Most and least important positions in NBA

[dhsilv2]

I think this position-less nba argument does not necessarily remove all positional distinctions. For example, We would say JJ redick is a shooting guard. Is he the same type of wing like kawhi? No, much different players. But for example, we could put kawhi at small forward, power forward, and shooting guard and he would still be effective. JJ really is optimal for one position, and one could argue he is a liability elsewhere. We aren't going to put him at forward, for example. I think it is based more on a player's physical attributes and skillsets to determine how positionless they really are in the grand scheme of things. Star Small forwards in the traditional sense are very valuable because they have good size, and usually a very diverse skillset,which gives them the versatility to play different positions without hurting the team, and even causing mismatches. Hence the term, "positionless"



And I also do not understand why guys like bron cannot be classified as small forwards. He started next to kevin love and JR smith, both whom could be classified as the power forward and shooting guard on the cavs. Kawhi started next to siakam and danny green. Who out of those three would best classify as a small forward? Same for KD next to draymond and klay. It just makes sense to call them small forwards even though throughout the game they will play other positions.

Reddick absolutely could be called a small forward or a shooting guard. What's the difference? You don't want him guarding anyone...but frankly I'd want him on anyone who is least likely to blow by him and can't man handle him.

When Green, Siaki, and Leonard were on the floor together...they were all 3 wings. None of them had point duties and none were rim protectors. Otherwise they all play in the same areas of the floor with Green being more focused on shooting as he doesn't have ball handling skills (which both makes him more traditionally a shooting guard and power forward out of the 3).

The reality is players play based on their strengths, weaknesses, and general skills. Lebron plays the point because he is the best player on his team's at running an offense. If we go back to the old traditional roles argument, does Lebron's offense come out of the high post? That's the "Small Forward's place" on the floor. Yet nobody we mentioned or discussed here actually plays out of the high post.

Brook Lopez is a center. Does that mean he shouldn't shoot threes? Positions now have different definitions as to what they do on the floor. Point guards can be volume scorers now. Power forwards can be spot up shooters and also have face up games. They are just no restrictions as to what players can/should not do, but it does not mean that there are no such things as positions anymore.

There are no traditional restrictions to what players do now. That does not mean we should not distinguish when a player is a shooting guard or small forward. There are players can play both, hence the wing terminology. But JJ redick is not going to start next to lou williams and patrick beverley because he is not a small forward..not in a traditional or modern basketball sense. Some players are just better suited to play one position, even though they have a very impactful skillset.

I am not going to put siakam on JJ nor am I going to put JJ on siakam. Saying they are all wings is way overgeneralizing it imo.

Well no Brook Lopez is not a center in today's game. The game has changed the need/use of labeling 5 guys are being in 5 different positions is stupid. Tim Duncan never played a minute of his career as anything but a center, but for some reason people couldn't deal with this idea that a team would run two centers. And maybe they are right...maybe a guy who can post up smaller guys, take bigger guys off the dribble, pass out of double teams, and **** a 15 footer is a power forward. But then so is Hakeem. Basketball both makes more sense and is more logical when we call out roles and relative areas of play. Perhaps you want to lump the JJ Redicks into wing jump shooting specialists. Danny Green is a wing 3&D. Any of this is more useful and telling that trying to decide if Butler is a 2 or 3 or heck was he running the point there? When Lebron was guarding Tony Parker in the finals did he become a point guard? What about when the 76ers put Embiid on Pascal...isn't that just as odd as putting Siakam on JJ? Effectively Pascal was the 2nd guy guarding Curry in the finals and even ended up as the primary often enough. I recall seeing Chris Paul play significant and good minutes on Durant in the playoffs (not his year) as his primary defender. James Harden is primarily used as a post defender.

[jbk1234]

A SF has been the FMVP every year for the last decade.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J327A using RealGM mobile app

[MrSparkle]

I argue that PF is actually 2nd most important, but in a particular way. Definitely not your old 'big man' type (unless you're Duncan), but the Dray/Pascal/Odom-pre-drugs type.

Stretch 4 and able to guard 5 positions. I think Draymond deserves a nice big 25% piece of the GS pie for starting what they became. Curry 40%, Klay 15%, their depth (esp. Iguodala) the rest. Durant just took them from 100% contender to 150% contender (until they became injured).

