Top 5 PF's

[BmanInBigD]

Do you consider Duncan a C or are you deliberately disrespecting him? There's just no way Duncan is not in any top 5 all-time PF list.

I noticed that too. But when I saw Chris Webber on there at 3 and Rodman on there at 4, it all made sense.

Did you see Chris Webber when he was at his prime? Obviously he didn't end up having a top 5 career, but listing him as a top 5 talent isn't that far fetched. He could've been the best pf imo, if he would've had the right attitude.

Rodman had a huge positive impact for his teams, there's more to basketball than scoring and stats...

I excluded mchale because i haven't seen enough of him to form an opinion. And Barkley imo gets massively overrated, from what i've seen he didn't play too much defense and the only reason he's become such a mythical player is because of the height nonsense. Sure he was undersized but not nearly as much as he likes to claim. His standing reach was definitely above average for the position.

Webber MIGHT have been a top 5 talent, but I thought this was more about what they actually DID. Maybe I was wrong.
And if you think that Rodman had as much positive impact as Dirk and it just depends on your offensive/defensive preference, I'd bet every coach and GM in the history of ever (well, except maybe Isaiah Thomas ) would disagree with you.

[ShaqAttack3234]

I didn't get a chance to see enough of Anthony Davis before the injury so I have to give Aldridge the nod for best PF. I also thought Davis was shaping up to be a center anyway? Then it gets interesting with Dirk vs Love thanks to Dirk's resurgence. I like Dirk's offensive game better than Love's, but is it a big enough difference to make up for Love's massive advantage on the boards, or his ability to play more minutes than a 35 year old Dirk? I'd probably put Griffin a bit behind at 4th.

Technically, Lebron and Melo play the 4 in small lineups, but I thought it'd be more interesting exclude players like that. So as far as number 5, well, there's guys like Monroe and Ibaka. Then there's David Lee who hasn't played as well this year, or Chris Bosh who can be disappointing since he has a tendency to become a role player offensively and be weak on the boards. Ignoring the fact that Bosh plays the 5 in a small lineup, he's been good for Miami's defense, he's a dead-eye mid-range shooter(though I'm not a fan of him drifting out to the 3 point line) and as far as ability, I don't see that many big men who are better offensively.

All players to consider for that final spot.

[CaliBullsFan]

Duncan IS a center. Period, point blank.

What position did Rasho Nesterovic and David Robinson play?

When asked who the starting center would be in Game 1 against the Jazz, Pop treated it as a silly question and said: “Tim Duncan, like we have for the past 15 years.”

They called it the twin towers for a reason, they were both centers. Did that blow your mind? Look it's really simple imo, duncan looks and plays like a center so to me he's a center.

They both may have been "centers" but one of them played PF and that is Tim Duncan

[trex_8063]

Don't know if talking presently or all-time, so will do both.

For present day, I am considering Anthony Davis a C; saw Al Horford mentioned in one spot, too (he also I am counting as a center). For that matter, Lebron is really playing more PF recently (albeit in a "point forward" type of role), but I am considering him a SF. So.....
Present
1. Kevin Love
2. LaMarcus Aldridge
3. Dirk Nowitizki
4. Blake Griffin
5. Tim Duncan

EDIT: If consensus is that Davis is a PF, I'd insert him probably #2.

For all-time, should note that there is a lot of variance in what criteria people in this forum think is important for ranking all-time. As nothing was specified, I assume it's up to me, and this is my ranking as of end of 2013 season (I don't like re-ordering mid-season):
All-Time
1. Tim Duncan
2. Karl Malone
3. Kevin Garnett
4. Charles Barkley
*5. Dirk Nowitizki--->*the way he's playing Dirk has very high potential to surpass Barkley (+/- Garnett????) on my all-time list after this season

Fairly close #6 for me would be Bob Pettit. He's worth an honorable mention since, for me, there is NOT a lot of space between any two adjacent places among these top 6. All six of these guys are top 25 players overall (imo). Then there's a somewhat more significant drop off to my #7 PF (Elvin Hayes, fwiw).

[ardee]

1. Kevin Love
2. Anthony Davis
3. Dirk Nowitzki
4. LaMarcus Aldridge
5. Tim Duncan

1. Tim Duncan
2. Dirk Nowitzki
3. Kevin Garnett
4. Charles Barkley
5. Mail fraud

[Frankie23]

I don't understand people putting Kevin Love in the top spot of current PF. I mean, he has great stats, but his team is not making the playoffs (too early in the season ok).. You can't be the best and not make the PO. And teamates is just an excuse this year.

[Joe Curry]

you do not teach or quantify Hustle . Rebounding is only about Hustle . He is rebounding at a clip that is Historical & He's the only player in the NBA that is Doing anything at a Historical standpoint . He being Love

[Chocobanana]

I don't understand people putting Kevin Love in the top spot of current PF. I mean, he has great stats, but his team is not making the playoffs (too early in the season ok).. You can't be the best and not make the PO. And teamates is just an excuse this year.

The Wolves aren't very balanced. Kevin Love does have some good teammates, but the problem is that there are only 4 of them currently. The Wolves bench has been really bad this year. And Love has a plus/minus of 8.6, so it's not like he's not positively impacting the game.

[NO-KG-AI]

Nothing is less interesting than the debate over what position to call Tim Duncan. Nothing.

I think the whole PF/C split is ridiculous for anyone to be honest. Gun to my head, I'd prefer Duncan be my "5" traditionally, with a true 4 on the floor. I think that would result in much better offense, and it's one of the reasons the Spurs offense took off so much, despite Duncan's decline.

Scary when I think of it that way. Duncan getting older and moving almost exclusively to the 5 has amped up the Spurs offense over where it was in his early years. Even when he gets worse, he somehow still gets better, lol.

[acrossthecourt]

I don't understand people putting Kevin Love in the top spot of current PF. I mean, he has great stats, but his team is not making the playoffs (too early in the season ok).. You can't be the best and not make the PO. And teamates is just an excuse this year.

Their SRS is 8th best in the league at 4.5, so I'd say they have a very good chance. Not making his team "better" but his raw +/- is fifth best in the league and the latest RAPM I saw had him first.

[ballfan5]

1) Duncan
2) Malone
3) Dirk
4) KG
5) Barkley

[Jase]

I can't help but to put Aldridge at #1 for current rankings. I'm not a LMA fan, but he is playing out of his mind this year.

Current:
1. LMA
2. Love
3. Davis
4. Griffin
5. Nowitzki

HM: Horford, West and Bosh

[Witzig-Okashi]

NOTE: Horford is playing the 5 the majority of the time with Millsap being a starter. Otherwise he'd definitely make my top 5

Anyway, top 5 PFs in the L right now:

1)Aldridge
2)Love
3)Dirk
4a)Ibaka
4b)Griffin

I'm not sure what position Anthony Davis is supposed to play. If he was healthy and I knew for certain he was to be the PF for the year (Will Jason Smith or Ryan Anderson head to the bench after he returns?), He would be either one or two.

If Duncan was getting more minutes, he would probably be either 5 or barely missing the mark. I would also certainly have him over Ibaka and Griffin. But I can't make an exception, even for Timmy....