie between karl and barkley for third. garnett’s in the top 7 or 8 too.

• San Dova Posted: Apr.17 at 4:20 pm
  JUKAI–> I don’t look down on anyone for their opinion that Tim Duncan is a center, but it does irritate me, because disregarding his primary position just to fill him in a place where the league has lacked supreme production seems flippant and unintelligent on some level. Pippen played point guard a lot more than you might realize for the Bulls. On defense it was different, but on offense, MUCH of the time. On the Rockets, he was even sharing point guard duties with Cuttino Mobley and the Portland Trail Blazers all be anointed him a guard next to Damon Stoudamire, who essentially played two-guard with Bonzi Wells. Pippen was more of a defensively-talented Magic, in a way.

• San Dova Posted: Apr.17 at 4:27 pm
  JUKAI–> In the triangle, the traditional lineup compared to the role of the offense is different and is more malleable. Tex Winter, Phil Jackson and even Kobe Bryant have referenced the roles that Pippen, Jordan, and Harper/Paxson/B.J. Armstrong played. Usually the aforementioned triad of “point guards” were often the shooting guards in the triple-post offense; Jordan’s off-guard position was actually from the “attacker” slot of the offense, where small forwards usually would have the most ability to score; Pippen’s ball-handling duties from what may have seemed to be the “small forward” position was actually for point guards in the triangle. This is fact, and the old ESPN Bulls interviews from the ’90s verify those facts.

• JD Posted: Apr.17 at 8:59 pm
  Top 5 in no particular order: - TD
  - KG
  - Sir Charles
  - The Mailman
  - The Reign Man

• Dave Posted: Apr.17 at 10:18 pm
  Hey, The Greek Guy With A Million Names is back.
  Barkley was lazy and self-centered, and that’s why he didn’t get any rings. He played terrible individual defence, didn’t care about picking up anyone else’s man on rotations (who’s on Stockton? OH SH-), often didn’t practice with or travel with his team, gambled badly on the floor and wasn’t in good enough shape because he couldn’t stop drinking. Barkley thought he would win it all by arrogantly walking on to the floor and dropping 50 points and 20 rebounds and 7 assists like he said he would – and it didn’t work.
  Duncan over Barkley any game, anywhere, any time.

• Dave Posted: Apr.17 at 10:24 pm
  @San Dova: Usually the aforementioned triad of “point guards” were often the shooting guards in the triple-post offense.
  That’s the truth. The triangle is pretty much the only place guys like Paxson, Kerr, Armstrong, Hodges, etc were going to get jobs in the league. Little guys who can’t run the point but are deadly three point shooters.

• SLAM ONLINE | » Hot Topics Posted: Apr.18 at 12:42 am
  [...] Tim Duncan [...]

• josh d Posted: Apr.18 at 12:59 am
  amen to all the sane people who have TD at the top of the PF list. No need to add much else other than TD has carried a ton of players to the promised land even w/o his mentor DRob

• PAPALOUKAS (click on my name) Posted: Apr.18 at 8:36 am
  @Dave….:it’s obvious you never saw him play for the sixers(who had,except charles, less talent than New Jersey Nets but made the playoffs every year).

• RedRum Posted: Apr.18 at 8:51 am
  Actually, TD (hold yourselves!) ranks second best in my book after MJ… yeap! If I were to start a franchise from scratch, I would pick TD only after MJ. He is the best-two way player ever after MJ. His defense is as significant for his team as his offense. Granted, he never scored MJ numbers, but that was because of the system in the Spurs. He rarely had 25-30 shot games, and the times he had he scored 32+. On the other side of the court, he is the best help defense player ever. If you are a coach and you want to teach young players help defense, show them clips of how TD anticipates and moves only the right time to stop drives. i would take him over Bird (no defense), Magic (little offense, though the only player I would consider taking before him), Shaq (lazy, inconsistent, average rebounder, bad defender), Malone (average defender), Olajuon (no leadership), Kobe (in terms of skills great, in term of personality, leadership, he is poison for his teams). LBJ is creeping up, but until he proves he can get a couple of rings, TD is still my choice. Think about it…

• Jukai Posted: Apr.18 at 11:07 pm
  Sandy Dover —> but that logic is ridiculous. Your arguing that people should not put Duncan on all-time center lists because HE PLAYS POWER FORWARD IN EVEN THOUGH POPS OFFENSE REALLY RUNS TWO CENTERS but you say we should add Pippen on point guard lists because THE SMALL FORWARDS CONTROLLED THE BALL?
  Ridiculous.
  Then Lebron is a point guard, he plays the point FAR more than Pippen does (Pippen did things like control tempo and dribble the ball up… but he did NOT create, which is major for point guards).
  Your articles always are well written but the logic seems… just… horrid.