Now saying SF and PF are most important sounds absurd given I just said Curry was the most important part of the Warriors, but he's the exception. He's really a combo guard hybrid who could run point as good as anybody (Nash, Stockton, Isiah) and shoot better than anybody in history (including Ray Allen, Reggie Miller, Bird, Kerr). And even then, I don't think he'd ever have won a ring without his forwards... whereas I'm OK plugging at least 10 other PGs in this line-up and seeing them win a chip against any existing team in the last 10 years:

pick-your-point
Klay
Durant
Dray
Zaza

Any of these guys: Lillard, Conley, pre-ACL Rose, Lowry, Kyrie, Wall, Paul, Kemba, Westbrook, Jrue, pre-hip Isaiah.

Nobody can replace Kawhi, Lebron or Durant... and even Dray. You just need to have one of them or stack the deck with options to throw at them (like Pascal, Danny Green, Iguodala, etc.). But without Durant, I don't think those Warriors could've done it without Dray. And Iguodala is definitely the unsung hero (well, actually he won finals MVP that first year, so he got his credit) - he had a huge role. And sometimes he played PF.

Having dynamic point-forwards is just the secret weapon X of all champs.

[TheGOATWill]

Most important: Playmaker. Slight edge over shooter.
Least important: Post up big.

[Timmyyy]

There is no such thing.

On average, the offensive impact a player has decreases from PG to C.
On average, the defensive impact a player has increases from PG to C.

That means the value and impact players with different positions are providing is just differently distributed between offense and defense, not more or less important. It is all about the talent of the player, not the position.

Seeing so many guys saying bigs are less important just shows how many people still don't care about defense (maybe because it isn't caught by the boxscore?). Guys that think players like Gobert or Draymond are role players flat out do not understand how the game works.

Also, just because a position doesn't have a lot of great players doesn't mean the position is less important. It just shows that the talent pool at that position is dried up. A few years ago after Dwight started sucking, everybody said how unnecessary C's had become and now Embiid, Jokic, Gobert, Davis and maybe even Towns are really bringing the position back into play (I just hope injuries won't destroy that).

[ThunderBolt]

Most important- Downward Dog

Least Important-Child's pose

[SF_Warriors]

Reddick absolutely could be called a small forward or a shooting guard. What's the difference? You don't want him guarding anyone...but frankly I'd want him on anyone who is least likely to blow by him and can't man handle him.

When Green, Siaki, and Leonard were on the floor together...they were all 3 wings. None of them had point duties and none were rim protectors. Otherwise they all play in the same areas of the floor with Green being more focused on shooting as he doesn't have ball handling skills (which both makes him more traditionally a shooting guard and power forward out of the 3).

The reality is players play based on their strengths, weaknesses, and general skills. Lebron plays the point because he is the best player on his team's at running an offense. If we go back to the old traditional roles argument, does Lebron's offense come out of the high post? That's the "Small Forward's place" on the floor. Yet nobody we mentioned or discussed here actually plays out of the high post.

Brook Lopez is a center. Does that mean he shouldn't shoot threes? Positions now have different definitions as to what they do on the floor. Point guards can be volume scorers now. Power forwards can be spot up shooters and also have face up games. They are just no restrictions as to what players can/should not do, but it does not mean that there are no such things as positions anymore.

There are no traditional restrictions to what players do now. That does not mean we should not distinguish when a player is a shooting guard or small forward. There are players can play both, hence the wing terminology. But JJ redick is not going to start next to lou williams and patrick beverley because he is not a small forward..not in a traditional or modern basketball sense. Some players are just better suited to play one position, even though they have a very impactful skillset.

I am not going to put siakam on JJ nor am I going to put JJ on siakam. Saying they are all wings is way overgeneralizing it imo.

Well no Brook Lopez is not a center in today's game. The game has changed the need/use of labeling 5 guys are being in 5 different positions is stupid. Tim Duncan never played a minute of his career as anything but a center, but for some reason people couldn't deal with this idea that a team would run two centers. And maybe they are right...maybe a guy who can post up smaller guys, take bigger guys off the dribble, pass out of double teams, and **** a 15 footer is a power forward. But then so is Hakeem. Basketball both makes more sense and is more logical when we call out roles and relative areas of play. Perhaps you want to lump the JJ Redicks into wing jump shooting specialists. Danny Green is a wing 3&D. Any of this is more useful and telling that trying to decide if Butler is a 2 or 3 or heck was he running the point there? When Lebron was guarding Tony Parker in the finals did he become a point guard? What about when the 76ers put Embiid on Pascal...isn't that just as odd as putting Siakam on JJ? Effectively Pascal was the 2nd guy guarding Curry in the finals and even ended up as the primary often enough. I recall seeing Chris Paul play significant and good minutes on Durant in the playoffs (not his year) as his primary defender. James Harden is primarily used as a post defender.

