Diaw: Only player ever drafted as a PG/SG now playing PF/C?

[VC-INJURY]

In all my years of watching basketball, off the top of my head, I can't think of another player who's had such a huge swing in terms of position. He's always had a well-rounded game, and people said he could play all 5 from the get-go, but is there anyone else like him?

Most guys who play multiple positions keep the same playing weight/size but his physical transformation from a guard to a PF/C makes it even harder to think of someone else who's done it:

The old SG version of Diaw


The PF/C version of Diaw

[HTown_TMac]

Magic, Lebron have/can both played all positions

[Rasheeed!!!]

Back in the day before he was signed to any team Boston tried out Ben Wallace as a SG

[Nolan]

Ya he's definitely added some stuff over the years...

[tsherkin]

Back in the day before he was signed to any team Boston tried out Ben Wallace as a SG

Which is hilarious, given his shooting touch and ball-handling ability...

[denimourson]

Any even better picture to add to the conversation of Diaw's weight uhh. I mean position change.

http://hq-wall.net/wall_preview/141719/Boris_Diaw_Phoenix_Suns/Boris-Diaw-Phoenix-Suns.jpg

[MagicStarwipe]

Magic Johnson played exclusively at PF when he returned to the NBA in '96. LeBron of course. Can't think of too many others. You've got guys like Penny Hardaway who went from PG to SG to SF as he got older.

[VC-INJURY]

Magic, Lebron have/can both played all positions

There are lots of guys who have/can play 4 or 5 positions. These guys typically keep the same playing weight/size too though.

The question though is how many have made such a huge and permanent change from one position to another?

Another guy I can think of is Al Harrington, whose played SF & C some seasons, but he's spent the majority of his career playing PF.

[Damon_3388]

I thought Diaw playing PG/SG for the Hawks was them trying to shoe-horn him into a position based on his skillset and the other players they had on the roster at the time (Atlanta seemed to have a ton of combo forwards on their roster at this time, as well as a lot of guys who were trying to pad their stats to improve their individual situations). I don't seem to recall him having much success (even in limited minutes) in that role in Atlanta. Always seemed a natural Small Forward to me. Seems to have played a lot of PF/C due to weight increase and requirements of the teams he's been on.

[manou]

Well the first time he played full time at center was in Phoenix when Amare was out for the whole year, right ?
He did great that season, Nash and him created an incredibly effective offense, with their incredible court vision.

[nate33]

It's a stretch to say he was drafted as a PG. He was a "point forward" when drafted, while playing a few minutes at SG from time to time. It wasn't like he was bringing the ball up the court and guarding opposing PGs every possession.

Durant played mostly SG as a rookie. I wouldn't be surprised if he spends the latter half of his career at PF, with maybe some minutes at center when he's about 36 years old.

[SlimD235]

Toni Kukoc played all 5 positions
Magic, Lebron, Barkley, AK47, Pippen were/are versatile enough to play multiple positions as well as primary ballhandlers, guarding bigger players, shooting, etc

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[Vides990]

It's a stretch to say he was drafted as a PG. He was a "point forward" when drafted, while playing a few minutes at SG from time to time. It wasn't like he was bringing the ball up the court and guarding opposing PGs every possession.

This!! lol He wasn't drafted as PG, was clearly a SF, ATL just used some weird rotations because of the players on the roster at the time.

[Jvaughn]

I'd love to see some predraft footage of him playing PG. I can't even picture it.

[Massamba]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6krSELkLfE[/youtube]

[Damon_3388]

Well the first time he played full time at center was in Phoenix when Amare was out for the whole year, right ?
He did great that season, Nash and him created an incredibly effective offense, with their incredible court vision.

According to Basketball Reference, Diaw spent 86% of his minutes at the Power Forward position that year, and just 10% of his minutes at Centre. Kurt Thomas (99% of his minutes), Shawn Marion (32% of his minutes) and Tim Thomas (85% of his minutes) got the majority of minutes at the 5 spot for the Suns that year.

It's a stretch to say he was drafted as a PG. He was a "point forward" when drafted, while playing a few minutes at SG from time to time. It wasn't like he was bringing the ball up the court and guarding opposing PGs every possession.

This!! lol He wasn't drafted as PG, was clearly a SF, ATL just used some weird rotations because of the players on the roster at the time.

Further to this, again according to Basketball Reference, Diaw spent a whopping 2% of his minutes with Atlanta playing the Point Guard position. The majority of his minutes came at the 2 (51%) and 3 spots (42%), with the remainder (4%) coming at the Power Forward position. Furthermore, never since then has he logged any minutes at the point.

I'd love to see some predraft footage of him playing PG. I can't even picture it.

There is none, because he was never a point guard.

[Texas Chuck]

Toni Kukoc played all 5 positions

yeah and he was full-time PG in Europe I believe before he came over to Chicago. I think he might be the best answer other than maybe old Magic.

Lebron doesnt really have a position.

[The_Didact_117]

Boris Diaw is the definition of a point forward. One of my favorite Spurs and one of the most underrated players in the NBA and to the Spurs' success since he joined in 2012 (not a surprise they won 20 straight after benching Blair for Diaw that season). Even now, all of the Spurs best lineups based on various advanced stats include Diaw in it. Best Spurs FA pickup in the Duncan era next to Brent Barry imo

[OldeBoy]

nbadraft.net listed him as a PG/SG coming into the draft

http://nbadraft.net/nba_draft_history/2003.html

[Damon_3388]

nbadraft.net listed him as a PG/SG coming into the draft

http://nbadraft.net/nba_draft_history/2003.html

It also has LeBron listed as a PG/SG

Besides, I thought that site was known to be total garbage anyway.