• Jukai Posted: Apr.18 at 11:08 pm
  Also, Jordan ran point guard duties just as much as Pippen did in his early days; dude controlled tempo, ran the ball up, AND scored… he did it all. Should we consider Jordan a point guard before he went to the triangle?

• San Dova Posted: Apr.19 at 5:48 am
  JUKAI–> C’mon man, c’mon. My saying Pippen should be considered on the all-time point guard “list” was relative to the fact that he’s seemingly miscast as a “point forward”, when in fact, HE DID play point GUARD the majority of the time in Chicago and Portland, but you raise a good point because Pip should be considered one of the greatest point guards–in fact, he was considered a guard many times throughout his career (at least on the basketball cards, lol). “Small forwards” in Chicago’s systems didn’t control the ball–he did. LeBron is definitely a point guard, too, he came into the league as a point guard and he’s virtually playing point from the wing now, and I believe as LBJ ages, he’ll be what Anthony Mason was–a post-up point guard/forward; LBJ is guarded by forwards, though, so *bam* he’s a “forward”. Pippen did create (did you watch any of the Bulls and Trail Blazers games, sir?) and he himself has gone on record saying that he played to emulate Magic Johnson. And you’re right…Jordan also did create and control tempo in the early Chicago days, and so in a way, yes he was a point guard in some sense, but like I prefaced, in the triangle, he was a small forward mainly. He was guarded by shooting guards, so he was a “shooting guard”, just like Pippen was guarded by small forwards, thus making him a “small forward”. Finally, my real argument isn’t about Duncan being considered for being one of the best centers ever, because he would certainly qualify there–my argument is that you cannot nullify him as one of the greatest PFs because he “seems” better qualified as a center–that was the bogus thing about Kelly’s column. Duncan is a true power forward/center, so really he makes both lists if anyone cares, but he’s definitely high on the power forward all-time list. He’s No. 1 to me, and that’s the position he’s played the vast amount of his career at.

• Dave Posted: Apr.19 at 7:54 am
  @ Greek Guy.
  Yes, you countered my points well.
  I’ll restate it. Lazy. Selfish. Ringless, be it in Philly, Phoenix or Houston.
  Funny you hold so much regard for Barkley and so little for Iverson, but I can’t really see a hell of a lot of difference in their attitude to the game.

• RedRum Posted: Apr.19 at 9:33 am
  San and Jukai… guys modern basketball is much more flexible than the old days… you might have PFs that post up more than Cs.Does that make them a C ? for example in Utah, Boozer posts up while Okur spreads the floor with shooting. Who is the centre? Of course Okur. Regarding Pipen. I am coaching using the triangle offense (which to be fair is an adaptation of the post overload offenses used by Gomelski and Nicolic/Ivkovic in Russia/Serbia to play off great passing centres like Sabonis and Divac). In the triagle there is no real poing guard. the first pass to the wing instigates the offense, which was where Pipen was playing. He decides whether to pass in the post, or high-post guard or baseline guard, or to the weak side post coming for the pinch post action. In a way, pipen was the point guard as he initiated the offense, as his pass and the off ball movement/screening dictated the consequent motions. But saying that Pipen is a point guard is ridiculous…

• DS Posted: Apr.19 at 2:18 pm
  tim duncan greatest power forward all time hands down. he could play til he’s 40 and still average close to 20-10. they call him the big fundamental for a reason. you lose athleticism as you get older, but you don’t lose fundamentals.

• Kadavour Posted: Apr.19 at 3:30 pm
  Redrum is absolutely right. This business about Timmy being a PF is ludicrous. San Antonio played 2 centers in their starting line ups for 6 years, that’s it. Then they “officially” named him a power forward for all-star game purposes and it stuck. Pop favors 2 centers. That’s like saying Pau Gasol is a PF. He’s isn’t. He played center in Memphis, he plays center in Spain. The Lakers just feature 2 centers.

• San Dova Posted: Apr.19 at 4:40 pm
  KADAVOUR–> Pau was only a center in Memphis for about a year. He was a power forward (and briefly a small forward in his rookie year) for the vast majority of the other times.

• RedRum Posted: Apr.19 at 9:22 pm
  oh dear… SAn Dova… why are you stuck with positions???? These are names that are stuck since the game got invented…

• spock Posted: Sep.19 at 1:26 am
  the only number that should matter however, is 4… the number of Championships TD has won