So if brook is not a center, then what is he? A big?
If we put chris paul on kevin durant defensively, then I guess CP3 must be a wing.
I guess since embiid guarding pascal makes him a wing as well since pascal is a wing?

I do agree that labels are unnecessary, however we do need good floor balance between players regarding size, and positions kind of help with that, whether you want ot call them wings, bigs, centers, point guards, etc. But yes, mostly matchups and lineups dictate the type of roles guys play usually. That's nothing different than the old or new nba. Sometimes putting a guard on a forward works out defensively.

OP was discussing positions more in a traditional sense, which fits the mold of the last eight Finals MVPs. At the end of the day, you want a balanced lineup regardless of how you designate the players.

[Spintown]

Most Important- Small Forward or Tall Wing
Least Important- Power Forward (people just put a Wing here or a undersized Center)

[dhsilv2]

So if brook is not a center, then what is he? A big?
If we put chris paul on kevin durant defensively, then I guess CP3 must be a wing.
I guess since embiid guarding pascal makes him a wing as well since pascal is a wing?

I do agree that labels are unnecessary, however we do need good floor balance between players regarding size, and positions kind of help with that, whether you want ot call them wings, bigs, centers, point guards, etc. But yes, mostly matchups and lineups dictate the type of roles guys play usually. That's nothing different than the old or new nba. Sometimes putting a guard on a forward works out defensively.

OP was discussing positions more in a traditional sense, which fits the mold of the last eight Finals MVPs. At the end of the day, you want a balanced lineup regardless of how you designate the players.

I think big is ok for Lopez but ultimately he's a stretch big man if you want to get into his role. But again these positions aren't doing us any service.

Using the traditional positions doesn't make sense. They aren't how basketball is actually played and honestly I'm not sure it was ever played that way. That was more theory for coaching middle school or high school teams. In a perfect world a team would put out 5 players who were all a mix of Lebron and Giannis with a bit more shooting skill. There's no need for a small guard to be the primary ball handler. There's no reason to have a smaller "shooting" guard to go with bigger small forwards...you'd always rather have athletic long guys who can shoot, dribble, and pass. You'd like those guys to be able to have the foot speed to stay infront of players and the length and strength to contest in the paint.

The reason a lebron james is an all time great is because he's 6'8 250 who is an elite scorer and passer. It has nothing to do with that he is generally the 3rd tallest player in his team's lineup and thus we call him a small forward. he plays nothing like a small forward. Leonard was great because he is an elite scorer. Though oddly enough his defense really only shined when he was put against a near 7 foot mutant in Giannis (and with the help of the whole raptor team). KD was often the tallest player on the warriors when he won those finals MVPs. His scoring reminded me a lot more an MJ than a Bird. Defensively he was mostly used as a zone guy to use his center like height and length. Iggy is likely the most "small forward" of the group, but when he won the finals MPV it was thanks to him **** wide open 3's.

All that said small guards like Curry and Irving and Lowry were critical to their teams winning. We saw taller guys like Embiid and Jokic play out of their mind this year. This idea that strong wings are clearly better due to the finals MPV is a really shallow narrative. Teams win because they have multiple players who can make plays and have the defensive versatility to adjust to multiple systems. The key to all of this is versatility and in and of itself versatile players are positionless.

[SF_Warriors]

So if brook is not a center, then what is he? A big?
If we put chris paul on kevin durant defensively, then I guess CP3 must be a wing.
I guess since embiid guarding pascal makes him a wing as well since pascal is a wing?

I do agree that labels are unnecessary, however we do need good floor balance between players regarding size, and positions kind of help with that, whether you want ot call them wings, bigs, centers, point guards, etc. But yes, mostly matchups and lineups dictate the type of roles guys play usually. That's nothing different than the old or new nba. Sometimes putting a guard on a forward works out defensively.

