Greatest NBA Power Forward
- Thread starter chemist
- Start date
You just made my point. Fact is he played WAY too much with that injured foot. Cost them the Championship in '86-'87 when he struggled in the playoffs with the untreated injury and was a nagging problem in '87-'88 when they should have contended better at the end. Fact is, those were his peak performing years (and necessary given Bird's ailing back), but that injury cost him down the stretch in both cases, and ultimately shortened his career.
Pretty much. There was no such designation until the last 25 years or so.
not from the comparison chart you posted
man im really done now
AW,
you know that's because publicly available databases don't carry game stats prior to 1985, right?
Not really. Neither one's majority of PRIME years coincided with Barkley's. Malone only challnged Barkley in rebounding (and scoring) for a couple of the early years. Likewise with Erving's scoring. Can't compare that trio with McHale's dozen years with Bird and Parish in their prime. By the mid-'80s Barkley was battling the likes of Tim MCormack for team rebounding dominance.
you know why...cause he ain't go no awards
He was solid and steady for a long time, but never quite dominant enough to be considered the best at his position. Only made it as high as one All-NBA Second Team, and was 4th in MVP voting once. Which was ultimately for the best. He was the perfect complementary center for that type of unselfish team. Fine shooter. Could've scored and rebounded more on another team, but likely wouldn't have been as motivated to win.
i don't think anyone took the time to note (in spite of their "deficit models") that charles barkely had a .500 record in that 24 game sample.
if you accept their "deficit models" which suggest that charles barkley was on impoverished squads, what does that say about charles barkley that he managed to maintain a .500 record in the sample?
Tim Duncan best BIG MAN ever.... that boring muthafucka balls
Which brings me to this question: If McHale was so great and such a beast, why at 6'11" tall in the first 5 seasons of his career where he never missed a game could he not win the starting CENTER job from Parish?? He was certainly big enough (In those days you didn't have to be 280 pounds to play center...not if you were black anyway). And if a cat is comparative in skill to the greatest players off all time at the position, shouldn't he at least be a starter?
He did play back-up center at times. Which is why he accumulated so many minutes as a Sixth Man. Why would you wanna replace Parish with McHale when you could have BOTH All-Stars on the court at the same time, each doing what he does best????
You missed my point entirely. What I am saying is that they played with two centers throughout. They had Duncan in the post and the other dude doing the dirty work that they didn't want Duncan to do. I never saw Tim Duncan covering Barkley or Malone or any of the other traditional PFs. He always covered a center and was the center on offense. If he was a pf then so was Hakeem or Darryl Dawkins when he and Caldwell Jones started together or Marvin Webster when he and Bill Cartright started together as Knicks. THe Spurs started two centers, two shooters and a point guard always.
It was the Boston style at the time to have a killer come off the bench. They did it for years with Havliceck. It was planned to have McHale come in and kill the second team. Then, after Cornbread retired, he started along side of Bird and Parrish and he killed starters. It wasn't about beating out anyone it was about having a great scoring threat on the floor at all times. Everyone knew that McHale was better than Maxwell
No Cornbread Maxwell was
How so??? They WEREN'T competing for that position. This is a totally absurd idea.
ehh…
what is the distinction between a center and a power forward? you have the traditional roles of each position, but these days that don't mean much anymore. 2s and 3s are interchangeable a lot these days as well as 4s and 5s. you have guards who are 1s and 2s. designating player position is outdated these days. it's hard to classify/slot a player in a position due to multiple roles and matchups. but when it comes down to it, Duncan is a PF who can play the role of a traditional center.
look at all the PFs he's had to guard over the years - z-bo, amare, KG, rasheed, while the Spur's center will guard the Shaqs and Dwight Howards of the league. but it came down to matchups. what the post situation was for the opponent would determine who Duncan would guard. and on offense, Duncan would work the blocks but also come out high on those high pick and rolls where he was adept at popping from 18 feet. Centers don't traditionally do that.