Now that everyone is running pick-and-rolls and shooting 3s, the landscape at the 4 spot has changed. If power forwards are spending most of the game spotting up 25-plus feet from the basket, smaller, more perimeter-oriented athletes who would never be able to survive in the post against old-school Goliaths like Zach Randolph become more valuable. Conversely, the worm has turned for stretch 4s like Ersan Ilyasova, who has played for six teams in the past three seasons. The Turkish forward was a mismatch nightmare for traditional big men because he could hold his own in the paint and take slower defenders out on the perimeter. However, opposing teams can go small against him knowing he can’t punish them in the post, and then attack him in the pick-and-roll on defense. The stretch 4 has gone from the cutting edge to obsolete in a couple of years. The revolution is starting to eat its own.
Teams are abandoning the power forward position entirely and sliding small forwards from the 3 to the 4. Shawn Marion was one of the first combo forwards to make the transition back in 2004, and now everyone is doing it, with former lottery picks like Marvin Williams and Al-Farouq Aminu, once considered busts, reinventing themselves as small-ball power forwards. On the other hand, established veteran 4s like Boris Diaw, Luis Scola, David Lee, and Josh Smith have fallen out of the league, and once-promising youngsters like Donatas Motiejunas, Terrence Jones, and Thomas Robinson can’t find NBA jobs. Some 4s have been able to transition to the 5, but the league isn’t exactly running low on centers either. It’s kill or be killed at power forward, where the game has changed and everyone is fighting for a job.
-JONATHAN TJARKS
Any discussion revolving around the "future" of the PF position must take the position's evolution into account
Note: the Ringer used Caris LeVert in its analysis of the modern shooting guard