OP was discussing positions more in a traditional sense, which fits the mold of the last eight Finals MVPs. At the end of the day, you want a balanced lineup regardless of how you designate the players.

I think big is ok for Lopez but ultimately he's a stretch big man if you want to get into his role. But again these positions aren't doing us any service.

Using the traditional positions doesn't make sense. They aren't how basketball is actually played and honestly I'm not sure it was ever played that way. That was more theory for coaching middle school or high school teams. In a perfect world a team would put out 5 players who were all a mix of Lebron and Giannis with a bit more shooting skill. There's no need for a small guard to be the primary ball handler. There's no reason to have a smaller "shooting" guard to go with bigger small forwards...you'd always rather have athletic long guys who can shoot, dribble, and pass. You'd like those guys to be able to have the foot speed to stay infront of players and the length and strength to contest in the paint.

The reason a lebron james is an all time great is because he's 6'8 250 who is an elite scorer and passer. It has nothing to do with that he is generally the 3rd tallest player in his team's lineup and thus we call him a small forward. he plays nothing like a small forward. Leonard was great because he is an elite scorer. Though oddly enough his defense really only shined when he was put against a near 7 foot mutant in Giannis (and with the help of the whole raptor team). KD was often the tallest player on the warriors when he won those finals MVPs. His scoring reminded me a lot more an MJ than a Bird. Defensively he was mostly used as a zone guy to use his center like height and length. Iggy is likely the most "small forward" of the group, but when he won the finals MPV it was thanks to him **** wide open 3's.

All that said small guards like Curry and Irving and Lowry were critical to their teams winning. We saw taller guys like Embiid and Jokic play out of their mind this year. This idea that strong wings are clearly better due to the finals MPV is a really shallow narrative. Teams win because they have multiple players who can make plays and have the defensive versatility to adjust to multiple systems. The key to all of this is versatility and in and of itself versatile players are positionless.

It is not a shallow narrative..people are pointing out that the combination of perimeter skills and small forward/tall wing size has been integral to championship teams. Just because you cant grasp that concept doesnt mean you need to attempt to belittle it. These taller wings are literally the most versatile because of their combinarion of size and skill, which bigs and smalls cannot replicate as well.

We are pointing out that taller wings are not the least important because of that impact they are making at the championship level..what is so hard to understand? Are you so dense that you would these narrow minded arguments that anyone with basic hoops knowledge can tell is just some guy using generalizations? What is shallow is somebody lumping all non shot blockers and primary ball handlers as wings..and that three point shootong bigs cannot be classified as a center? What kind of nonsensical reasoning is that?

As far as the stretch big ideal goes..there is a difference between an ersan illyasova and brook lopez..they are both considered stretch bigs but only one can play center effectively on both ends.

[dhsilv2]

It is not a shallow narrative..people are pointing out that the combination of perimeter skills and small forward/tall wing size has been integral to championship teams. Just because you cant grasp that concept doesnt mean you need to attempt to belittle it. These taller wings are literally the most versatile because of their combinarion of size and skill, which bigs and smalls cannot replicate as well.

We are pointing out that taller wings are not the least important because of that impact they are making at the championship level..what is so hard to understand? Are you so dense that you would these narrow minded arguments that anyone with basic hoops knowledge can tell is just some guy using generalizations? What is shallow is somebody lumping all non shot blockers and primary ball handlers as wings..and that three point shootong bigs cannot be classified as a center? What kind of nonsensical reasoning is that?

As far as the stretch big ideal goes..there is a difference between an ersan illyasova and brook lopez..they are both considered stretch bigs but only one can play center effectively on both ends.

Illyasova is more of a wing.

As for the wing/point/big even that's just me dumbing down basketball to an extreme level. Illyasova is just a perfect example of why even those ideas are too simplistic. Basketball is truly possitionless. There are roles that players take on based on those around them. That's it. As most people can't seem to understand that, I simply use the more reasonable but less horrible terms of wing and big and point (keeping in mind point is really a role, not a position).

[tidho]

1) primary ball handler

2) secondary ball handler

3) rest

[HBK_Kliq_33]

The most important position is pretty much wherever the best talent is at.

1999-2007 - Everybody wanted a big man because it was the Duncan\Shaq era. This led to Blazers drafting Oden over Durant

2008 - 2018 - Wing players are the focus because Lebron\Curry\Harden\Kawhi are better than any big man in this era.